The Client 24-year-old white male self-admitted as an inpatient due to fear of hurting others. Patient is from out of town, currently attending military drills.

 Journal Entries

 

The Client

24-year-old white male self-admitted as an inpatient due to fear of hurting others. Patient is from out of town, currently attending military drills. Patient found out that his significant other he was planning on proposing to has be actively having relations with his step-brother. Patient has a history of fits of rage at a young age that caused hospitalizations of others so he felt it was best he received help before doing harm to others. Patient has no other psychiatric history, no suicidal ideations, not hearing voices or seeing things that are not present, he does not believe others are out to do harm to him. Patient states that no one in his immediate family has history of psychiatric conditions. Patient does report physical and verbal abuse from step-father as a young child. During his teenage years patient was addicted to illicit drugs and alcohol.

Diagnosis

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5), the patient presents with characteristics of PTSD. The patient exhibits “irritable behavior and angry outbursts (with little or no provocation) typically expressed as verbal or physical aggression, reckless or self-destructive behavior, exaggerated startle response, problems with concentration and sleep disturbance lasting since his early teen years” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

Patient states he has difficulty trusting others, assures his back is always to a wall, is easily agitated and tends to frequently relay his anger verbally, was once addicted to illicit drugs to cope with the stress in is life, has difficulty concentrating on simple tasks and must keep himself busy at all time, also states he sleeps very little.

 

Legal and Ethical Implications

Special concerns with this patient were voiced because of his current non-active role in the military. The patient came from training drills to seek help for his anger. The military has certain requirements for the patient to be able to safely return to drills. Ethically it is important to ensure the patient’s safety first and assess his intent to do harm to others. In the case of this patient, he was kept for observation for three days before being allowed discharge although the patient was addiment that he just needed a safe place for one night and that he did not feel the need to do harm to himself or others. The case can be made that individuals with military training, combat exposure, and ensuing PTSD may find it even more difficult to engage in an accurate appraisal of danger. Training for combat increases reliance on muscle memory or automatic actions in times of perceived threat, training that was provided initially by the military to help soldiers stay alive. But the physiological sensitivity that results from a chronically disordered pattern of arousal as is found in PTSD can set the stage for a quicksilver reactivity that leads to actions in a civilian setting that have criminal justice implications (Tramontin, 2010).

 

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental

disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.