Provisional Diagnosis for Samar: Trauma, Depression and Stress

1
TIMOTHY CHUKWUDI
Contemporary Mental Health Practice

2
Introduction
Diagnosis is considered as one of the key factors of health and social care
sector. A health related issue, be it physical or psychological, requires on-time diagnosis
so that it can be identified at an early stage. Effective diagnosis can be able to save
lives of people infected with life-threatening diseases (Resick, 2014). Similarly, in
context of a psychological problem, a timely diagnosis can be helpful in bringing the
affected person back to normal flow of life. Provisional diagnosis is one of the significant
terms used in healthcare sector (Cruwys et al. 2014). A diagnosis is done on the basis
of relevant information regarding the patient. When the available information is
inadequate and the healthcare practitioners are asked to cure the individual, they opt for
provisional diagnosis (Morrison, 2017). Provisional diagnosis refers to a diagnosis
suggested by healthcare practitioners that is not hundred per cent accurate as there is
lack of needful information required to suggest a fulfilling diagnosis. Provisional
diagnosis acts as a temporary solution of the problem unless more information is
gathered regarding the illness or the patient (American Psychiatric Association, 2014).
This essay helps the reader to gain deeper understanding regarding provisional
diagnosis. Based upon a case study, this essay properly illustrates and analyses
different factors involving with provisional diagnosis identified for this particular context
and how to implement it.
Socio-demographic information

3
This case study revolves around Samar, an Afghani woman living in Australia.
Samar belongs from Afghanistan but had to leave her motherland at a young age due to
the prevalence of extreme violence leading to conflicts, disappearance and deaths.
Many of her friends and family members disappeared and died during this period. When
Samar left the country her community had been severely affected by drought. After that
her family took shelter in the neighbouring country Pakistan. They lived a miserable life
in the camps which was more like run-down tents and little more than mud huts. Most of
the refugees died of illnesses which were caused due to poor environmental conditions.
Samar was married off at an early age and soon became mother of two sons. After
living in Pakistan for several years, Samar, along with her husband and sons, migrated
to Australia. She is living in Australia for 5 years now. Samar is currently 32 years old
and her sons are aging 13 years and 10 years respectively. Neither Samar nor her
husband has a job and they are finding it hard to make the ends meet.
Samar is concerned about her financial condition and trying for a job in childcare
centre but she is not getting one. She feels that being a refugee she is being
discriminated. Sadness has engulfed her husband who feels like his skills are not being
acknowledged in this country. Although the couple gets unemployment benefits but
household expenses are rising up. One of the most integral expenses is educational
costs. As people are becoming more aware about the utility of education, they are
spending money for the education of their children. Now-a-days, with wide number of
schools and varied courses, education cost has become sky-high (Lumley, Katsikitis&
Statham, 2018). Saving for university costs has become tough for the couple because
of their financial issues. They live in a rented small sized one-room apartment which is

4
on a busy street. Samar’s marital life is strained as her husband is at home always and
Samar considers it as ‘unnatural’ for a man. Marriage is about a number of factors that
are being negatively impacted by their difficult way of life. As she has no family left after
the horrendous incidents in Afghanistan followed by tough years in Pakistan, she feels
isolated at times.
She feels disturbed by the negative remarks made by native people towards the
refugees. All these things have made her shy and as a result she is reluctant to meet
new people and form friendship. Samar used to visit a group of Afghani women to make
new friends. But soon after she discovered that talking to them reminds her of her
harrowing memories of her childhood. Nobody wants to recall painful memories of past,
this breaks a person from inside and makes them mentally weak (Schick et al. 2016).
Hence, she stopped visiting the group. Also, she feels guilty about her survival
whenever she thinks about all her friends who died in the refugee camp. As Samar has
no friends, she spends her time by cooking, cleaning the house, taking care of her
children, and watching television in order to improve her English. As a result of reading
English newspapers daily, watching English news and shows related to current affairs,
she can now speak English well. Her Islamic faith has always been made her stronger
to fight tough times. She used praying as a healing process to recover from the loss and
grief. Lately, Samar is not praying much due to her problems.
She has gained a lot of weight and mostly feels teary for past few months. Samar
is afraid to leave the house alone after encountering a ‘heart attack’ on the street due to
backfiring of a car. Therefore, her husband accompanies her wherever she goes. To
Samar her children is the most important part of her life. She wants to keep them away