Individuals with personality disorders often find it difficult to overcome the enduring patterns of thought and behavior that they have thus far experienced and functioned with in daily life. Even when patients are aware that personality-related issues are causing significant distress and functional impairment and are open to counseling, treatment can be challenging for both the patient and the therapist. For this Assignment, you examine specific personality disorders and consider therapeutic approaches you might use with clients.
RESOURCES
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity. Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
WEEKLY RESOURCES
To prepare:
- Review this week’s Learning Resources and reflect on the insights they provide about treating clients with personality disorders.
- Select one of the personality disorders from the DSM-5-TR (e.g., paranoid, antisocial, narcissistic). Then, select a therapy modality (individual, family, or group) that you might use to treat a client with the disorder you selected.
THE ASSIGNMENT:
Succinctly, in 1–2 pages, address the following:
- Briefly describe the personality disorder you selected, including the DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria.
- Explain a therapeutic approach and a modality you might use to treat a client presenting with this disorder. Explain why you selected the approach and modality, justifying their appropriateness.
- Next, briefly explain what a therapeutic relationship is in psychiatry. Explain how you would share your diagnosis of this disorder with the client in order to avoid damaging the therapeutic relationship. Compare the differences in how you would share your diagnosis with an individual, a family, and in a group session.
Support your response with specific examples from this week’s Learning Resources and at least three peer-reviewed, evidence-based sources. Explain why each of your supporting sources is considered scholarly. Attach the PDFs of your sources.
Media resources
- ymptom Media. (2020). Antisocial personality disorder ASPD online CNE CEU courses for nursesLinks to an external site. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewBFri65Quw
- Symptom Media. (2020). Histrionic disorder NP mental health continuing educationLinks to an external site. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJVRGofeV-w
- Symptom Media. (2020). Narcissistic personality disorder online LPN CE credit CEU unit classesLinks to an external site. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knfVjj3P9es
Resources
- American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disordersLinks to an external site. (5th ed., text rev.). https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/book/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
- “Culture and Psychiatric Diagnosis”
- Paris, J. (2015). PsychotherapiesLinks to an external site.. In A concise guide to personality disorders (pp. 119–135). American Psychological Association.
- Wheeler, K. (Ed.). (2020). Psychotherapy for the advanced practice psychiatric nurse: A how-to guide for evidence-based practice (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing.
- Chapter 18, “Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Complex Trauma”
