1. Janet has been seen by you for treatment of depression. On intake, she disclosed that she was in AA and had been sober for 6 months. Janet seems to be happy with her progress, but after a few sessions, she seems to be no communicative and upset. After six sessions, she discontinues therapy with you. You learn that she has engaged another counselor who treats alcohol use and co-occurring disorders. This morning you received notice from your licensing board that Janet filed a complaint against you alleging that you attempted to treat Janet’s addiction to alcohol and that you did not have the expertise necessary to do so. You are a licensed professional counselor but you have not obtained training in addictions. Based on this information, answer the following questions:

1. Does Janet have a valid complaint? Why or why not?

2. How would you respond to the Licensing board complaint?

3. How would you avoid this type of complaint in the future?

This discussion question meets the following CACREP Standard: 2.F.1.i.  Ethical standards of professional counseling organizations and credentialing bodies, and applications of ethical and legal considerations in professional counseling.

2. What special precautions or practices should a private practitioner adopt in order to minimize professional liability and ensure that their treatment of clients remains soundly within the boundaries of professional practice standards? The American Counseling Association as well as individual state counseling associations (i.e., ICA, AzCA) provide a variety of resources to clinicians. Choose either the ACA or your state’s counseling association. What are its member benefits, activities, services to members, and current issue? How could membership be especially helpful to the private practitioner? Summarize what the ACA Code of Ethics says about the following: report writing, record keeping, and service reimbursement.

This discussion question meets the following CACREP Standard: 5.C.2.m. Record keeping, third party reimbursement, and other practice and management issues in clinical mental health counseling.

3. What special precautions or practices should a private practitioner adopt in order to minimize professional liability and ensure that their treatment of clients remains soundly within the boundaries of professional practice standards? The American Counseling Association as well as individual state counseling associations (i.e., ICA, AzCA) provide a variety of resources to clinicians. Choose either the ACA or your state’s counseling association. What are its member benefits, activities, services to members, and current issue? How could membership be especially helpful to the private practitioner? Summarize what the ACA Code of Ethics says about the following: report writing, record keeping, and service reimbursement.

This discussion question meets the following CACREP Standard: 5.C.2.m. Record keeping, third party reimbursement, and other practice and management issues in clinical mental health counseling.

4. Describe in detail situations in which referring your client to a different counselor and/or agency should be considered. If referral is not an option, what ethical alternatives could you identify to continue to work with this client? Include references to the ACA and/or NAADAC code of ethics to support your response.

5. Sheila came to your office about 8 months ago seeking counseling. She stated that she, “hoped to save her marriage.” After a few sessions with Sheila, you suggested that couples counseling might be helpful, but her husband, Roy, refused to participate. Three months ago, Sheila and Roy went through a very nasty breakup of their marriage, and now you have been subpoenaed to produce all of your records pertaining to Sheila’s treatment. Sheila has told you not to comply with the subpoena.

What should you do? Why?

Describe the specific steps you would take in responding to the subpoena.

6. Marcie is a new client and a 22-year-old female who works as a receptionist in a doctor’s office. She has just revealed to you during the intake session that she has recently lost interest in most activities, has been sleeping a great deal yet feels tired all the time, and sometimes wishes she could cease to exist. She mentioned feeling as though she has been “on an emotional roller coaster” during the past year, throughout her on-again/off-again relationship with a 35-year-old married man. The last breakup with him seemed final, and Marcie has felt herself sinking deeper and deeper into depression ever since. When probed further about suicidal ideations, Marcie admitted that she has considered killing herself, although she is uncertain whether or not she would actually do it. She said that she is currently in possession of a gun that her friend allowed her to keep in her home following a rash of burglaries in the neighborhood, but she does not know whether she would actually use it.

You have consulted with your supervisor, who has agreed that Marcie should be referred immediately for a psychiatric evaluation and has instructed you to arrange for Marcie to go directly from your office to a nearby hospital. Marcie told you that her mother accompanied her and is in the waiting room, but she has emphatically stated that she does not want her mother to know what is going on with her. How should this delicate situation be handled? Why? What are three ethical and/or legal concerns about this case?

This discussion question meets the following CACREP Standards:

2.F.1.l. Self-care strategies appropriate to the counselor role.

5.C.2.a. Roles and settings of clinical mental health counselors.

Each question has to be answered by it-self and with 150-200 words. Each one also must have a quote in it and be cited in the APA form-mate.  They need to be answered by their self and not together.

As noted in the text, the diagnosis of probable Alzheimer’s disease should be done by performing a thorough evaluation to rule out other potential causes of the observed symptoms. Based on nearly 30 years of research, new criteria were released in 2011 jointly by the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association.

These new criteria created considerable controversy. Research indicated that Alzheimer’s disease progresses through a series of stages, from a “preclinical” phase in which no symptoms can be easily detected, through mild cognitive impairment, to clinical Alzheimer’s disease (Albert et al., 2011; Jack et al., 2011; McKhann et al., 2011; Sperling et al., 2011). In addition, the criteria included a call for biomarkers to be linked with the various categories, as well as new standards for brain autopsy. The main controversy concerned whether people should be diagnosed with a “preclinical” form of Alzheimer’s disease, especially when there is no treatment and many people never go on to develop clinical Alzheimer’s disease (Brickman, 2011).

Research has shown that abnormal levels of beta-amyloid protein are associated with mild cognitive impairment (Rodrigue, Kennedy, & Park, 2009), but again, whether everyone with high levels of amyloid should have a diagnosis is controversial (Brickman, 2011). However, the recent research linking tau protein transmission across neurons offers hope that a drug or other effective therapy could be invented to prevent such transmission (Liu et al., 2012).

Despite the controversies, the new criteria make clear that the link between research and clinical application needs to be a strong one. Clear evidence of specific behaviors or health markers needs to be present. You should ensure that this is the case for anyone in your family or in your work.

1. What are the primary reasons why the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in the “preclinical” phase is seen as controversial?

2. If you were an older adult and were suffering from a condition for which there was no cure and very few treatment options, would you want to know about the disease or would you want your doctor and family to keep this information from you? Explain your choice.

3. What biological markers have been found that might indicate the presence of Alzheimer’s disease in a human being?

4. Exactly what does it mean to say that a person is in the “preclinical phase” of Alzheimer’s disease? What implications does this have for the progression of the illness?

Discussion Questions I

All assignments MUST be typed and double-spaced, in APA style and must be written at graduate level English. The content, conciseness and clarity of your answers will be considered in the evaluation of your work. You must use and integrate the material presented in the course text and cite your work according to APA format. Use of outside resources can be used to enhance the text information, but cannot replace the text.

Respond to each question in 1-1 ½ pages per question.

Total assignment should be 4-6 pages total plus a Title and Reference Page

Do not copy the questions in your responses. See APA style on how to create Topic Headings.  Suggested Topic Headings follow each question.  You may use them or create your own.

Question One: The text discusses three main approaches to personality research:  case studies, experimental studies conducted in laboratory settings, and correlational studies.  If you were to conduct a research study today, which approach would you use and why?

Suggested Topic Heading:   Personality Research

Question Two: It has been said that psychoanalytic theory suffers from a number of cultural biases due to the limitations in kinds of patients seen and the Victorian era from which the concepts were originally derived. Which concepts or parts of the theory do you think could become a particular target for arguments of cultural bias?

Suggested Topic Heading:  Cultural Bias in Psychoanalytic Theory

Question Three: As you will see in subsequent chapters, many personality theorists developed ideas that differed markedly from those of Freud and the various neo-Freudian theorists.  What aspects of Freudian theory would you “least want to lose” in such developments – i.e., which features seem so important that they should be taken into account by any other personality theory?

Suggested Topic Heading: Positive Aspects of Freudian Theory

Question Four: Rogers proposed that the fundamental human motive is self-actualization: a positive, growth-oriented human motive.  That sounds like a very nice idea. And it is easy to think of cases in which people seem to be striving toward self-actualization.  But it naturally raises the question of how, in Rogerian theory, one could explain the personality of people who seem oriented toward evil rather than positively-oriented growth.  In other words, what about Hitler?  Mass murderers? Etc. How could one posit a self-actualization theory in the face of such cases?

Suggested Topic Heading:  Self-Actualization and Evil

Assignment Outcomes

Distinguish the major theories of personality

Contrast historical and current views of personality

Integrate evidence based treatment interventions

Combine current research to assessment and technique

Identify legal, ethical issues in theories of personality and psychotherapy

Examine issues of culture and diversity in theories and application

Must have turn it in

Cervone, D. & Pervin, L.A.   (2016).   Personality theory and research.   (13th ed.).   New York , NY   Wiley, John & Sons, Inc.    ISBN 9781118976296