Counseling psychology case study.
introduction
Counseling psychology refers to a general health specialty adopted by professional therapists. It addresses people’s emotions, social work, school, and other concerns people encounter at different stages in their life (Grzanka, Santos, Moradi,2017). Counseling therapists assist people who have physical, emotional, and other health issues to better their sense of well being and removing feelings of distress in resolving the crisis. For successful therapy, counseling should strictly follow the stipulated concepts of counseling psychology as covered in this course. Therefore, this paper evaluates a case study of a middle-aged woman by the name Juanita who is traumatic. As a result, her condition exposes her to several problems in her day-to-day life. As a therapist, I am required to apply some of these concepts that treat Juanita from trauma.
Therapeutic concepts for counseling.
These concepts include psychoanalysis, behavioral idea, humanistic concept, cognitive, and holistic concept. According to Cowie and Pecherek (2017), Psychoanalysis focuses on analyzing past relationships, particularly, traumatic childhood experiences, concerning the individual’s current life. On the other hand, the behavioral concept focuses on the belief that a behavioral change in learned and acquired after learning. The humanistic theory is applied by the therapist to assist their clients in actualizing their full potential. This concept ideally emphasizes client potentials and growth. Cognitive, on the other hand, is a counseling tool that considers how individual thinking can change the client’s feelings and behavior. Finally, the holistic approach is an integrated concept. It combines other ideas for the treatment, depending on the client’s needs.
Models to apply for Juanita’s case study.
In deciding the models applicable for treatment of my client Juanita it is vital to highlight her conditions briefly to have a clear picture of what is ailing her. This knowledge will help me as her therapist decides on the appropriate models before initiating treatment. Juanita has serious health problems. Her doctor cannot explain the reason behind her deteriorating health conditions. Perhaps her condition is attributed to stress and depression after being subjected to traumatic situations in her life. Juanita has encountered accidents and falls. She has been into a rehab to reform from her drinking spree. She does not eat well, consequently losing a lot of weight. Equally, her job is also at stake, and her youngest kid is contemplating leaving home. She is also exposed to domestic violence. One of her ears has ruptured as a consequence. Juanita has since embarked on her previous drinking condition as a result.
Ideally, the genesis of Juanita’s present behaviors and her health conditions can be attributed to domestic violence. Domestic violence is a significant challenge that most families encounter. Domestic violence has resulted in a traumatic effect on Juanita’s mind and her general health. This condition has a ripple effect on her physical well being. She faces serious health problems, including severe headaches, chest pain, heart racing problems, lack of balance. These are the resultant outward expression of trauma from her mind. There is a systematic process that leads to the present unhealthy condition of Juanita. It starts from the violence she is she is exposed at home. The disorder affects her mind, and she becomes traumatic. Trauma results in an outward expression. This is the physical health conditions that can be observed in this case, all the mention illnesses above. The trauma leads to behavioral shifts such as alcohol abuse, avoidance of taking meals usually, and even refusal to attend the daily work .this why Juanita’s job is also at stake.
As a therapist will consider applying various approaches to initiate treatment. The behavioral approach will work for me in this case because Juanita has reverted to drinking. I will also involve the humanistic model to try to improve Juanita’s actualization without dwelling much on her past negative behavior. Also, the cognitive model will work best on evaluating how Juanita’s thinking can change her negative feelings and behavior.
Juanita’s needs
Juanita faces several problems. Being her therapist, it is critical to understand these problems to focus on the priority issues before embarking on the whole treatment process. The main problem faced by Juanita is domestic violence. This is the priority focus upon which the other problems ensues. Other problems include trauma ,alcohol abuse, frequent accidents and depression. Therefore, Juniata’s needs is to recover from all the above mentioned problems.
Plan and actions to meeting Juanita’s needs
Essentially before embarking on treatment, it is important to have an elaborate plan for meeting the Juanita’s needs. Also, the specific actions I will employ in becoming an agent of change to Juanita. To develop the plan, first I will identify the goals for the therapy. In this case my goal is to treat Juanita from her prevailing condition. After this step, I will identify the starting point. Ideally I will start with the main need which is solving the problem of domestic violence, other needs will follow. Thirdly, I will identify the steps to undertake in achieving the set goal. Finally, I will take the first step and begin the process. For counseling purpose, I will employ two actions. These are, listening/observing and asking questions. The former is the most valuable technique employed by the therapist. It entails, attending, verbal listening and the active listening (Sommers-Flanagan, and Sommers-Flanagan, 2018). The latter is essential for the therapist because you can learn more about your clients through asking questions.
The treatment plan
The Juanita’s needs mentioned above will result to developing of a treatment plan for the diagnosis. I will start by taking the biological information of Juanita. Information concerning her social and cultural setting and marital status. The plan should have the long term goals. In this case Juanita should state what she intend to achieve as a long term after completing the therapy. Ideally she intends to heal from trauma as caused by the domestic violence. For this long term goal I will subject her to treatment for a period of six months. Before embarking to treat the trauma. I should understand the extent of domestic violence in her marriage and how to mitigate it. This is the first step towards healing.
The treatment plan to include the short term goals. Ideally, before Juanita can heal from her main ailing problem. I should subject her periodic treatment on a weekly basis. This way, I will be able to monitor her and detect changes resulting to this periodic treatment. For instance, I will be able to know how frequent she is abusing alcohol, is she following the guidelines I stipulated to her? Is she going to work? And how often is she having health problems like the headache, racing heart extra as it was mentioned earlier. In essence these short term goals ideally contribute towards realizing the long term goal by reducing trauma bit by bit.
Clinical intervention is another treatment plan. To counter Juanita’s behavioral drinking habit. I will develop an intervention whereby I introduce her to new friends who rarely abuse alcohol. This way she will slowly adapt to their lifestyles avoiding the previous behavior. In addition ,I will allocate tasks on a weekly basis of which I must always follow up to inspect. This way, Juanita will be engaged. She will not have time to dwell on her past and that she will work towards self actualization.
Another key component in developing a treatment plan is the client involvement (Restoux et al., 2020). This particularly means what the client agrees to or will be doing during the entire process therapeutic process. This includes attending therapy sessions as decided by the therapist without fail, completing therapy homework tasks and practicing the skills leaned in treatment sessions. Therefore, Juanita should actively be involved if she needs to heel. She should be more than ready to partake any engagement that contribute immensely towards her healing process.
As a therapist, I should also outline, the strategies I intend to apply. Both Juanita and I should reach an agreement on these strategies. in addition, the plan will state how the long term and short term goals will be measured. Further, the plan should also include reviews. This means at a progressed stage of counseling, I will evaluate the successes achieved and the challenges on the way. This essentially will help me adjust accordingly in order to realize the said long term goals. Finally once I am through in developing the treatment plan, both Juanita and myself will sign it ready to start the process.
Rationale for treatment recommendation in treatment plan.
As I have stated above, I intend to subject Juanita in therapeutic treatment for a period of six months. During this time I will monitor her conditions on a weekly basis evaluating the short term goals. The short term problems I intend to solve include her alcohol abuse, failure to take meals and exercise, health problems , frequent accidents and falls, saving her job which is at stake and treating her from depression.
Within the first two weeks, I will assign Juanita different peers from the usual peers. This is a totally different peer group that rarely takes alcohol, it engages mostly on body building exercises. This way Juanita will develop a new behavior free from alcohol. Also she will feel the urge to exercise copying this new behavior from her new peers. In addition to boost her appetite, I will recommend her to a health nutritionist who in turn will treat with the right medication in boosting her urge for food. Therefore after these first two week, as her therapist I will be able to measure the successes from this behavioral treatment therapy. Any successful stage completed is a step towards actualizing the broad objective which is healing from trauma.
Depression is a condition resulting from stress. To avoid stressful conditions and to avert negative thoughts which contribute to a stressful mind, I will apply humanistic therapy. This concept focuses on the goodness of all people putting emphasis on personal strength for self actualization. In this regard, I will develop personal tasks for Juanita to keep her engaged in productive undertakings. This will minimize stress and at the same time Juanita will discover new roles from such engagements and eventually self actualization.
Besides, Juanita should make friendship with people who are free from the conditions she is suffering from. Ideally, such association will enable her understand how other people think and carryout activities. By doing so Juanita will slowly learn and eventually shift from her negative feelings and behavioral. This is a classical example of a cognitive therapeutic treatment.
As it is mention above actualization of the short term objectives, leads towards the realization of the broader plan. This means that long term goal is dependent on the successes of the short terms plans. The whole process therefore should be workable. However, some treatment measures may at times fail to deliver the anticipated result. It is my responsibility therefore to make continuous follow up, indentify the strengths as well as develop alternative treatment strategies for which seem not to work. Besides, I should ensure the treatment strictly follows the set time frame. For Juanita’s case six months as stated in the treatment plan should not be exceeded. At the of this time a Juanita should be totally healed from trauma.
In conclusion, I have comprehensively explored the Juanita’s case study. Ideally, I hand to understand her needs, develop action plants, treatment plan, and finally discuss the rationale for treatment as recommended in the treatment plan. After a period of six months Juanita in my case is free from trauma. Therefore, every therapeutic counselor should always be at position to address the client needs following the therapeutic concepts covered in this course.
References
Cowie, H., & Pecherek, A. (2017). Counselling: approaches and issues in education. Routledge.
Grzanka, P. R., Santos, C. E., & Moradi, B. (2017). Intersectionality research in counseling psychology. Journal of counseling psychology, 64(5), 453
Restoux, L. J., Dasariraju, S. R., Ackerman, I. N., Van Doornum, S., Romero, L., & Briggs, A. M. (2020). Systematic Review of the Impact of Inflammatory Arthritis on Intimate Relationships and Sexual Function. Arthritis care & research, 72(1), 41-62.
Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2018). Counseling and psychotherapy theories in context and practice: Skills, strategies, and techniques. John Wiley & Sons.
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