Developmental History of the Psychopathological Condition

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Table of Contents

Background
Case Summary
Case Analysis
Conclusions
Reference

Background

Human development is a systematic process that begins at conception and ends when an individual dies. Therefore, human development is characterized by several stages, which are influenced by heredity, genetics, and environmental factors (society, family, and culture). Conversely, the developmental history (Developmental screening) of an individual entails a set of procedures and questions, which are administered by psychologists and psychiatrists on their patients to elucidate the root cause of their present psychopathological condition (Santrock, 2010).

As a result, most psychologists and psychiatrists use a developmental history questionnaire, which is made up of several sections relative to specific cases being analyzed to measure the physical and mental conditions of the patient. Therefore, a standard developmental history questionnaire, which measures the physical and mental development conditions of a seven-year-old child, is made up of about nine sections. The sections include general demographics; conception and delivery; infancy and toddler years; pre-school years; elementary school years; family and home, reasons for referral, medical status, and contact persons.

Case Summary

This essay presents a case study on the developmental history of a seven-year-old boy who is a slow learner. The subject child was born to an alcoholic mother who is addicted to non-prescription drugs. In addition, the child’s mother is a single parent with two other children. The child’s mother is also a high school dropout who lives below the poverty line and works as a full-time cashier at Wal-Mart. Therefore, when she was pregnant with the subject child, the mother was fond of smoking, drinking alcohol, and taking non-prescription drugs. As a result, the boy was born prematurely and weighed four and a half pounds. Furthermore, his developmental period was characterized by slow growth; development of a poor and tiny posture; poor communication, social, and learning skills; difficulty in talking, and at the age of seven, the boy still has a speech therapy problem. Additionally, the child is on medication to treat Autism.

Case Analysis

From the discussions above, it is notable that the child’s medical and psychological conditions are influenced by several risk factors present in different stages of his developmental period. Therefore, we can apply different sections of the developmental history questionnaire to analyze the current case. Here, there are five major sections, which provide important insights into the development of the current medical and psychological conditions of the subject child.

First, considering the child’s developmental history during conception and delivery, one can note several risky behaviors that can affect the health of the fetus. During pregnancy, the fetus depends on its mother for nutritional nourishment. Therefore, a pregnant woman should consume a balanced diet, which is made up of all the five food groups such as proteins, minerals, carbohydrates, and vitamins. As a result, inadequate nutritional intake can severely affect the fetus or cause various pre-natal complications (Santrock, 2010). Therefore, in the current case, it is notable that the child’s mother did not consume adequate nutrients to support the growth processes of the fetus because she was an alcoholic and a drug addict. Consequently, the child was born prematurely and underweight because the mother did not provide the infant with sufficient nourishment. Conversely, most non-prescription drugs can act as teratogens, which are drugs that can cause abnormal growth during the pre-natal stage of development.

Secondly, the infancy and toddler growth period in the developmental history of a child occurs at age 0-2 years old. This period is characterized by the rapid development of the nervous system particularly the brain. Here, adequate nourishment of the toddler particularly through breastfeeding is imperative to enhance normal brain development. Unfortunately, the developmental history in the current case shows that the mother is an alcoholic and a drug addict. Therefore, chances are that the toddler did not receive sufficient nourishment during this period. As a result, the normal growth characteristics such as the development of language and speech; gross motor (development of posture); normal social interactions; and development of fine movements were incomplete (Santrock, 2010). Therefore, the child’s slow growth, poor speech, tiny and poor posture, and other psychopathological conditions are attributable to his inadequate nutritional nourishment during the early stages of growth.

Additionally, the third section in the developmental history questionnaire looks at the period between 2-5 years of age. Here, a psychologist seeks to evaluate the child’s learning skills through analyzing the child’s ability to interact with the outside world and the ability to explore, absorb, and develop unique social skills such as playing and responding to rewards and punishments. In the current case, probably, the poor nutritional nourishment of the subject child during his early stages of development influenced his neural development and as a result, the child developed Autism.

Here, Autism is a disorder, which is associated with neural development and is characterized by poor development of social and communication skills during the early childhood stage. However, the early symptoms of Autism can also be replicated in later stages of life-span development such as when a child enters elementary school. The elementary school forms the fourth stage in the analysis of the developmental history of an individual. Here, studies note that the child may experience a slow learning experience due to the inability to process information in the brain (Santrock, 2010). This condition is attributable to the symptoms of Autism because the disorder alters the normal functions of the nerves in terms of connecting and transferring information through synapses. Therefore, Autism alters the normal processes of cognitive and language development. As a result, patients with Autism may experience prolonged absenteeism from school, poor grades, resentful and avoidant attitudes towards school and learning, and lack of interest in social activities such as extra-curricular activities.

Lastly, most Autism patients can also encounter various challenges in the family and at home, which form the immediate social environment for children. At this stage, studies show that the prevalence of social problems such as alcoholism and chemical dependence may deny the patient the opportunity to recover and develop the ability to learn from the immediate social surroundings (Santrock, 2010). As a result, the patient especially the subject child in the current case study lacks the motivations and behavioral interventions, which are imperative during the recovery period for Autism patients.

Conclusions

This essay presents a case study, which highlights the importance of using the developmental history of different patients in the studies aimed at delineating the historical and current events in a patient’s life, which can be attributed to their present psychopathological or medical conditions. Therefore, the current case study is significant in developmental history (developmental screening) because it presents the researcher (Psychologist) with the opportunity to make sound judgments and decisions on the way forward for the patient in question. Additionally, the current case provides sufficient information, which is important to psychologists and psychiatrists in terms of enabling them to recommend referrals relative to the patient’s medical and psychopathological conditions.

Reference

Santock, J.W. (2010). A topical approach to life-span development (5^th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

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Developmental History of the Psychopathological Condition

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