Analyzing Case Study

Case Study 5:
A 28-year-old woman is a rising junior executive in her investment company. Her increasing duties require her to make periodic formal presentations to the senior management of the company. However, she becomes intensely anxious at the thought of speaking in public. When she is forced to give a presentation she begins to feel anxious days in advance of the talk and the anxiety increases as the time for the talk approaches. She is concerned that her anxiety will become noticeable during the talk or that she will do something to embarrass herself.

Diagnosis:
The case study presented has social phobia. The diagnostic criteria for social phobia, a marked and persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfamiliar people or to possible scrutiny by others. The individual fears that he or she will act in a way (or show anxiety symptoms) that will be humiliating or embarrassing, matches the case study.

Therapy:
Appropriate therapy for the patient would be cognitive-behavior therapy which involves helping patients gradually become more comfortable with situations that frighten them. The process involves three stages. The first involves introducing people to the feared situation. The second level is to increase the risk for disapproval in that situation so people build confidence that they can handle rejection or criticism. The third stage involves teaching people techniques to cope with disapproval. Another important aspect of treatment is called cognitive restructuring, which involves helping individuals identify their misjudgments and develop more realistic expectations of the likelihood of danger in social situations. Another option would be supportive therapy.

Summary:
The case study described has social phobia where she becomes extremely self-concious and develops anxiety because she's afraid of embarassing herself. There're different methods of therapy to help, but the best seems to be cognitive-behavior therapy. This is where she mentally traings herself to cope with public speaking situations.

Sources:
Social Phobia, Treatment

Tim Burton's Bipolar Disorder

Timothy Burton, he's a famous director of well known movies such as, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Sweeny Todd. His movies are know to have dark gothic themes and the main characters are usually misfits, outsiders, physically or emotionally scarred. For example, in Sweeny Todd, Johnny Depp has extremely pale skin, common in Burton's films, and dark bags underneath his eyes.

Burton was born on August 25, 1958 in Burbank, California. Tim describes his childhood as quirky, self-absorbed, and highly imaginative. Growing up, Tim staged and axe murder with his brother to frighten his neighbors thus giving him the nickname Axe Wound. He grew up next to a cemetery and has told of the "wierdness" of the situation. This is what prompted the awkward characters for his great movies.

The manic and hypomanic elations in Burton's mood further urged his ideas for dark and odd movies to escalate. My feelings on this disorder is mutual. I feel that it has done mind boggling things for the world of Tim Burton, but at times it can become a bother. Everyone has mood swings from time to time and they never become the best of us. I think Tim Burton has embraced his bipolar disorder and has only helped his career.

Sources: Wikipedia, Bipolar Info, Rotten Tomatoes