11 Jul The Case of Sherry Sherry is a 26-year-old female that comes to see you due to problems she is having living at home with her family. She tells you that she feels dependent both finan
The Case of Sherry Sherry is a 26-year-old female that comes to see you due to problems she is having living at home with her family. She tells you that she feels dependent both financially and emotionally on her parents and that although she would like to move out and live on her own or with a friend, she is scared. “The world is a scary place and I people are cruel. Everyone is just out to step on everyone else to move up in the world. As long as I am living at home, I am safe, anywhere outside of this house, who know… It is not that I don’t want to leave and get my own place, I do, but there is no way I could find an apartment on my budget in a neighborhood that is safe.” Sherry further explained that she tried moving out once when she was 23, but her apartment was broken into. She was not home during the break-in, she feels that she would never be safe living anywhere on her own again. Sherry also explained that she currently works as a bar tender. This means that she wants a safe place to come home to, because her shifts often end between 2-4 am. Sherry explains, “I really wish I could get another job. Although the money is good, the hours are horrible, and I know bar-tending can never be anything more than a dead-end job. I have become a flawed human being. I am afraid to sleep any where other than my parent’s house, I am stuck in a job with no future, and I am 26 with no skills other than pouring drunk people drinks. I feel worthless, and I will always be a worthless bar-tender that is afraid to move away from home.
***I posted a previous case study for reference***
!!!Rules and actual assignment is assignment 2!!!
THEORIES: PsychoanalysisEdward Neukrug & Tim SeiblesCounselor Education
Analytical (Jungian) TherapyEdward Neukrug & Tim SeiblesCounselor Education
Individual PsychologyEdward Neukrug & Tim SeiblesCounselor Education,
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The Case of Jen
Tiffany Brown-Smith
Department of Counseling: Lamar University
CNDV 5311: Individual Counseling Theory Technique
Dr. Robert Carlisle
July 17, 2022
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The Case of Jen
Jen is a 19-year-old sophomore in college that experienced a life-changing event when
she was younger that is now the cause of her ideas and perception of men. As a therapist, I will
look at the information provided about her past to determine which theoretical approach would
best assist her concerns. I will then look at the central concepts of the chosen approach to support
my selection. However, every approach has its strengths and limitations, and I must weigh the
positive and negative, to ensure I have selected the most efficient theoretical approach. To be an
efficient counselor, I must also be able to reflect on myself because it will help me empathize
with clients due to me applying the same techniques of this approach to my life.
Presenting Concern
Jen presented many concerns that assisted me in determining which approach would
work best to address her challenges. Until she was 12, both parents raised her. Then her father
cheated on her mother and left her and her mother for his mistress. After this event occurred, Jen
began to feel that she could no longer reach and maintain the goals of what she felt makes a good
daughter. This feeling resulted in Jen no longer talking to her dad and creating an idea that she
cannot trust men and they will always let her down somehow. Due to Jen taking her self-doubts
and using that as her motivation for her perception of the world around her, the best approach to
assist Jen would be Adlerian Therapy, Individual Psychology.
Jen also possesses other concerns besides her self-doubting her abilities to be a successful
daughter. She also blamed her parent’s separation on herself. However, her dad wanted to keep in
contact with Jen by attending school functions and talking to her on the phone, which means he
still wanted to be around her. When her father moved away, Jen created the idea that her father
chose his new wife and kids over her. He could have moved because of a job opportunity for her
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dad or his new wife or just wanting to move closer to her family, but that does not mean he chose
the “new” family over her. Once she created the idea that her dad chose his new family, Jen
stopped the communication between the two. She then developed distrust in men and felt that all
men would hurt her in the end. Lastly, Jen recognizes her belief that all men are untrustworthy is
not right, but she is not willing to look at her past or change her thought process because she
wants to continue to blame it on her father.
Though Jen has many concerns, I must address them one at a time, and the first concern
to address is her feeling of inferiority. Jen feels that if she had been a good daughter, her father
would not have cheated on her mother, and her father would never have had his “new” family.
Jen now has a unique way of understanding the world, a private logic, because her feelings of
inferiority were not dealt with effectively. Due to her using her unique understanding to motivate
her life negatively, she developed a faulty private logic. She used her feelings about her dad to
push her belief that all men cannot be trusted and will let her down every time. I need to address
this issue first because, with the Adlerian approach, the purpose of therapy is to help the client
understand how they have developed their faulty private logic (Neukrug, 2018). If I can get Jen
to discover the cause of her feeling that she was not a good daughter, we can then begin to
change her view of the world around her.
Three Central Concepts
Central Concept One
The first central concept in Adlerian Therapy I will use is the person’s birth order in their
family. Where a person falls in the family extensively affects a person’s feeling of inferiority,
beliefs, and growth in becoming an adult. For instance, the oldest was once an only child but had
to adapt themselves when their rival new sibling was born. The only child has rivals, but instead
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of a brother or sister, it becomes a parent (Manaster, 1977). Being her father’s oldest and the only
child of her mother is significant in Jen’s case because she would identify with the only child’s
behaviors and transform those behaviors into the ones that would align with the oldest sibling.
Birth order is relevant to understanding Jen’s case because, for 14 years, Jen grew up
being the only child of both of her parents until her dad had twin sons. Therefore, she has the
oldest child experience by having to adapt herself as an older sister. So, she was used to
receiving all her parent’s attention for 14 years and had a traumatic experience, then forced to
change her birth order. However, she did not truly experience the only child trait of making a
parent her rival until her dad had sons. Her dad having more children enhanced her feelings that
she was not a good enough daughter because if she had been an extraordinary daughter, then her
dad would not have had more children. This thought made her father her rival because she
blames him for how she sees the world.
Central Concept Two
The second central concept that supported my decision to select the Adlerian approach is
social interest. Social interest is when an individual naturally desires to do what is best for the
community and relate to others around them. However, even though this desire becomes natural,
a person must once learn the process and the components of social interest. When a child feels
wrong about themselves due to their inferiority, their social interest isn’t fully developed, and
these children turn into adults with a goal that is not the best for the community (Neukrug, 2018).
In contrast, when a child does not develop a sense of inferiority, they can thoroughly learn social
interest and grow into adults that acquire empathy and caring while wanting what is best for
others.
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The social interest concept is relevant to get a complete understanding of Jen because, at
the age of 12, when her parents divorced, she created her sense of inferiority. Due to this sense
generated when she was a child, her social interest ceased to grow. As a result, she is pleased
with making it evident about her contentment of not giving a man her trust even though she has
recognized that this feeling is detrimental to herself. However, due to her not having a fully
developed social interest, she did not gain the trait to empathize with her father and no longer
blame him for her views while having a positive perception of men. If Jen had not developed her
sense of inferiority, she would have grown into an adult that would be willing to accept and trust
men. She would have also understood that her dad moving away should not have affected their
relationship.
Central Concept Three
The final central concept that supported my decision to choose Adlerian Therapy was the
subject’s final goal or fictional final goal concept. The fictional final goal is a goal a client
creates based on their feelings of inferiority. When a client is not affected by inferiority and has a
positive private logic, their final goal will push them to enhance their life and abilities. However,
when a client develops a faulty private logic, their path is diverted from their original healthy
fictional final goal.
To understand Jen’s case, I must know what Jen’s subjective final goal is in life and what
would have been her final goal had she not developed a sense of inferiority. Jen understands that
her logic of her dad causing her thoughts is not healthy, and somehow, she thinks it is appropriate
to continue to blame him. Therefore, her subjective final goal must be blaming her father and not
taking responsibility for her thoughts. Jen wanting to take responsibility for her views and
continuing to blame her father; is not helping her, the community, or others around her. Once I
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can establish the origin of the inferiority feelings that caused the faulty logic, I will be able to
understand what led Jen to develop this subjective final goal.
Strengths and Limitations
Like every other theoretical theory, Individual Psychology has its strengths and
limitations. A strength of this theory is mainly client-based, which means no restricted timeframe
is needed to complete the client’s therapy. So, if a client can realize the origin of their feelings of
inferiority in a short time, then therapy sessions are no longer needed. If I can assess and
determine the start of Jen’s inferiority quickly, I can soon begin the process of re-educating her.
She would learn how to adopt a new private logic that can be good for her and the community.
Another strength of this approach that can assist Jen in developing a new private logic is
this approach continues to instill positivity into the client. For a client to no longer feel inferior, a
therapist must focus on the client’s strengths and continue encouraging the client. Therefore, the
client will begin to gain confidence and identify with a successful life. Fortunately, this was
important to Adler, so he emphasized this approach to focus on the client gaining confidence and
knowing their self-worth. If Jen begins to identify with a successful life, gaining confidence
knowing that she did not cause her parent’s divorce and was also an adequate daughter. Then she
would be able to get want she wants and change her perception of men. She also might be able to
reconnect with her father and potentially meet her extended family.
A limitation of Adlerian Therapy is the limited amount of research that proves its
efficacy. This psychotherapy approach’s efficacy is often tested compared to other therapy
approaches but rarely tested alone (Silverman, 2005). Using the central concepts, I concluded
that Individual Psychology was the best way I could assist Jen with changing the way she
perceives men, but I could have been wrong. With this approach, the only way I would know for
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sure that this is the most efficient approach I would have to try a different approach and compare
the results. Unfortunately, when clients feel they are not seeing change or the therapist is
uncertain about what they are doing, they could choose to cease the therapy sessions.
Another limitation of Adlerian Therapy is it mainly focuses on the client's early
childhood and how their childhood impacted their views and beliefs, which resulted in their
sense of inferiority. For the therapist to look at what caused the client to feel inferior as a child, a
client must be willing to explore their childhood. Visiting old childhood traumas may be difficult
for Jen because she wants to continue to blame her father. She is also not willing to investigate
her part on how she continued to assume that she cannot trust men.
Reflection
I grew up in a household where whatever the adult said was the law, and there was no
argument, no debate, no discussion, and I had to agree with everything they said. Therefore, in
my adulthood, I struggle with voicing my opinions and feelings. I would wait until I could not
take it anymore and then explode, which resulted in many arguments. This struggle was
detrimental to my love life because my significant others could not understand why it was hard
for me to voice my opinion before it got too bad. Now being married, I still struggle, and it has
gotten worst because my husband now can read my tone, mood, and facial expressions to know
that I am unhappy with something. He will then ask if everything is okay. My response is always
“no, I am fine,” even though inside, I want to tell him what is wrong but do not know how to
express myself. So, I deny my unhappy feelings. Instead, I can apply the catching oneself
technique by listening to my inner voice when he asks if I am okay and telling him what is
wrong. Even if I struggle with the words, I can still say something, and with practice, I will
become more confident and forthcoming with my opinions and feelings without being prompted.
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I could also encounter some challenges with this approach if the therapist wanted to use
the task-setting technique because that is client initiated. I would not be able to leave step one of
creating a task list because I would not know where to start. At the beginning of each year,
administrators require teachers to create a specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely
goal. Due to knowing how long it would take me to create the goal, I always begin the process in
the summer. I do this because I would start a goal then delete it or feel that it did not cover all the
requirements, and then I start self-doubting myself, so that process takes some time. So, if I
would have to create a list that has similar requirements to this goal, I would not know how to
get started because I would want to make sure I did it correctly.
As a person that identifies with many of the groups Adler would consider to be
oppressed, I see a cultural limitation in this approach. Neukrug stated that an Adlerian therapist
is a person that must understand the root of what caused the feeling of oppression (2018).
Therefore, if my therapist did not belong to these oppressed groups, I would feel that they would
not have a true sense of understanding of the root cause, because they would have never
experienced them. The therapist may have read about the root cause or heard stories of being
oppressed, but I would assume they would not understand without experience.
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References
Manaster, G. J. (1977). Birth Order: An Overview. Journal of Individual Psychology
(00221805), 33(1), 3.
Neukrug, E. (2018). Counseling theory and practice (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Cognella
Silverman, D. (2005) What Works in Psychotherapy and How Do We Know? What
evidence-based practice has to offer. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 22(2).
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Assignment 2 Instructions
When working with clients/students it is important that we as counselors are purposeful with our words, use of skills, use of techniques, and our exhibited behaviors. Theory is what helps to guide how we conceptualize client situations and work with our clients and students.
Each week, we will introduce you to a small handful of different theoretical approaches. For each weekly assignment (weeks 1-4) you will be provided a case scenario. You will also be offered the opportunity to choose which theoretical approach (covered in class that week) to apply to the case scenario.
Make sure to fully respond to each question and to use the rubric to guide your writing (the rubric is used to determine your grade). Your assignments should be written in accordance with APA 6th edition guidelines and contain two professional sources (your text-book may count as one of your resources). Although there is no minimum page length requirement for this assignment, you will likely write a minimum of five pages to full address all of the prompts. See the assignment template to help you organize your writing.
1) Presenting Concern/s:
a. Identify which of this week’s theoretical approaches you will use to conceptualize the case and why.
b. What do you see as the client’s presenting concerns/basic conflicts?
c. Based upon the concerns you identified, discuss which you would address first and why based upon the theoretical approach.
2) One Central Concept of the Approach:
a. Identify one central concepts of the approach (other than any you previously used to answer the above question) and describe the central concept.
b. Explain how the central concept is relevant to working with the client or understanding the case.
3) One Technique:
a. Identify one strategy or technique you could use with the client and describe the strategy or technique. How would you implement this strategy or technique.
b. Discuss why you chose the technique for use with this client.
c. Clarification Note: In your last assignment, I clarified what is considered to be a counseling approach as well as a central concept. Now you are being introduced to the term techniques. Techniques in counseling are formal strategies, often associated with specific theories, in which you may use to assist your clients grow and make changes. For example, if you selected Gestalt therapy as your approach this week, one central concept of the approach is helping client resolve unfinished business. One strategy (a.k.a., technique) you might use to do that could be an empty chair technique (for example, a client with unfinished business with their deceased father may benefit from the empty chair technique to help them resolve their unfinished business).
4) Strengths and Limitations:
a. Analyze one strength of the approach for working with the client.
b. Analyze one weakness of the approach for working with the client.
5) Reflection:
a. Provide at least one example of how you could apply any strategy, technique, or concept of this theoretical approach to an area of your life to learn something about yourself personally. Also, explain what you learned.
b. What challenges did you encounter when attempting to apply an aspect of this theoretical approach to your life? Provide at least one example.
c. Did you notice any cultural limitations/obstacles to applying this approach to your life? Describe the cultural limitation or explain how the approach is culturally responsive.
Case Scenario
The Case of Sherry
Sherry is a 26-year-old female that comes to see you due to problems she is having living at home with her family. She tells you that she feels dependent both financially and emotionally on her parents and that although she would like to move out and live on her own or with a friend, she is scared. “The world is a scary place and I people are cruel. Everyone is just out to step on everyone else to move up in the world. As long as I am living at home, I am safe, anywhere outside of this house, who know… It is not that I don’t want to leave and get my own place, I do, but there is no way I could find an apartment on my budget in a neighborhood that is safe.” Sherry further explained that she tried moving out once when she was 23, but her apartment was broken into. She was not home during the break-in, she feels that she would never be safe living anywhere on her own again.
Sherry also explained that she currently works as a bar tender. This means that she wants a safe place to come home to, because her shifts often end between 2-4 am. Sherry explains, “I really wish I could get another job. Although the money is good, the hours are horrible, and I know bar-tending can never be anything more than a dead-end job. I have become a flawed human being. I am afraid to sleep anywhere other than my parent’s house, I am stuck in a job with no future, and I am 26 with no skills other than pouring drunk people drinks. I feel worthless, and I will always be a worthless bar-tender that is afraid to move away from home.
Assignment Rubric
|
Criteria |
Well Developed (A to High A) |
Developed (B to Low A) |
Emerging (C to Low B) |
Undeveloped (Less than a C) |
|
Presenting Concern/s: 15 pts a. Identify which of this week’s theoretical approaches you will use to conceptualize the case and why. b. What do you see as the client’s presenting concerns/basic conflicts? c. Based upon the concerns you identified, discuss which you would address first and why based upon the theoretical approach. |
15 points A theoretical approach was clearly identified. Evidence of using the approach to conceptualize the presenting concern/s was clearly presented. Evidence of using the approach to indicate how concerns should be prioritized was clear. |
13-14 points A theoretical approach was identified. Evidence of using the approach to conceptualize the presenting concern/s was mostly clear. Evidence of using the approach to indicate how concerns should be prioritized was mostly clear and sufficiently explained. |
11-12 points A theoretical approach was identified. Evidence of using the approach to conceptualize the presenting concern/s was unclear in some areas. Evidence of using the approach to indicate how concerns should be prioritized was unclear in some areas or lacked explanation. |
0-10 points Three areas of this section or less were addressed (a. b. c.). Descriptions contained insufficient depth and/or were incomplete. |
