Daneka Case Study

a. Demographics and context: Daneka was a 15 year old girl. She was a loving, energetic girl who had lots of friends, was a straight-A student and enjoyed dancing. She was raised in a middle-class family who always wanted what was best for Daneka. Yet, her mom and dad worked a lot and, therefore, weren’t able to drive Daneka to school every day or spend much time with her because they were always busy with work obligations. However, this wasn’t a problem considering she lived only a few blocks from the school and could walk every day. This never raised any issues since they lived in, what seemed to be, a safe neighborhood and an overall safe community where crime rates were low. Also, Daneka seemed to be a popular, well-known girl that everyone

Biological: The believed alterations of the brain responsible for PTSD are those that are changed due to sufficient stress which causes allostatic load. This includes long-term alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and norepinephrine systems as well affected brain areas like the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.

b. Social-contextual: A possible explanation of difficulties establishing a reciprocal, consistent interaction with her parents. Especially considering the fact that they’re always occupied with work and can’t seem to make enough time for Daneka. This could’ve been occurring way before the traumatic event even happened, but afterwards it could’ve impacted her even more because she has no one to talk to about the event and console her, which makes Daneka distance herself even further away from others and her loved ones. This can overall contribute in developing a lack of consistent stimulation, comfort and routine for Daneka which results in her forming an insecure-disorganized attachment. This could’ve caused this onset of PTSD from happening, resulting in the mixture of approach and avoidance, apprehension, helplessness and a disorientation, which helps to explain Daneka falling behind in her cognitive and social development. Also, it is suspected that Daneka has difficulty with emotion regulation in overall understanding, labeling and regulating her internal states. Poor emotion regulation is overall at

Psychotherapeutic Treatment: It is understandable that some children and teenagers will do everything they possibly can to avoid the feelings they are having. Yet, attempts to avoid or escape their emotions and feelings can make them worse, which is why I chose to implement trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT). This has been adaptive for many sexually abused victims and others, is actually developed for kids and is seen to be highly effective. It incorporates both behavioral and cognitive components as well implementing family and supportive elements. Some of the major components of the treatment are psychoeducation and parenting strategies, relaxation, affective expression and regulation, cognitive coping, trauma narrative and processing, in vivo exposure, conjoint parent child sessions and enhancing personal safety. Two skills that were particularly taught to Daneka were teaching her some muscle relaxation and deep breathing skills. This could be useful for her when she experiences nightmares, flashbacks or anxiety in general about the event. Another skill taught to Daneka was teaching her how to recognize signs if she’s ever in danger and how to stay safe. She was overall taught stress management and relaxation skills to help her cope with any unpleasant, intruding feelings or memories about the traumatic event. Daneka, also, engaged in an activity during the treatment where she would tell her own story or narrative about what had happened to her. This