Frankie Thomson Case Study

Diagnosis of Frankie Murdoch: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder with dissociative symptoms.

Evidence of diagnosis: *A3 – Frankie had exposure to her child’s violent death when she realized that her mother killed the baby.

B3 – Frankie has dissociate reactions (flashbacks) in which she felt and acted as if the traumatic events were recurring. She has many flashbacks including of her baby in Cliff’s room, of her childhood in Pete’s home in the laundromat, of Pete’s death, and the birth and death of her child in Dr. Oz’s office.

C1 – Frankie avoids distressing memoires, thoughts and feelings about the death of her child and the traumatic events surrounding it by switching to a different personality when she comes in contact with stimuli that reminds

She hits Cliff in the head with a pictures frame and slices a wedding guest’s hand with a knife.

E2 – Reckless and self-destructive behavior is shown by Frankie when she runs out in the middle of the street with cars racing by and when she goes to the wedding and confronts Page. Both times she gets arrested.

With dissociative symptoms: Frankie explains that she feels detached and like an outside observer of her body when she is a go-go dancer. She also becomes dissociative when she switches to her other personalities.

While Frankie symptoms meet the diagnosis for both Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Dissociative Identity Disorder, I chose to diagnosis with PTSD because on page 279 of the DSM it states that when the full PTSD criteria is met, the PSTD with dissociative symptoms should be considered. The Dissociative Identity Disorder symptoms are a reaction to the PTSD, which occurred first.

Recommendation for medication: I recommend that Frankie take an SSRI medication. If it is ineffective after six to eight weeks, switch to an