NURS 6630 Assessing and Treating Patients With Impulsivity, Compulsivity, and Addiction

NURS 6630 Assessing and Treating Patients With Impulsivity, Compulsivity, and Addiction

Impulsivity disorders are characterized by the inability to resist the sudden, powerful desire to do something and difficulties controlling emotions or behaviors. On the other hand, addiction is a complex mental condition characterized by compulsive substance use regardless of detrimental consequences. The purpose of this paper is to describe a patient with an addiction disorder and the treatment interventions.

Introduction to the Case

The case scenario depicts Mrs. Perez, a 53-year-old Puerto Rican woman with alcohol drinking problems since her late teenage years. Perez has been a part of Alcoholics Anonymous from time to time for the last 25 years. The patient also reports that she has been finding it more difficult to remain sober in the past two years since a casino was opened in her neighborhood. Perez mentions that she gets high when gambling since she takes some drinks when playing high-stake gambling games. However, this leads to increased alcohol consumption and irresponsible gambling. In addition, the client states she has increasingly been smoking in the past two years and is worried about the adverse health impacts.

Mrs. Perez reports that she has tried refraining from alcohol consumption, but gambling makes her high, making her take a few drinks to even up. She has also realized that when she consumes alcohol, she smokes minimally, but she enjoys smoking when gambling. The patient has experienced weight gain from excessive drinking, and her current weight is 122 lbs, having gained 7 lbs. The patient is worried since she borrowed more than $50,000 from her retirement account to pay gambling debts. Noteworthy MSE findings include avoiding eye contact, sad mood, and impaired impulse control. Mrs. Perez is diagnosed with Gambling disorder and alcohol use disorder. The patient factors that may affect decision-making with regard to treatment include age, overall health status, comorbid mental health illnesses, the patient’s previous experience with medication, the patient’s beliefs and opinions on useful therapies, history of treatment compliance, and the patient’s motivation for abstinence.