Counseling

Counseling is one of those fields where case studies are essential. Since counseling isn't a perfect science, it heavily relies on studies of past cases to help guide them with existing clients. Counseling case studies are formatted similar to other medical studies.

1. Case history
The first part of the study is accumulating all of the patient's background information.This will include the basics, such as age, gender, and work status, but will also include the patient's history of mental illness, any drug or alcohol use, as well as coping skills.

2. Description of the problem
The second stage of the study is to describe the problem the patient has. The study must clearly detail the symptoms being experienced, along with any additional physical or sensory symptoms.

3. The diagnosis
This section should clearly lay out the diagnosis, based on the diagnoses from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Be sure to explain how the patient's symptoms fit the diagnosis.

4. Intervention
Intervention is how the counselor plans on helping the patient. Some of the forms of intervention include:

• Psychoanalytic - This section would describe how a psychoanalyst would solve the problem. Be sure to back up the information with relevant client resources.


• Cognitive-Behavioral - This section would describe how effective cognitive behavior therapy might be for the patient. Make sure to note any problems or successes found during the treatment with the client.


• Humanist - This section would describe how the humanist approach would work on the client. Again, as with the previous types of therapy, be sure to note all observations throughout the process.