Description: This workshop will be conducted as something of a detective story. As clinicians we are often presented with clients who may come across at different moments as depressed, hopeful, anxious, giddy, shut-down, fearful, flat, or agitated. How we assess our clients impacts our treatment plan. Working effectively with PTSD, for example, would differ from our approach to treating an individual with social anxiety or depression. Yet even experienced clinicians do not always see eye-to-eye on diagnosis. In this workshop, Eric Youngstrom will illustrate the process of differential diagnosis by inviting us to engage in his gradually unfolding and transparent assessment of a particularly challenging case study. Participants will gain skills in differentiating between different types of mood disorders, why this matters, as well as gaining in familiarity with relevant assessment tools.
Trainer: Eric A. Youngstrom, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist, and Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is also Acting Director of the Center of Excellence for Research and treatment of Bipolar Disorder. He is an extremely engaged researcher – he has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, reviewed articles for more than 70 scientific journals, and serves on the editorial boards of numerous journals. Much of his research has focused on ways to improve the use of clinical assessment instruments for making better differential diagnoses, predictions about future functioning, or monitoring of treatment progress – particularly with regard to bipolar disorder across the lifespan. Currently, he is the principal investigator on two multi-site studies designed to improve the assessment of bipolar disorder in diverse communities. He has presented his work at scientific meetings around the globe, and has received numerous awards for his research and teaching.
Resources:
UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work Clinical Lecture Series