Pamela, a 16 year old high school junior, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. A., self

Pamela, a 16 year old high school junior, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. A., self-refer to the mental health clinic where you are a social worker. Pamela, who is currently at slightly over a normal weight for her age and height, has lost about 25 pounds in the past four months. She denies bingeing, vomiting or using laxatives in the joint session with her parents, but coyly hints otherwise in an individual session with the therapist, whom she also tells that she recently had sexual intercourse for the first time with a “casual friend” from school. Pamela was previously diagnosed with bulimia and spent several weeks in a prestigious inpatient psychiatric hospital. The parents were not happy with how the psychiatrists treated them, and decided to seek therapy at your program when she was discharged.
Pamela is the younger of two children. Her older brother, Paul, is a sophomore in college. Mr. A. works as a repair technician at a local airport, while Mrs. A. until now has been a full-time housewife. She is thinking about looking for a part-time job. Mrs. A reports that she has always struggled with her weight and that she and Pamela sometimes go to Overeaters Anonymous together. The A’s are Italian; Mr. A. emigrated from Sicily at age 11, while Mrs. A. was born here, but her parents came from the same town as Mr. A.
Pamela was sexually molested by the family’s downstairs tenant when she was eight. She disclosed the molestation when she was nine, after the tenant moved out. Until four years ago, when she died, the maternal grandmother lived with the family. The grandmother had insulin – dependent diabetes and was frequently noncompliant with her diet. The grandmother also had a history of major depressive disorder. Pamela reports that they were “extremely close.”
1.Discuss Pamela’s DSM-5 diagnosis using details from the case to support your choice
2.Relate her difficulties to the developmental tasks of adolescence and to gender issues in adolescence.
3.What role do you think the family’s ethnicity plays here?
4.Discuss evidence based treatments for Pamela’s diagnosis.