The DSM-5 Clinical Cases e-book has provided multiple case-scenarios relating to various psychological and psychiatric conditions relating to various individuals. The paper analyses the case of Irene Upton, a twenty-nine years old elementary teacher who had gone to the psychiatric for extensive consultations regarding her condition. The latter complaint of being “tired” of loneliness, besides that from her medical history it can be observed that she was hospitalized more than once for suicidal attempts and self-cutting, which represents intense, emotional pain, and frustrations. Coherently, the sister confessed to the past traumatic events that Irene was expected to, notably; at the age of thirteen, the father would sexually exploit Irene a “weird” manner. Irene has failed to recall certain activities she undertook while between the ages of seven and thirteen, which would represent the specific loss of memory due to traumatic experiences. The client laments that she does not consume or abuse alcohol or drugs, ideally, during her late teen, Irene experienced a certain shift in her life when she suddenly became more engaged and proactive for in class and co-curriculum activities. Therefore, leading to a successful life both in high school and college and later getting employed to become of the best teachers in her school.              From the excerpt, the one can be observed properly professional interpretation of Irene’s condition, where the privacy and confidentiality of the patient have been upheld through the exclusion of deeming statements that may be unethically interpreted. For instance, the level of impartiality or conflict of interest has been eliminated since there are no comments or reading that advocate any additional information on behalf of the patients there are no sections or comments that illustrates the certain type of advice or personal opinions. Therefore demonstrating a high level of ethical practice since there are no statements that demonstrate any gross misconduct when conducting a patient assessment; the excerpt provides only the necessary information useful for interpretation while excluding the confidentiality and privacy of the patient. Evaluation             There are multiple techniques and methods, which can be used to conduct a psychological assessment on a given patient in order to accurately diagnose the individual. The paper will describe a battery of these assessments to understand the subject’s condition fully.              A clinical interview is a treatment technique utilized by psychologist and other physicians to document the accurate diagnosis of mental disorders especially the obsessive-compulsory disorder they include the clinical diagnostic interview and structured clinical interviews. The clinical diagnosis involves narrative conversation between the patient and the doctor where the latter asked a series of questions such as “how was your childhood?” “What was school like when growing?” “How wa ...

1. The DSM-5 Clinical Cases e-book has provided multiple case-
scenarios relating to various psychological and psychiatric
conditions relating to various individuals. The paper analyses
the case of Irene Upton, a twenty-nine years old elementary
teacher who had gone to the psychiatric for extensive
consultations regarding her condition. The latter complaint of
being “tired” of loneliness, besides that from her medical
history it can be observed that she was hospitalized more than
once for suicidal attempts and self-cutting, which represents
intense, emotional pain, and frustrations. Coherently, the sister
confessed to the past traumatic events that Irene was expected
to, notably; at the age of thirteen, the father would sexually
exploit Irene a “weird” manner. Irene has failed to recall certain
activities she undertook while between the ages of seven and
thirteen, which would represent the specific loss of memory due
to traumatic experiences. The client laments that she does not
consume or abuse alcohol or drugs, ideally, during her late teen,
Irene experienced a certain shift in her life when she suddenly
became more engaged and proactive for in class and co-
curriculum activities. Therefore, leading to a successful life
both in high school and college and later getting employed to
become of the best teachers in her school.
From the excerpt, the one can be observed properly
professional interpretation of Irene’s condition, where the
privacy and confidentiality of the patient have been upheld
through the exclusion of deeming statements that may be
unethically interpreted. For instance, the level of impartiality or
conflict of interest has been eliminated since there are no
comments or reading that advocate any additional information
on behalf of the patients there are no sections or comments that
illustrates the certain type of advice or personal opinions.
Therefore demonstrating a high level of ethical practice since

2. there are no statements that demonstrate any gross misconduct
when conducting a patient assessment; the excerpt provides only
the necessary information useful for interpretation while
excluding the confidentiality and privacy of the patient.
Evaluation
There are multiple techniques and methods, which can
be used to conduct a psychological assessment on a given
patient in order to accurately diagnose the individual. The paper
will describe a battery of these assessments to understand the
subject’s condition fully.
A clinical interview is a treatment technique utilized
by psychologist and other physicians to document the accurate
diagnosis of mental disorders especially the obsessive-
compulsory disorder they include the clinical diagnostic
interview and structured clinical interviews. The clinical
diagnosis involves narrative conversation between the patient
and the doctor where the latter asked a series of questions such
as “how was your childhood?” “What was school like when
growing?” “How was the relationship with your father/mother?”
Such question will enable the psychologist to understand the
background of the patient better (Andrea, et al., 2018). The
structured clinical interview consists of semi-structured
interviews that are administered by qualified psychiatrist or
psychologists who are knowledgeable with the diagnostic
criteria. Some of the questions in this phase will include “how
old were you when you began to experience these symptoms?”
“What are the main details relating to your compulsion or
obsessions?” “How have these compulsions or obsessions
influenced your life?” (Cohen, Swerdlik & Phillips, 2016).
The mental state exam entails a series of
psychological reviews, which are geared towards understanding
the behavior and the psychological state of a person. The latter

3. involves both the subjective description and objective
observation by a clinician. Some of the complements of the
mental status exams include thought process to ascertain flow of
thought; mood and affect, speeches; judgment, insight,
cognition, and sensorium, thought content and thought
processes of a patient. Each component is designed to
understand the mental and physical condition of a given patient.
Intellectual assessment in psychology involves
evaluation of a person’s general cognitive capabilities, and
intellectual functioning typically referred to as the intelligence
quotient. A significant number of psychologist utilize the
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) to
conduct the rational assessment, which strives to compute
multiple scales of perceptual reasoning, verbal comprehension,
processing speed, and working memory (Pavithra, et al., 2016).
The primary purpose of the intelligence quotient test is to
ascertain the level of rational intelligence in an individual.
The observation of a patient is an important process
typically used by the psychologist or other physicians in order
to identify and assess incongruities and discrepancies that a
patient may fail to disclose. Much of the observation typically
involves studying and observing body language, voice tone,
body movement, pitch, facial expressions, and subconscious
reactions among others. Therefore, utilizing observatory tools
enhance the accuracy of the information dispensed by the
patient by allowing the psychologist to understand the condition
of the patient better. The attention deficit assessment tool
involves a series of question answered within a specific
timeframe, which will allow the physician to ascertain if a
person can be diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. The
assessment strives to ascertain hyperactivity, impulsivity,
concentration level, and self-organization. The assessment tends
to understand the mental or environmental reaction of a patient.

4. Autism spectrum disorder is often diagnosed after an
extensive assessment has been conducted on patients there are
various conventional tools such as the Autism Diagnostic
Interview-Revised (ADI-R), Autism Diagnostic Observation
Schedule- Second Edition (ADOS), and parental rating scale.
The autism spectrum disorder assessment aims to ascertain the
communication skill, social interaction, personal interest, and
atypical behavior patterns in an individual (Anastasi, 2014).
Attitude assessment tests are typically used to ascertain
a person’s feeling towards people, events, or objects. There are
two conventional methods used to measure attitude Likert and
Thurston scale which are used to measure specific components.
The Thurston scale consists of statements pertaining to specific
psychological questions aligned with numerical values, which
can be “crossed” to illustrate the favorability of a statement or
question. Alternatively, the psychologist can use the Likert
scale to measure attitude; which entails a sum of responses to
various statements. The Likert scale entails five major
components that include strong disagree; disagree; neither nor
disagree; agree, and strongly agree.
Pros and Cons
The clinical assessment method is a valid testing tool
for the refereed patients since it strives to understand the main
causes or triggers of Irene’s condition furthermore, to ascertain
the level of influence or significance her childhood contributes
towards her situation. This is similar to the ACE question test
proposed method of assessment by the referring physician. One
of the major challenges of utilizing the intelligence quotient
assessment method is that the latter methods not measure a
patients genetic predispositions rather it focus to understand
their response to their environment. Hence it would be difficult
to ascertain the intrinsic triggers or drivers of a patient such as
Irene, who condition is more intrusive. These are similar

5. challenges experienced by the proposed assessment technique of
Bayley Scales of Infant Development assessment method.
Reference
Anastasi, A. (2014). Psychological testing.
Cohen, R. J., Swerdlik, M. E., & Phillips, S. M. (2016).
Psychological testing and assessment: An introduction to tests
and measurement
. Mayfield Publishing Co.
Pavithra, C., Mangesh Balu, N., & Surya Prakasa, R. (2016).
Rapid psychological assessment of depression and its
relationship with physical health among urban elderly.
Australasian Medical Journal, Vol 9, Iss 7, Pp 211-214 (2016)
, (7), 211.
Andrea, S., Francesca, S., Ivan, D., Umberto, G., & Giulio, V.
(2018). New Perspectives in the Adaptive Assessment of
Depression: The ATS-PD Version of the QuEDS.
Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 9 (2018)