Please read the case below:

Jane works as a word processor for a large insurance company. Her job, which she detests, involves inputting hundreds of numbers into a computer. She has gone to her family physician because she feels a constant tingling in her fingers and a sharp pain in her fingers, wrist, and forearm but only at certain times. Her doctor is not a neurological specialist but can see nothing obviously wrong with Jane's hands or wrists. Jane is depressed and anxious about this condition. She says, "Here I am only 29 and already I have pains that are worse than my 76yearold grandmother has. What will I be like in twenty years? She feels agony for herself to do her work."

Based on treatment strategies suggested in our textbook, group members should list ways in which Jane's condition could be evaluated. You cannot be expected to be experts in neurology, but you should think through ways of detecting malingering, voluntary inducement of symptoms, physical causes, and psychological causes. What information would you need to decide whether Jane

is malingering?

has a factitious disorder (is consciously inducing the symptoms)?

has a "real" physiological disorder?

has a somatic symptom disorder such as conversion disorder?

After developing a list of assessment strategies, you should think about the order in which these tests and evaluation strategies should be conducted. What makes sense to rule out first?

The outline of your answer should look something like this:

1. Chief complaint/presenting symptoms of the client
2. Contributing factors that need to be considered regarding the client's complaints and symptoms.
3. A diagnosis (based on all the considerations in section 2.)
4. A possible Treatment Plan (including any referral to a psychiatrist for medication prescriptions/review, the kind of therapy treatment recommended, and frequency of therapy sessions.