Charlie Leonard is a 68-year-old widowed white male who has been increasingly withdrawn and lonely. Five months ago, his wife died very suddenly after a cardiac arrest. He was with her when she died. They had been married for 42 years. He is a longtime member of his church, but he has missed services and Bible study classes for the past five Sundays. He used to love to watch baseball on TV and take walks around the block, but he states he no longer has the interest or the energy to do so anymore. He has had flashbacks of his wife’s dying moments and has a difficult time sleeping. His appetite is poor and he has lost 10 pounds in the past month. Often, Charlie has difficulty sleeping during the night because he often takes a few naps during the day.
He is referred to you, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, by his primary care nurse practitioner.
Questions
From your perspective as Charlie’s psychiatric nurse practitioner, answer the following questions in a two- to three-page double-spaced paper (not including the reference page) in APA format. Include at least two peer-reviewed, evidence-based references (not including your textbooks).
Identify one screening tool you could use when evaluating Charlie.
Discuss your understanding of processing. How would you know whether Charlie was ready for processing?
What interviewing techniques would best be used with Charlie? How would you vary your interviewing techniques if Charlie were a young adult versus an older adult?
Identify whether eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy would be helpful for Charlie. Provide evidence to support your decision. If you think it would not be helpful, provide evidence for another psychotherapeutic intervention that would be helpful.
How would you support a person who has processed trauma between sessions?