4. Psychological Disorders

Scenario: Jodie is a 31-year old woman who comes to you for treatment. She states that the reason she is there is to get her anger under control, and that in her last several relationships with men, she has been guilty of hitting her boyfriends and/or throwing things at them.

She states that she doesn’t know why she does this because she ‘really loved all of them.’ During the course of your conversation, you discover that she has been married and divorced three times, and in the last year, has had 4 ‘serious’ relationships.

Also, she tells you that she has had two past suicide attempts (pill overdoses) in response to ‘bad breakups’ with various boyfriends and husbands. Jodie is also both a compulsive shopper and compulsive eater.

She states that she mostly engages in these kinds of behavior when her relationships are ‘getting bad.’

She tells you that when she is in a relationship, it’s very intense and that her whole world looks brighter, yet when the relationship begins to crumble, she goes through periods of intense depression and suicidal thoughts.

Question 4a: Based on your understanding of the term “abnormal behavior”, discuss whether you agree or disagree if Jodie’s behavior could be defined as such and why.

Question 4b: Using the DSM-V, summarize the psychological disorder that Jodie seems to present symptoms of.

Question 4c: Discuss two (2) examples of how the biopsychosocial approach would be used to develop an appropriate treatment plan for Jodie.