Neurocognitive disorders describe decreased mental function due to a medical disease other than a psychiatric illness. In this chapter, cases related to substance-induced major neurocognitive disorder and major neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease are presented. Questions for consideration follow each case.

This chapter features five cases from across the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) and may be used as a final review. There is diversity in clientele, diagnosis, and treatment modality and may help students demonstrate their skills in diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders.

The elimination disorders in this chapter involve the inappropriate elimination of urine or feces and are the result of trauma in a midlife female and an adolescent male. This group of disorders includes enuresis, the repeated voiding of urine into inappropriate places, and encopresis, the repeated passage of feces into inappropriate places. Questions for consideration follow the case conceptualizations.

Race, ethnicity, and culture influence client identity and life circumstances. Other factors, such as gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, religion, and ability may also play into the context of a client’s mental health or personal issues. The four cases in this chapter feature cultural aspects that have a significant role in the treatment and conceptualization by their clinicians. Culturally competent clinicians practice cultural humility and understand that clients’ backgrounds influence the ways in which they view the world and that the clinician’s role must change to accommodate these perspectives.

Trauma and stressor-related disorders are a group of emotional and behavioral problems that may result from traumatic and stressful experiences such as exposure to physical or emotional violence or pain, including abuse, neglect, or intense family conflict. This chapter contains five cases related to trauma and stressor-related disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, reactive attachment disorder, and adjustment disorder. The clients in this chapter also includes a broad range of ages and demographics, ranging in age from 8 to 68, and they are urban, rural, and suburban dwellers with a variety of family constellations, strengths, and challenges. Specific traumas related to child sexual abuse and neglect as well as questions for consideration are also included.

Personality disorders are a type of mental disorder in which individuals have a rigid and unhealthy pattern of thinking, functioning, and behaving. The three individual case studies presented in the following chapter have trouble perceiving and relating to situations and people, causing significant problems in relationships, social activities, and the workplace.

The misuse and abuse of substances such as alcohol and drugs put people at risk for short-term and long-term harm. This chapter highlights the cases of four individuals and one family who have diagnosed substance-related disorders such as alcoholism or opioid addition. Questions for consideration follow each case.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a disorder in which people have recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas, or sensations (obsessions) that make them feel driven to do something repetitively (compulsions). This chapter contains three cases of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders in three adolescent males. While the clients in each of these cases have symptoms that lead to a DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Fifth Edition) diagnosis in the same category, this chapter highlights how the disorder often presents in different ways and with different obsessive thoughts (e.g., sexual orientation obsession). Obsessive-compulsive disorder may co-occur with Tic disorder and a case that demonstrates this link is included. Questions for consideration are also included.

A paraphilic disorder exists when recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, urges, or behaviors cause distress and/or impairment to the individual. In some individuals with paraphilic disorder, their sexual satisfaction has entailed personal harm or the risk of harm to others. The cases in this chapter represent studies of sexual sadism and voyeuristic disorder and how each of the men diagnosed with these conditions respond to court-appointed therapy. Questions for consideration follow each case.