Based on the diagnostic criteria, the client suffers from PTSD because of the symptoms portrayed. Given the fact that the client started experiencing the problems after the traumatic event, he might be suffering from PTSD. PTSD would probably follow a traumatic event, for instance, an accident, disaster, or death of the loved one. In real life scenario, PTSD would start immediately after the disaster. Furthermore, the feeling of the client is another proof that the client might be suffering from PTSD. In the case study, we are informed that the client was grief-stricken, disheartened, apprehensive, culpable, and irritated. From the case study, the client suffers from continual stress, which is an automatic sign of PTSD. Individuals suffering from such disasters would develop both long-term and short-time traumatic conditions. Some clients may complain of feeling dizzy all the time, which is also a symptom of PTSD. From the case study, some specific procedures and measures need to be taken care of to prevent serious problems. When assessing the client, the crisis worker should make sure that questions are designed in a way that would not infringe on the rights and privacy of the client. Information gathering should be based on the pieces of information given by the client, not what others claim to know. In case the crisis worker takes such a client to the doctor, he or she should ensure that the guardians or relatives of the client are informed immediately. Some clients would be comfortable giving out information in presence of the relatives.
Through the symptoms portrayed by the client, the crisis worker was able to identify that the client was suffering from PTSD. The client does not understand his present status because of his worries. Therefore, the client needs to be handled with care, whereby a comprehensive assessment of the event should be undertaken and the patient is to be given physical, psychological, and social care. This means that society needs such as caregiving and consolation need to be provided. Furthermore, the crisis worker should come up with strategies that would help the client to recover psychologically, apart from recommending physical treatment. For there to be sufficient assistance, the crisis worker needs to rise to the occasion and provide informed information to the client for him to make an informed decision regarding the recovery process. This is because disaster patients usually undergo a status of confusion and some of them rarely speak out their hearts. For there to be a quick recovery, the crisis needs to make sure that he advises all professionals to accept that the patient is suffering from PTSD. This would ensure that all professionals embark on a serious campaign of monitoring the progress of the client (Kulka, Schlenger, Fairbank, Hough, Jordan, Marmar, 1990).
Before declaring that the patient suffers from PTSD, the crisis worker needs to conduct a DSM-IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). It should be noted that the history and the psychiatric interview would help determine whether an individual suffers from PTSD. Due to this, the same tool and procedure would be used to identify whether the client in the case study suffers from PTSD. Using DSM-IV-TR, scholars note that patients show additional symptoms such as lack of sleep, irritability, outbursts of anger, lack of concentration, hyperactive attention, and exaggerated shock response (Bryant, & Harvey, 1997).
References
Bryant, R.A. & Harvey, A.G. (1997). Acute Stress Disorder: A critical review of diagnostic issues. Clinical Psychology Review, 17(1), 757-773.
Kulka, R.A., Schlenger, W.E., Fairbank, J.A., Hough, R.L., Jordan, B.K., Marmar, C.R. (1990). Trauma and the Vietnam War generation: Report of findings from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study. New York: Brunner/Mazel.