| Diagnosing
in One Session
Question:
Azfar Malik--
I have a (male) friend who is in the military and living on the west
coast. His father passed away 12 years ago, the rest of his family
lives on the east coast. He has been sharing an apt. with a fellow
air force member for the past 8 months. However they do not get
along at all. He also strongly dislikes his job. Recently,
through a routine visit to the doctor, he was told he has an anxiety
disorder. What might be possible causes of this? My friend
visited a psychiatrist who after one visit told him the disorder was
directly related to his fathers death. I am currently studying
psychology and don't understand how this doctor can rationally come to
this conclusion after only one visit. My friend and I have
researched this disorder. I have talked to a professor of mine (who is a
psychologist) about the situation. I want to get a variety of
opinions on the subject. Thank you for your time.
hannah
Response:
Hello Hannah
I can't speak for the psychiatrist that your friend visited... but in
doing an evaluation most psychiatrists will ask questions that reveal the
causes of stress and anxiety in a patient. Initial evaluations are quite
lengthy and involve taking a fairly detailed history of the onset of
symptoms and other related events.
Since you are a psychology student, i am sure you can understand the
importance of history and the inference a specialist can draw from such
information. Any experienced psychiatrist will be able to identify
the connection between cause and effect of a situation and the following
symptoms... and can hypothesize the correlation. Human conditions
are not absolute facts, so that it would be open to further questioning
and exploration.
Hypothetically, it is possible that your friend developed symptoms of
anxiety after his father's death, but they were not identified as such.
And it is possible that events following his father's death further
exacerbated his condition... such that it is identifiable to him now, and
that he did not recognize the more subtle signs of it earlier. But
it would be obvious to a psychiatrist who is trained in recognizing the
subtle and gross signs of anxiety.
On the other hand, it is also possible that his anxiety is totally
unrelated to his father's death, and that the psychiatrist made a hasty
judgment. Maybe his anxiety has to do with his current situation.
Without a complete history, it is impossible to answer your question as to
whether your friend's anxiety was due to his father's death or not. Guessing
is futile when trying to diagnose or make assessments.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Azfar Malik MD
Uzma Mazhar
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