8. Best Practice/Treatment Ideas Flashcards
What is the best way to approach people with paranoia symptoms?
The treatment of choice for people with paranoid symptoms is to do the least threatening, most supportive interventions, so as to not trigger paranoid ideas about the social worker. A direct discussion could be very counterproductive and stimulate resistance.
How does academic excellence correlate to suicidal tendencies?
Children who are doing well in school are less likely to exhibit suicidal tendencies than those with a history of depression or hospitalization
What is the recovery outlook of late onset psychoses in adults?
Late onset psychoses in adults that occur without any previous hex are usually of limited duration. Client generally recovers.
What is the best way to help an adolescent with a severe behavior disorder involving physical aggression and property destruction?
An adolescent with a severe behavior disorder involving physical aggression and property destruction can be best helped in a residential program that is tightly supervised. Many programs use behavioral strategies and are effective at helping these clients manage their aggression and learn new behaviors
Why do social workers need to be cautious about their behavior around someone with avoidant or paranoid issues?
For someone with avoidant or paranoid issues, the worker’s behavior would confirm that their world view made sense.
What is the goal in dealing with schizophrenic clients?
For clients with schizophrenia, the goal is to enhance ego functioning, not to increase discomfort.
Supportive therapy has been shown to be very effective for people with schizophrenia. The client is an individual who has a capacity for self-observation and who wishes to discuss his concerns. A supportive and educative (as needed) response as the client struggles to adjust to his illness is the best clinical response.
What is the goal with passive aggressive clients?
For clients with a passive aggressive personality, however, the goal is to make them conscious of their anger. Thus, creating discomfort might allow the client to “act out” discomfort in passive aggressive ways. Once this occurs in treatment, it can be addressed.
What is the first step in suicide prevention communication?
While it may ultimately be necessary to notify the police, the first step is to keep the family informed since the client lives with them. If a suicide attempt seems imminent, the clinician would most likely seek to hospitalize the individual.
How does family life (particularly in children) impact aggression and suicidal behavior?
Chronically stressful family lives, abuse and discord, are markers for aggression against self and others. While suicidal behavior often occurs in the context of a variety of stressors, the ability to contextualize stress and develop coping strategies, is in part related to family experiences. Children whose families are dysfunctional, filled with discord and violent often have few resources to deal with stress and may act out violently.
What is the best treatment setting for pedophiles & other sexual offenders?
Generally treatment for pedophiles & other sexual offenders is group treatment with other sexual offenders. These groups are often confrontational and have an unusual capacity for piercing the veil of denial that often characterizes sex offenders.
Sexual offenders often exhibit profound denial or minimization about their sexual behavior and therefore, their statements cannot always be accepted at face value. Moreover, they are highly motivated to dissemble since if they re-offend, it could lead to imprisonment.
What should a therapist do if fantasizing about a client?
Anecdotal evidence suggests that fantasizing about clients is common. Usually these fantasies can be controlled and managed.
The social worker can benefit from airing his feelings with a consultant or supervisor.
There is no reason to end treatment, unless the worker believes that the fantasies interfere with the therapeutic relationships. The fundamental principle is to do what is best for the client. Ending the treatment would not be of help at this point.
What are the important data points is assessing risk for child abuse?
In assessing the risk for child abuse, a social worker would consider parents’ attitudes toward discipline, family history, and child injuries as most important.
How should the client’s wants or needs be addressed while developing a case plan?
As part of developing a case plan, it is useful to discuss, if only in general terms, what the client wants or needs as a goal of treatment. The possibility of terminating when certain goals are achieved can be raised during the case planning process.
Should a social worker construct a DSM diagnosis from a social interaction?
It is irresponsible for a SW to construct a DSM diagnosis from social contact.
Should race or ethnicity influence how the social worker interacts with the client?
Social services provisions should be both racially and ethnically neutral unless the client has a preference. The answer suggests that the worker should begin the interview in the same way any other interview would begin without a reference to different ethnic or racial backgrounds.
