Psychological Evaluation - Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Case Study Example

After all, change is nature and the sooner it is endorsed the better it becomes. (APA, 2000) In order to psychologically evaluate a patient for any of the numerous psychological disorders, the American Psychological Association (APA) provides a set of guidelines and benchmark standards to enable for effective evaluation and deduction of reliable inferences to sanction treatment or further analysis of the patient. The following definitions are based on the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders and are generally used in evaluating patients for any disorder: Axis1: This axis, or rather this category evaluates disorders relating to; mental health, clinical disorders, moods, anxiety, sleep, adjustment, infancy disorders, psychotic disorders, substance-related disorders among other disorders that impact directly on the patient’s health and well-being.

(Hersen & Beidel, 2012) Axis 5: This axis shows the patient’s overall well-being based on the Clinical Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale (DSM IV, Axis V) on a scale of 1-100, with 100 representing a person with no problems and excellent functioning and vice versa. (Hsiung, 2012) 1) The general well-being of the patient. At the beginning of the session, the patient mentioned that the relationship between his wife and him was all fine until recently when he found it difficult getting intimate with her.

It would be awkward to say that the patient has a case of erectile dysfunction since their bedroom life has been fairly nice. 2) The overall performance. The patient admitted to masturbating which in most cases is as a result of lack of interest in getting intimate with the wife or moreover a boring sex life. This can also be as a result of the current job issues he has. He mentioned he was promoted which was not the case which seemed to dampen his spirits and hence the issues manifested themselves in the form of masturbation and withdrawals.

This could also be a result of lacking proper attention both at work and at home which also has led to withdrawal and lying in a relationship.