Karina is a 32-year-old Caucasian female, married, with two children. She has entered the clinic you are working in for an assessment today due to a referral from her primary care physician. Karina states that she has had significant difficulty sleeping lately, waking up frequently through the night. She shares that she has been suffering from nightmares over the past five months. Approximately seven months ago, Karina was in a significant car accident. She had one of her children in the car with her, who was thankfully not injured whatsoever. Karina states that she was so afraid that her child was injured in the accident and has not been able to stop thinking about and worrying about the specific child. Karina has had a difficult time at work as well, often finding herself losing track of what she is doing, losing track of time, and essentially “checking out” cognitively during tasks. She has not been able to drive since the accident, often asking her partner to drive her to work when necessary. During the day, Karina shares that she finds herself abruptly remembering the moment of impact from the crash. Anything that smells burnt has reminded her of the smell of the accident. Loud noises have caused her to feel an immediate release of adrenaline in her body and intense fear.
Please respond to the following:
Identify and discuss the key symptoms experienced by the client.
Discuss at least two possible diagnoses.
Provide a diagnosis for the client, including DSM–5-TRcoding.
Include a rationale for the diagnosis that you arrived at for the client.
Provide a rationale for ruling out at least one additional/possible diagnosis.
Provide a recommendation for an evidence-based treatment.
Use at least one peer-reviewed article that demonstrates efficacy for the diagnosis that you provided.
