Does This Person Have a Mental Illness?

 

Objective: This exercise taken from information from chapter 1 will help you identify the differences between normal and abnormal behavior.

 

Directions: In each scenario please determine which (or all) of the following the person is experiencing: 

1.    Distress

2.    Impairment

3.    Risk of Harm

 

Next, based on this determination please conclude if the person:

1.    Person DOES NOT HAVE a mental illness.

2.    Person MAY HAVE a mental illness.

3.    HAS a mental illness.

 

 

Case 1:

Marcus can get through most days feeling okay; however, he rarely feels happy. Some days he feels so sad it is difficult to get out of bed, but he is able to force himself to get up. He used to enjoy going for walks, but he no longer feels motivated or sees the purpose in getting exercise, so he spends most of his time in bed or watching television.

 

ENTER ANSWER

 

 

Case 2:

Natalie thinks she has been infected with a virus that creates robotic cells that are eating away at her organs. Natalie refuses to go to her physician because she is afraid of getting more infections that will accelerate this process.

 

ENTER ANSWER

 

Case 3:

Angela dislikes being around groups of people, so she spends most of her time at home. She has spent time in large groups during college, but she tends to get nervous when she is in large groups. She makes excuses when her friends invite her to parties, but likes to have people over for dinner.

 

ENTER ANSWER

 

 

Case 4: 

Pietro has been hearing the voice of a deceased relative. He is from a culture where such experiences are considered normal—or at least not abnormal. But he is worried about hearing the voice, to the point where he is having a hard time doing his job.

 

ENTER ANSWER

 

Case 5:

Wilbert drinks nearly every day. On some days he even drinks while driving home. When his friends express concern about this behavior he blows it off and says it's "nothing to worry about." A few co-workers have expressed concern to his boss that they smell alcohol on his breath and he's been late for work. 

 

ENTER ANSWER

 

 

Case 6: 

Claudia really dislikes taking exams. Just before a test her hands begin to sweat and her heart beats noticeably faster. Sometimes during a test, she has difficulty concentrating and feels light-headed. She always does well on exams earning a B or higher but she still continues to worry that one day she'll fail an exam because of her test anxiety.    

 

ENTER ANSWER

 

Case 7: 

June is so preoccupied with keeping her house absolutely spotless that she has no time to do anything but clean. After each family meal she not only washes the dishes, she also thoroughly cleans and polishes the kitchen table, chairs, floor, and cupboards. Although, these cleaning rituals irritate her family, June is unable to discontinue them without experiencing intense feelings of discomfort.

 

ENTER ANSWER

 

Case 8: 

Ryan (22 years old) goes in for therapy with the following concern: For 5 days, Ryan states he was "flying high," always wanting to talk about the incredible ideas that seemed to be constantly flowing through his mind, so much so that he only needed 2 hours of sleep at night and believed he was "enlightened" and unstoppable. He states that his friends noticed this behavior and asked him about it, but after the 5 days, he seemed to come back to "normal." Shortly thereafter, Ryan laid in bed sleeping most of the day, could not seem to make decisions, lost a significant amount of weight, dropped out of his basketball league, and felt worthless and sad all the time. He reports that these symptoms have lasted for about 3 weeks.

 

ENTER ANSWER

 

Case 9: 

Mr. Grim is a 46-year-old advertising salesman for a small magazine. During 15 years of marriage, his wife has noticed loud snoring episodes, lasting 10-15 seconds, during which he did not breathe. "Then he takes a giant breath, exhales, inhales one to four or five times, then he stops breathing for another one of these silences." During longer "not-breathing" periods, as she called them, "he is very restless." After nights full of such events, Mr. Grim groggily drags himself out of bed, finding he has a headache and is tired all day long.

 

ENTER ANSWER

 

Case 10: 

Sheila, has noticed that her fear of storms has become progressively worse. Although she had been frightened of storms since she was a child, the fear seemed to abate during adolescence. She is most frightened of lightning, but is uncertain about the reason for this. When asked to elaborate on her fears, she imagines that lightning could strike a tree in her yard and the tree might fall and block her driveway, thus trapping her at home.

 

ENTER ANSWER

 

 

Summary: This exercise highlights the criteria clinicians use to determine what is "normal" and "abnormal behavior." You will see that there is sometimes a fine line between these two standards, but evaluating levels of distress, impairment and risk of harm will help you to determine the difference.