After thinking over my clients I have chosen Mrs. A to work with for this project.
Mrs. A. is a 55 year old female who lives in Brooklyn with her daughter and husband. Client is diagnosed with Asthma, Speech impairment, chronic depression and Mild MR. Client has an ongoing issue with her health insurance due to problems at home with her husband. He is the head of the household and since there is poor communication he does not cooperate in the process of the renewal. Client does not have a psychiatrist and has not had either a psychosocial or a psychological evaluation done. The daughter as well as the husband are both developmentally challenged and have speech impairment.
Mrs. A. is beyond frustrated with her husband because of their lack of communication. Her daughter is very sad to the fact that her father doesn’t communicate with either one of them. And if he does he upsets the daughter – which results in her crying. Mrs. A. is fed up with him that she is considering leaving her husband. When I asked Mrs. A. where would she go and how they (her daughter and her) live – she had no answer. Every session that we have, Mrs. A. is anxious, frustrated and annoyed with her husband. I believe that although she has these emotional feelings – she does not have a plan.
From observation Mrs. A. is suffering from anger. Every session she is angry and frustrated. This type of behavior is “overt”. After mentioning to Mrs. A. that I am doing a project on her she was very excited to hear that I chose her as my project. I assured her that her name will not be disclosed. In addition I asked her to keep a journal and record daily on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most furious she can be how she feels daily. And in addition I have asked her to also record the frequency in which she feels this way daily – what are the triggers and how he copes with her anger.
I am looking forward to seeing her results. Will post back.
This sounds like a good opportunity for you to test your skills as a cognitive behavioral therapist. Is Mrs. A engaging in cognitive distortions like we talked about in class? Look at the page of common cognitive distortions I handed out in class. Is she using any of these distortions? Are they causing her anger? Does she have unrealistic expectations about her husband? Obviously she has some distortions about herself and her ability to start another life. Can you restructure her cognitions so she can appreciate what she has?
ReplyDeletePlease don't refer to Mrs. A as "client." It's dehumanizing and objectifying (makes her sound like an object.)