CASE STUDY ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
OVERVIEW
This Case Study Assignment is designed to help you make application of course content to a
counseling situation. In this Case Study Assignment you will have the opportunity to think
through a clinical case, identify and prioritize key issues involved, consider and clarify relevant
diagnostic issues, provide one assessment to clarify the case and formulate treatment
recommendations that are most likely to be helpful to the client. This Case Study Assignment
will directly apply to your work in COUC 667 and with clients when you begin practicum.
INSTRUCTIONS
For this assignment you will read the case study then generate a report that uses the following
outline. Each section should be separated by the appropriate APA headings (level 1, level 2…)
1. Key Issues: Determine the key issues presented. Using Level 2 APA headings, you will
break the key issues into Biological, Psychological, Social and Spiritual problems.
2. Assessment: Provide one assessment that will be used to clarify the diagnosis. Make
sure this is a valid assessment that a counselor can use. Give a short (3-5 sentences)
overview of the assessment, what it would help you learn about the client and why you
chose it over other assessments (example: Beck Depression Inventory, identifies clinical
depression, strong research base, short, easy to administer and score). Provide one peer
reviewed journal article reference to support the use of this assessment.
3. Diagnostic Impressions: Provide diagnostic impressions based upon the DSM-5. Include
the ICD-10 codes and full name of each diagnosis. Be sure to consider secondary
disorders in addition to the primary disorder. Is there more than one diagnosis? Provide
the following for all diagnoses.
a. Signs and Symptoms: List the signs (clients report) and link them directly to the
symptoms (criteria you find in the DSM). You may do this in bullet point or table
form to make sure you have linked every client sign to every DSM symptom you
will use to support the diagnosis. If there are client reported signs that do not fall
into the DSM diagnosis, make note that you considered them, but they did not
align with the DSM.
b. Other DSM Conditions Considered: List other DSM conditions you considered
and the process you went through to decide they were not the correct diagnosis.
c. Consideration of Theories and Factors: Be sure to consider theories of normal
and abnormal development, and systemic and environmental factors that affect
human development, functioning, and behavior.
d. Multicultural or Social Justice Considerations: Document multicultural or
social justice considerations that went into your diagnostic thought process.
4. Treatment Recommendations: Develop treatment recommendations.
a. Key Issues: List in order of importance the key issues you believe are involved in
the case study. Identify the top 2-3 issues that you will provide recommendations for in order of importance so that you can clearly delineate what you believe will be of most help to your client. Consider recommendations that will be motivating to your client and reflective of a collaborative approach. Be mindful of multicultural, ethical and social justice considerations. This can be done in a bullet point list.
b. Recommendations for Individual Counseling: Utilizing the professional
literature and your textbooks, find at least two treatment recommendations for
individual counseling. You will need to cite these recommendations, focusing on
the treatments a counselor would provide. Medication or referral to another type
of therapy may be a recommendation, but since these are case management, they
do not count towards the two required recommendations. Approach this part of
the assignment as your exploration of what you would do with this type of client
in individual counseling.
5. Specific Considerations
For each case study you will have one specific consideration. You will need to provide
one paragraph on how this consideration affected your diagnostic impression and your
treatment recommendations.
Sam Case Study 2: How does a client being in crisis change the focus of your
assessment and treatment planning? How might a client being in crisis effect a
diagnosis?
Jeff Case Study 3: How do multiple diagnosis effect the decision-making process for
diagnostic impressions and treatment planning? How do you decide what disorder you
might address first, or do you address both simultaneously? How does a substance use
disorder effect the process of diagnostic impressions and the order you make treatment
recommendations?
Jane – Case Study 4: How does a triggering event effect how you prioritize treatment
interventions? How important is it to collaborate with the client when treatment
planning? What are some barriers you might encounter treatment planning with this
client and how might you address those barriers?
Phil Case Study 5: How might the clients age effect diagnosis and treatment
recommendations. What kind of consideration must be made for the family system?
Each Case Study Assignment is to be 3 – 5 pages in length. This excludes the title page and
reference page. Use current APA format. The Case Study Assignment does not require an
abstract.
This Case Study Assignment requires a minimum of 3 resources from peer reviewed journals or
professional literature. This can include the maximum of one textbook reference. All resources
need to be less than 10 years old.
