Case Study
Patient Demographic: Client Age: 25 Sex: Male Gender: Male Sexuality: Bisexual Ethnicity: Caucasian Relationship Status: Single Counseling Setting: Telehealth Type of Counseling: Individual counseling Presenting Problem: The client is experiencing difficulty focusing on work due to a childhood diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and thinks that if he cannot keep up with work, he is going to get fired. Diagnosis: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), predominantly inattentive presentation (F90.0)
Mental Status Exam: Mental Status Exam: The client is oriented to person, place, time and situation. The client is engaged and participates fully in the intake session. The client does not appear anxious. The client has a flat af
Presenting Problem: You are a licensed counselor working in your own private practice and providing telehealth sessions to clients. The client states that he is having trouble keeping up with tasks at work. The client reports that he wakes up and does not want to go to work because he knows he will not get much done. The client is often late to work, and although he is typically the only one in the office, his employer comes to work every now and then, and he worries that he will get caught arriving late. He says that he procrastinates on tasks but, often near the end of the day, finds motivation to complete the tasks and stays late to do so. In addition to his trouble at work, the client says he thinks that he does not do much that makes him happy. He expresses the desire to write stories and play guitar more because these activities used to make him happy, but he has trouble finding motivation to engage in them at the present.
Other Contexts: It has been 1 month since you last saw the client because he has canceled many sessions in a row without explanation. You process attendance with him and then ask him for updates regarding how symptoms have been over the last month. The client says that there were many reasons for cancellations, such as going to dinner with friends, being too tired, and forgetting about the session and making other plans. The client says that he got a new job and states that he is doing much better managing his ADHD symptoms in the new position. You and the client process what was difficult about his last position and then identify that these tasks are not present in the current position. A majority of this session was spent assessing the level of symptomatology experienced over the past month and the client reporting on events that occurred since the last session

Question: Due to the client’s inconsistency in attending sessions, which one of the following areas might you focus on in order to improve his attendance?
(A): Scheduling conflicts
(B): Organization skills
(C): Goals that are meaningful to the client
(D): Different or additional diagnoses

Correct Answer: Goals that are meaningful to the client
Explanation: The client is not prioritizing counseling, as evidenced by his list of activities he is participating in that have interrupted his ability to attend. It would be important to focus on how to make sessions meaningful to the client by identifying goals and interventions that matter to him. You have explored depression as another diagnosis; however, there is a possibility that this is not the priority issue because interventions have not motivated the client to continue to attend his sessions. The client’s organizational skills are an issue secondary to his ADHD diagnosis; however, you would still want to find a way to engage him in therapy by making it meaningful for him. Scheduling conflicts are not likely an issue because the client is finding time to attend a long list of other activities that do not seem to be impacted by scheduling conflicts. Therefore, the correct answer is (A)
Competency: treatment planning