The purpose of this workbook is to facilitate student's understanding of the DSM IV and other texts related to the diagnoses of mental disorders. It is designed to enhance the student's ability to assess clients' strengths and to diagnose any emotional difficulties the client may be experiencing. It will provide students with the opportunity to practice their assessment skills in a classroom environment prior to entering the field as a mental health professional. Students will not only learn the various diagnostic categories of the DSM IV but also how to apply these categories to clients they will be seeing in practice. It will aid students in understanding dual diagnoses, symptom formulation, and the overlap between diagnostic categories.
This practical workbook facilitates students’ understanding of the DSM-5 and other texts related to the diagnoses of mental disorders, enhancing their ability to assess their clients’ strengths and to diagnose any emotional difficulties the clients may be experiencing. THE CLINICAL ASSESSMENT WORKBOOK: BALANCING STRENGTHS AND DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS, 2nd Edition, offers a wealth of real life examples and exercises, providing students with the opportunity to practice their assessment skills in a classroom environment prior to entering the field as a mental health professional. Students learn the various diagnostic categories of the DSM-along with dual diagnoses, symptom formulation, and the overlap between diagnostic categories-as well as how to apply these categories to clients they will be seeing in practice. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.
"The purpose of this book is to teach social work students the concepts and skills needed to apply research methods in their practice with clients. Within the last three decades, the human service professions have been challenged to base practice on empirical evidence. One promising approach to meeting this challenge is to train practitioners who can evaluate knowledge produced in the behavioral sciences and, then, translate such knowledge into practice principles. This volume aims to help practitioners under¬stand the research process and equip them with the necessary tools and skills to: (a) evaluate studies; (b) translate relevant behavioral sci¬ence knowledge into practice principles; and (c) implement evaluation procedures in their daily practice. The book also provides guidance in incorporating evidence-based practice principals and procedures into social work curricula. Evidence-based practice offers practitioners and students a method for building into the intervention process a problem-solving and evaluative component that is greatly needed in social work"--
The concept of empowerment has become increasingly popular with mental health professionals. But while it is a frequently cited goal in the helping professions, empowerment is often nothing more than a buzzword that lacks specificity and grounding in real-world applications. Consequently, little practical guidance exists demonstrating how to achieve it in specific instances with specific groups of people. This book is the first professional guide that operationalizes the theory of empowerment, outlines the conditions under which it is likely to occur, and applies a practical model for working with people with severe mental illness. In this unique and thoroughly researched volume, Donald Linhorst analyzes the conditions that facilitate empowerment and provides the framework necessary to bolster this historically powerless population's access to the material and cultural resources they need to regain control of their lives. Chapters illustrate how to foster empowerment in treatment planning, housing selection, organizational decision making, mental health service planning and policy making, employment, participation in research and evaluation, and consumer provision of mental health and support services. Case studies from a public psychiatric hospital and a community mental health agency illustrate each of the seven areas and present evidence of the model's efficacy. Finally, the book maps out the roles that service providers, administrators, policy makers, advocacy groups, researchers, and clients can play in the empowerment process. Checklists, step-by-step instructions, historical overviews, and vivid examples make this a valuable teaching tool, planning guide, and everyday reference for mental health professionals seeking an innovative and evidence-based approach to working with their clients with severe mental illness.
This revolutionary, user-friendly textbook not only guides social workers in developing competence in the DSM system of diagnosis, it also assists them in staying attuned during client assessment to social work values and principles: a focus on client strengths, concern for the worth and dignity of individuals, appreciation of environmental influences on behavior, and commitment to evidence-informed practice. The authors, seasoned practitioner-scholars, provide an in-depth exploration of fourteen major mental disorders that social workers commonly see in practice, including anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. They skillfully integrate several perspectives in order to help practitioners meet the challenges they will face in client assessment. A risk and resilience framework helps social workers understand environmental influences on the emergence of mental disorders and the strengths that clients already possess. Social workers will also learn to apply critical thinking to the DSM when it is inconsistent with social work values and principles. Finally, the authors catalog the latest evidence-based assessment instruments and treatments for each disorder so that social workers can intervene efficiently and effectively, using the best resources available. Students and practitioners alike will appreciate the wealth of case examples, evidence-based assessment instruments, treatment plans, and new social diversity sections that make this an essential guide to the assessment and diagnostic processes in social work practice.
Too often in practice, there is a tendency to pathologize clients, requiring a diagnosis as part of the helping relationship. Suppose, however, that most of the client problems that social workers encounter have more to do with the vagaries of life and not with what clients are doing wrong. This powerful idea is the philosophy behind the strengths-based approaches to social work. This groundbreaking practice handbook takes this concept one step further, combining the different strengths-based approaches into an overarching model of solution-oriented social work for greater impact. The strengths perspective emphasizes client strengths, goal-setting, and a shared definition of positive outcome. Solution-focused therapy approaches ongoing problems when they have temporarily abated, amplifying exceptions as solutions. This natural but rarely explored pairing is one component in the challenging and effective practice framework presented here by the authors, two seasoned practitioners with over 50 years of combined experience. By integrating the most useful aspects of the major approaches, a step-by-step plan for action emerges. With this text in hand, you will: - Integrate elements from the strengths perspective, solution-focused therapy, narrative therapy, and the strategic therapy of the Mental Research Institute (the MRI approach) into an effective and eclectic framework - Build and practice your skills using case examples, transcripts, and practical advice - Equip yourself with the tools you need to emphasize clients' strengths - Challenge the diagnosis-first medical model of behavioral health care - Collaborate with clients to get past thinking (first-order change), and more to acting "outside the box" (second-order change) - Learn to work with a wide variety of clients, including individuals, groups, and families; involuntary clients; clients with severe mental illness; and clients in crisis For any student or practitioner interested in working with clients towards collaborative and empowering change, this is the essential text.
Palpatory or touch skills lie at the very core of all "hands on" therapies. Subtlety and sensitivity of touch, and interpretation of palpatory tests, are essential requirements for practice. This book aims to help both the student and practicing therapist towards increased sophistication of palpatory assessment skills and practice.
Abnormal Psychology: The Science and Treatment of Psychological Disorders consists of a balance and blending of research and clinical application, the use of paradigms as an organizing principle, and involving the learner in the kinds of real-world problem solving engaged in by clinicians and scientists. Students learn that psychopathology is best understood by considering multiple perspectives and that these varying perspectives provide the clearest accounting of the causes of these disorders as well as the best possible treatments.
Psychiatric clinicians should use rating scales and questionnaires often, for they not only facilitate targeted diagnoses and treatment; they also facilitate links to empirical literature and systematize the entire process of management. Clinically oriented and highly practical, the Handbook of Clinical Rating Scales and Assessment in Psychiatry and Mental Health is an ideal tool for the busy psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, family physician, or social worker. In this ground-breaking text, leading researchers provide reviews of the most commonly used outcome and screening measures for the major psychiatric diagnoses and treatment scenarios. The full range of psychiatric disorders are covered in brief but thorough chapters, each of which provides a concise review of measurement issues related to the relevant condition, along with recommendations on which dimensions to measure – and when. The Handbook also includes ready-to-photocopy versions of the most popular, valid, and reliable scales and checklists, along with scoring keys and links to websites containing on-line versions. Moreover, the Handbook describes well known, structured, diagnostic interviews and the specialized training requirements for each. It also includes details of popular psychological tests (such as neuropsychological, personality, and projective tests), along with practical guidelines on when to request psychological testing, how to discuss the case with the assessment consultant and how to integrate information from the final testing report into treatment. Focused and immensely useful, the Handbook of Clinical Rating Scales and Assessment in Psychiatry and Mental Health is an invaluable resource for all clinicians who care for patients with psychiatric disorders.
This book uniquely captures program evaluation concepts, methods, and strategies that are most useful to nonprofit leaders, social science professionals, and students as they engage in evaluation practice. Readers will learn how to work with key stakeholders to determine answerable questions/design studies and analyze, interpret, and report useful findings.
