Reflect on the three (3) most challenging patients you encountered during the practicum experience. What was most challenging about each?

One of the most challenging patients I dealt with was a 29-year-old lady who presented with Suicidal thoughts. This lady was struggling with feelings of abandonment and was thus resentful. In addition, the patient was characterized by numerous outbursts during the interview. This thus made it difficult to conduct psychotherapy at the time. Another encounter was with a Caucasian man aged 30 who presented with a manic episode. This patient had a history of opiate use. Subutex was the only drug that worked for this patient. Trileptal was preferred, but he refused, citing that there was no other medication that could help him as he had used them before. He was eventually administered subutex because of his opiate use problem (Stupazzoni, 2022). The patient, however, wanted this medication in order for him to stay sober. The third most challenging patient was an abusive and arrogant patient. This patient had presented complaining of Anxiety and sleepless nights. However, during the interview with this patient, he was unclear and brief in his responses, making it hard to obtain critical information concerning his condition. What did you learn from this experience? Typically, I learned about patient dishonesty. Some patients may provide inaccurate, misleading information concerning their condition. This can thus lead to misdiagnosis and, ultimately, a wrong approach in trying to mitigate the underlying health condition. Another critical lesson I learned was dealing with arrogant and abusive patients with minimal empathy. I maintained my calm and composure by listening intently to the patient's words.