Common

A 38-year-old man on remand is referred to the prison health service for "anger management". He is charming and articulate. He was expelled from school at 13, h…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

A 63-year-old retired postal worker is referred with four months of "insomnia". He falls asleep within ten minutes but wakes at about 4 am and cannot get back t…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

An 8-year-old boy is brought by his parents because two or three nights a week, usually about an hour after falling asleep, he sits bolt upright and screams. He…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

A 16-year-old girl attends your general practice with her mother, who announces at the desk that her daughter needs to go on the pill for her periods. In the ro…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

A 15-year-old girl has lost 7 kg over eight months by cutting out fats and running before school, and is frightened of gaining weight. She is 160 cm tall and we…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

Six days ago a 27-year-old childcare worker was the front-seat passenger in a head-on collision in which the driver was killed. Since then she has had intrusive…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

A 23-year-old law student describes episodes that begin during arguments with her partner. She suddenly feels as though she has floated up to the ceiling and is…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

A 38-year-old woman has attended your general practice eleven times in six months. Each visit follows a new bodily sensation - a headache, a skin blemish, a twi…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

A 52-year-old woman attends your practice 20 to 30 times a year with headaches, bloating, dizziness and aching limbs that she says rule her days. She has had tw…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

Three days ago a bus carrying school staff rolled on a country highway and two people died. A 44-year-old teacher who was on the bus is physically uninjured but…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

A 31-year-old teacher describes eight months of constant worry about her students, her mortgage and her parents' health that she cannot switch off. She is tense…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

Nineteen days after being pulled from a burning car, a 34-year-old man cannot stop seeing the flames whenever he closes his eyes. He wakes several times a night…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

A 74-year-old woman is referred with six months of worry, restlessness and broken sleep. She has never been anxious before and can point to no trigger. She has…

Psychiatry · Pre-internship · common

A 29-year-old woman has had six months of abrupt attacks of pounding heartbeat, breathlessness and tingling fingers that peak within minutes. They have come on…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

A general practice in Perth is planning how to staff its mental health clinics and asks a medical student to summarise the most recent national data. The studen…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

A 31-year-old primary school teacher has felt low, flat and tearful for seven weeks. She still gets to work every day but finds preparing lessons harder than us…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

A 47-year-old farmer is brought to a regional emergency department by his brother. Over three months he has withdrawn from the family, stopped eating with them…

Psychiatry · Pre-internship · common

A 58-year-old man with a three-month depressive episode tells his general practitioner, quietly and without being asked, that he has been thinking about ending…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

A 15-year-old girl is brought by her mother, who says that for four months she has snapped at everyone, slipped from top of the class to failing, given up netba…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common

A 32-year-old woman attends the child health clinic six weeks after an uncomplicated birth. For a month she has felt flat throughout the day, has taken no pleas…

Psychiatry · Clinical rotations · common