- National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination Intake, Assessment, and Diagnosis Flashcards

A client reports compulsively checking door locks up to 40 times before leaving the house, causing significant distress and making them late to work daily. Which diagnosis BEST fits?

Answer: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

OCD is characterized by obsessions and/or compulsions (such as repetitive checking) that are time-consuming and cause clinically significant distress or functional impairment.

During intake, a client discloses they use cannabis daily and reports that attempts to cut down cause irritability and sleep disturbances. The counselor should assess for:

Answer: Cannabis Use Disorder with Withdrawal

DSM-5 includes Cannabis Withdrawal as a specifier within Cannabis Use Disorder, evidenced by irritability, sleep difficulty, and other symptoms upon reducing use.

A counselor uses the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) during an intake session. This tool PRIMARILY assesses:

Answer: Suicidal ideation intensity, behavior, and lethality

The C-SSRS is a structured assessment instrument designed to measure the severity of suicidal ideation and track suicidal behavior across a spectrum from passive ideation to attempts.

A client endorses depressed mood, fatigue, and hypersomnia during winter months for the past 4 years, with full remission each spring. The MOST accurate diagnosis is:

Answer: Major Depressive Disorder with Seasonal Pattern

DSM-5 specifies 'with seasonal pattern' for MDD when depressive episodes consistently occur at a particular time of year (typically fall/winter) with full remission at other times.

During a structured diagnostic interview, a client describes feeling detached from their own thoughts and body, as if observing themselves from outside. This experience is BEST described as:

Answer: Depersonalization

Depersonalization refers to experiences of unreality, detachment, or feeling like an outside observer of one's own thoughts, feelings, body, or actions.

A counselor is assessing a client who recently immigrated and presents with symptoms that closely align with a recognized culture-bound syndrome. The MOST appropriate clinical response is to:

Answer: Use the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview to explore the cultural context of symptoms

The DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) is a standardized tool designed to assess the cultural context of a client's symptoms, identity, and explanatory models in a culturally sensitive manner.

Which of the following clinical presentations MOST warrants a differential diagnosis between Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Bipolar Disorder in an adolescent?

Answer: Episodic elevated mood, decreased need for sleep, and grandiosity occurring in distinct periods

Episodic elevated mood with decreased sleep need and grandiosity suggests possible Bipolar Disorder; these symptoms differ from ADHD's chronic, non-episodic inattention and hyperactivity.