Here is the clinical case description for you to evaluate:
Dave is a 41-year-old male who was driving home from work oneday and was caught in traffic. He suddenly noticed that his heartwas beginning to race. He then felt short of breath, and tightnessin his chest. When he began to sweat, he became concerned and droveto the nearest emergency room where they could find nothingphysically wrong with him. Since this first time, Dave has felt anintense fear that would reach a peak within a few minutes. Duringthese instances, he would also experience sweating, heartpalpitations, chest pain and discomfort, and shortness of breath.Afterwards, Dave began to avoid exercising in fear he wouldexperience heart palpitations that might signal another attack. Inaddition, he has begun to avoid leaving his house where it may bedifficult to get help in the event of another panic attack. He hasnow begun to rely on his wife to drive their children to theirvarious activities. Although she was understanding at first, Dave’swife has grown frustrated with what she perceives as his irrationalfear of panic attacks.
A) What diagnosis would you give Dave?
| | Generalized Anxiety Disorder |
| | Major Depressive Disorder |
| | Specific Phobia |
| | Bipolar 1 Disorder |
| | Agoraphobia |
| | Obsessive Compulsive Disorder |
| | Panic Disorder |
| | Posttraumatic Stress Disorder |
| | Persistent Depressive Disorder |
| | Social Anxiety Disorder |
B) What treatment method would you recommend? Choose all thatapply.
| | Prescribe SSRIs |
| | Exposure Ritual or Exposure and Response Prevention |
| | Panic Control Treatment |
| | Deep Breathing |
| | Prescribe Lithium |
| | Exposure Therapy of a Trauma Narrative |
C) In approximately 3-4 sentences, write about why you decidedto pick the diagnosis that you did.
D) Some details were left out of this clinical description, whatif anything would change your mind about giving this diagnosis andwhy? (3-4 sentences)
