Ep48 Translating Psychiatric to Behavioral with Sue Gabriel

Anyone else ever get bored and just randomly start looking up various diagnoses and diseases to learn more about how it can present behaviorally? Or had a client on your caseload with a diagnosis you were unfamiliar with? There’s been an increase in discussion and representation of mental health over the last several years and as technology and research continue to advance, the likelihood of professionals working with unfamiliar diagnoses increases. There have also been changes in perspectives and practice over the years and it is important to understand the history of psychiatric diagnoses in order to have a more well-rounded understanding of other’s interpretations, expectations, and understanding of different diagnoses. Behavior is rationale and there are certain patterns of behavior that may warrant an additional diagnosis. And being aware of the overt observable and the nuanced behaviors that come with certain diagnoses is important for the success of treatment.

In this fantastic talk we meet with Sue Gabriel, PMHNP-BC, a psychiatric nurse practitioner to talk about some of the history of psychiatric interventions, and working with people who have difficult to manage psychiatric and/or behavior problems in association with their neuro-developmental challenges. Sue currently provides direct psychiatric supports for persons dealing with the full range of mental health needs (neurodevelopmental challenges, full range of psychiatric concerns and/or personality disorders) for a county mental health center in MI. In addition to direct clinical care, she has been involved in local, state-level, and national level groups to create new service delivery options. Medications serve a purpose and professionals should agree on the purpose for administration and the observable and measurable responses that determine improvement and success.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe some of the responses and behaviors that are observed for different psychiatric diagnoses such as Borderline Personality Disorder, Bi-Polar.

2. Describe some of the measurement techniques that BCBAs can use to collect data on diagnoses outside of autism.

3. Recognize how collaboration with diagnostic and prescribing entities is important to the success of the client and patient.

Take Aways- your bite-sized educational noms

- There are many observable and measurable responses that a BCBA can collect data on to measure the effectiveness of a particular medication. If a medication is prescribed to help someone “feel better” what are the observable events that signal “feeling better”? Some things are going to be unique to the individual but there are common markers professionals can collect data on such as sleep, appetite/food consumption, activity and engagement.

- Some individuals have limited communication skills and that may make determining the effectiveness of treatment more difficult. Professionals need to be extremely observant in these situations in order to help translate accurately what the person is trying to communicate.

- When collaborating with other professions it is important to listen first, seek out information, rule of physical issues and potential manifestations of side effects, and talk about results/goals/progress/regression in observable and measurable terms and behaviors.

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