| Course | PS375 Psychology of Addiction |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 10 |
| Paper type | Case conceptualization and treatment plan |
| Length | About 870 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Psychology |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PS375 Unit 10
Kayla, Her Son and a Plan for the Long Haul: A PS375 Unit 10 Case Conceptualization and Treatment Plan
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
PS375: Psychology of Addiction
Unit 10 Case Conceptualization and Treatment Plan
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The writer, the program, the client and every detail are composite and illustrative; the sources cited are real.
Purpose
This document brings together what our Tulsa outpatient program learned about Kayla across her first three months. I drafted it as intake coordinator for review by her counselor and prescriber, who are responsible for her diagnosis and clinical decisions. Kayla read it, corrected two details and agreed to it.
Identifying Information
Kayla is twenty-six, lives with her four-year-old son in a rented duplex, and stocks shelves part time at a supermarket. She completed a high school equivalency certificate last year.
Diagnosis
Her counselor diagnosed opioid use disorder, severe, under the DSM-5-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2022), based on seven criteria at intake, including using more than intended, unsuccessful efforts to stop, craving, continued use despite an overdose, and withdrawal. She is now in early remission on maintenance therapy.
Case Conceptualization
Biological: An opioid prescription after a car accident three years ago exposed Kayla to opioids at a time of pain and stress. Repeated use changed reward and stress systems, and withdrawal became severe enough that she continued to escape it, consistent with the neurobiological model discussed earlier in the course. Counterfeit pills containing fentanyl led to an overdose in October.
Psychological: Kayla reports five adverse childhood experiences, including a father with alcohol use disorder who left and was imprisoned, and emotional neglect. She describes opioids as the first thing that made her feel safe. Anxiety, likely linked to her history, is a trigger for craving.
Social: Her closest friend supplied pills, and her neighborhood has an active drug market. Her strengths include her grandmother's support, her son as a central motivation, her mother's renewed involvement and her goal of becoming a certified nursing assistant.
The opioids began as medicine for a broken pelvis and continued as medicine for an older injury no one had treated.
What maintains the disorder: withdrawal relief, anxiety relief, easy access through her friend, and cues such as a particular gas station and Friday afternoons.
Goals in Kayla's Words
1. "Be a mom who notices him." Measured by her report and attendance at her son's preschool events.
2. "Stay alive and stay off pills." Measured by negative urine tests and attendance.
3. "Stop feeling scared all the time." Measured by a standard anxiety scale every month.
4. "Become a CNA." Measured by enrollment and progress in a training program.
Interventions
Medication: buprenorphine daily, managed by the program prescriber, with no fixed end date. McLellan et al. (2000) compared addiction with chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension, and the plan follows that model of ongoing care.
Counseling: weekly individual sessions using motivational interviewing, as described by Miller and Rollnick (2013), to strengthen her reasons for change, combined with cognitive-behavioral coping skills for cravings and cues.
Trauma-focused therapy: referral to a therapist in the program's partner clinic, beginning in month four.
Contingency management: prize draws for negative tests and attendance for six months.
Safety: naloxone kits for Kayla and her mother; a plan to avoid her friend's street and the gas station.
Support: her grandmother provides childcare during appointments; a peer recovery specialist meets with Kayla twice a month.
Vocational: referral to a nursing assistant training program with a start date in spring.
Coordination of Care
Several services touch Kayla's life, and the plan assigns each a role so that she does not have to carry messages between them. Her counselor leads the plan and chairs the reviews. The prescriber manages buprenorphine and coordinates with her primary care doctor, who treats the lingering hip pain from her accident with non-opioid approaches. The trauma therapist shares progress with the counselor monthly, with Kayla's written consent. Her peer recovery specialist helps with practical problems, such as the pharmacy that twice ran out of her medication. I schedule appointments around her grocery store shifts and her son's preschool hours, and I confirm each one by text the day before.
Barriers and How the Plan Meets Them
Three barriers could undo the plan. Childcare is the first; if her grandmother is unavailable, the program's new childcare vouchers cover a sitter for appointments. Transportation is the second; telehealth counseling is available on weeks when her car is unreliable. Stigma is the third, including relatives who call her medication "still using." Her counselor has offered a family session to explain the treatment, and Kayla's mother, who once doubted the medication, has offered to attend and speak to the family herself. Naming the barriers in advance makes them problems the team expects and plans for, rather than reasons for Kayla to drop out.
Relapse Plan
If Kayla uses, she will tell her counselor or peer specialist within a day, and the team will review the plan without discharging her. A return to use is treated as information about what the plan needs, not as failure.
Review Dates
The team reviews the plan monthly for three months, then every three months. Kayla attends every review.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
McLellan, A. T., Lewis, D. C., O'Brien, C. P., & Kleber, H. D. (2000). Drug dependence, a chronic medical illness: Implications for treatment, insurance, and outcomes evaluation. JAMA, 284(13), 1689-1695. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.284.13.1689
Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational interviewing: Helping people change (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
Reading the PS 375 Unit 10 instructions
The final PS375 unit asks for a case conceptualization and treatment plan. Introduce a composite client, with identifying information and a diagnosis made by a qualified clinician. Explain how the disorder developed and what maintains it, using biological, psychological and social factors from the course. Write goals in the client's own words, each with a measure. List interventions with the evidence behind them, including medication where relevant. Explain how services will be coordinated, what barriers may arise and how the plan responds to relapse. Set review dates. Keep the document to about four pages in APA style, and keep every client composite throughout the plan. Name who leads the plan.
How the PS 375 Unit 10 example is put together
Kayla's plan begins by stating who reviewed it and why it exists. Sections give identifying information and a DSM-5-TR diagnosis of severe opioid use disorder in early remission. A conceptualization section covers biological, psychological and social factors, under a highlighted line about medicine for an older injury, and lists what maintains the disorder. A section states four goals in Kayla's words with measures. A section lists interventions from buprenorphine to vocational referral, citing McLellan and colleagues and Miller and Rollnick. Sections on coordination of care, barriers, a relapse plan and review dates follow. The plan treats relapse as information. Every intervention is tied to a goal or to a factor that maintains the disorder.
Where the points sit in the PS375 Unit 10 rubric
Instructors grading this final plan look for a conceptualization that explains both how the disorder began and what maintains it, with each intervention aimed at a maintaining factor. Goals in the client's words, with measures, show person-centered planning. Evidence behind each intervention earns credit. Treating addiction as a chronic condition, with ongoing care and a relapse plan, reflects current research. Coordination of care and barriers show practical understanding. The diagnosis should be attributed to a qualified clinician. The DSM-5-TR and treatment sources need APA citations. A short summary table of goals, interventions and measures helps graders a great deal. Showing the client agreed to the plan, and corrected it, also earns credit.
PS375 Unit 10 help from the desk
Treatment plans often list services without explaining why each is needed. Others write goals in clinical language the client would never use. Students frequently skip what maintains the disorder, so interventions target only its origins. Relapse plans are commonly missing or punitive. Coordination among providers is rarely addressed. Before submitting, link every intervention to a maintaining factor or a goal. Rewrite goals in the client's words. Add a relapse plan that keeps the client in care. Name who leads the plan. List one barrier and its solution. Set review dates. Keep every client composite and the language person-first throughout the document. Then ask the client to read the goals aloud.
Get a PS375 Unit 10 example written to your instructions
Share the case and the instructions with the rubric. A custom plan conceptualizes a case and sets treatment goals. Delivery is within 24-48h, with the first free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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PS375 Unit 10 questions, answered
What is a case conceptualization?
An explanation of how a person's problems developed and are maintained, used to guide treatment.
What goes in a treatment plan?
Diagnosis, goals in the client's words, interventions, measures and review dates.
Why treat addiction as chronic?
Like other chronic illnesses, it often needs ongoing care rather than a single episode.
Where can I find a free PS375 Unit 10 sample paper?
This page holds the complete PS375 Unit 10 case conceptualization and plan for a composite young mother with opioid use disorder.
How does the PS375 Unit 10 plan handle relapse?
A return to use is reported within a day and leads to a plan review, not discharge.