DSM 5 Application: Clinical Case Assessment of Depression & Anxiety

This presentation provides a clinical case assessment of a 39-year-old woman named Ruth, who presents with psychosomatic issues including sleeplessness, dizziness, and anxiety. The assessment utilizes the DSM 5 criteria to diagnose her condition, focusing on symptoms such as persistent depression, loss of interest in pleasurable activities, and weight gain. The presentation highlights how Ruth's symptoms align with DSM 5 diagnostic criteria and identifies melancholic features, sleeping disturbances, and anxiety as supporting specifiers. Cognitive behavioral therapy and personal counseling are suggested as appropriate clinical interventions. Desklib offers a wealth of resources, including similar case studies and solved assignments, to aid students in their studies.

Clinical case assessment
- Finding relation with DSM 5 criteria

Diagnosis (Dx)
 This case is about Ruth, a 39 year old married woman is facing a range of
psychosomatic issues including sleeplessness, dizziness, anxiety and others since last
two years.
 She has a habit of crying over trivial matters and often feels depressed.
 While having contact with others she realized how she has limited herself in every
aspects.

Diagnosis (Dx) continuation…
 Ruth participated in a self-awareness group, and had few individual counseling sessions
during her course in introduction to the helping professions.
 Her physician recommended a personal counseling.
 She is also aware of her very structured as well as over disciplined life .
 Ruth fears in engaging herself in professional field.
 She also worries that being involved as professional might threaten her family.

Diagnostic (Dx) criteria
 DSM 5 is a standard reference released by American Psychiatric Association and used by
healthcare providers in diagnosing mental and behavioral disorders.
 The most important DSM 5 criteria is a constant feeling of depression (Hasin et al., 2018).
 Loss of interest in pleasure is another symptom of this criteria.
 DSM 5 criteria also specifies the symptom of gaining weight and suffering from obesity
issues (Hasin et al., 2018).

Diagnostic (Dx) criteria continuation…
 In this case, Ruth is overweight, which is indicating the DSM5 criteria.
 Also, she often stays depressed which directly supports the DSM 5 criteria.
 At the same time, Ruth has limited herself into the activities of family and finds no time
for pleasure.
 According to her psychosomatic symptoms, a cognitive behavioral therapy and personal
counseling can be an appropriate clinical decision (Zimmerman et al., 2019).

Symptoms supporting Dx specifier
 Melancholic feature supports Dx specifier and in this case, Ruth cries frequently which reflects her
melancholic behavior.
 Sleeping disturbance is another symptom that additionally supports Dx specifiers.
 Anxiety is common in depression and in the diagnosis of Ruth, her anxiety has been found which
supports Dx specifiers as well.
 Her fear of engaging herself in other profession also reflects the Dx specifier symptom (Zimmerman et
al., 2019).

Summary…
 This presentation analyzed a case study of patient suffering from several psychosomatic issues including
depression, sleeping disturbances and others.
 First two slides of the presentation provided a concise summary of the diagnosis of the patient.
 In the next two slides, diagnostic criteria has been clearly demonstrated which is related to the case of the
patient.
 Lastly, some additional symptoms that supports Dx specifiers have been identified.
 A cognitive behavior therapy and personal counseling can be a perfect clinical decision for her.

Works cited
Hasin, D. S., Sarvet, A. L., Meyers, J. L., Saha, T. D., Ruan, W. J., Stohl, M., & Grant, B. F.
(2018). Epidemiology of adult DSM-5 major depressive disorder and its specifiers in the
United States. JAMA psychiatry, 75(4), 336-346.
Zimmerman, M., Martin, J., McGonigal, P., Harris, L., Kerr, S., Balling, C., ... & Dalrymple,
K. (2019). Validity of the DSM‐5 anxious distress specifier for major depressive
disorder. Depression and anxiety, 36(1), 31-38.

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