Jane's Struggle For Survival And The Need For Counseling

You will be given a Case Study. You are required to write an analysis, covering:
What are the major issues faced by the client?
How would you work with the client, comparing two of the three approaches covered in lectures.
What issues might be prioritised, how you would establish this?
What techniques and strategies might you use? (specific examples of techniques as applied to the case study information)
What would tell you if your approach / strategies were being effective?

Jane's Bitter History

1. Major issues faced by Jane

Jane has a very bitter history, where she and her entire family had to struggle for survival. Neighbors are supposed to extend a helping hand towards the individuals in need. However, this support was missing in case of Jane. She has emerged successful in maintaining the decorum of her life till this stage and currently undergoing phases of frequent anger (Florence, 2014). This expression has made her upset for most of the time. This feeling of upset makes Bill, a victim of her anger. This plight of Jane relates to the negation of fatherly love that one is ought to receive for attaining personal development. This negation reflects incompleteness within the familial relationships, which make the existence difficult. Even with her mother, Jane does not possess a friendly relationship. Quarrels take place between mother and daughter for petty issues. Preference of Hannah over her own kids brings jealousy within the mother and the daughters (Wubbolding, 2017). Apart from this, Jane’s relationship with Bill is filled with love, care and attentions for 2 years. Slowly and gradually, the attributes takes a back seat compelling the relationship on end. This is due to the changes that have come in Jane’s behavior.

2. Additional information about Jane’s life

Jane is a thirty year old woman, living with her partner Bill for two years. Not living with her parents makes her long for the familial care, attention and nourishment. However, speculation of her relationship with her father, mother and siblings proves the incorrectness of the earlier sentence. Happiness was short lived in Jane’s family, which made Jane independent of the worldly struggles. Mother’s sicknesses, followed by father’s leaving the family are the indicators, which project Jane’s attainment of maturity at the budding stage (Dryden & Mytton, 2016). Father’s indulgence into “strange” relationships adds incompleteness into the life of Jane and her sister. The feeling of strangeness can be related to Jane and her sister’s approach towards the events that are taking place in their live. Minimal support from the neighbors at the time of her mother’s sickness makes Jane exposes Jane to the reality of life that one needs to fight one’s own life. Acceptance of this feeling brings Jane face to face with the realities of life. The care present in the mother-daughter relationship alters in case of Jane, especially during the phase of her mother’s sickness. As a matter of specification, it is Jane, who takes care of her mother. Her thought regarding help from the neighbors is justified in terms of her incapability to understand the intensity of her mother’s sickness and provide her with medicines at the correct time (Saxon et al., 2017). Obscurity regarding the relationship between mother and Hannah questions the mother-daughter relationship from the perspective of an 18-year old girl. Countering this, the age of 18 transforms an adolescent into an adult. From this perspective, Jane’s doubt regarding her mother’s relationship with Hannah is apt. Pondering upon the relationship of Jane and Bill; it is a relationship of 2 years, which brings reliance, trust and dependence into each other’s life. Anger can also be accounted within these attributes. This accumulation helps both Jane and Bill to know each other better, rather exploring the uncommon shades of the character.  

3. Approaches to counseling

Jane's Familial Relationships

Counseling is one of an efficient means of solving the issues encountered by the individuals in their survival struggles. These issues can be political, economic, and social; however, most common issues are the psychological issues (Loewenthal & Samuels, 2014). These issues severely affect the psyche of the individuals, limiting their incapability and power to perform the basic actions. The behavioral expressions of the individuals are the result of the psychic instructions delivered to the brain. Existence of prolonged psychological disturbances compels an individual to consistently expose similar kind of behavior. Incapability of the family members to sort out the issue necessitates the intervention of counselors and therapists. There are three kinds of therapies: cognitive behavior therapy; acceptance and commitment therapy and Solution focused Brief therapy.

Cognitive behaviour therapy emphasizes on the behaviors exposed by the individuals under the influence of the conscious processes (Jordan, 2014). This therapy aligns with Sigmund’s Freud’s connotation of the manly actions within the functionalities of Id, ego and superego. This therapy delves deep into the minds of the individuals to excavate out their perception regarding the events taking place in their surroundings. This perception projects the personality of the individual. Through counseling, attempts are made to protest against the thoughts, which form an integral part in the outpour of thoughts, feelings and emotions. Aligning the case of Jane in this, application of this therapy on her would result in the excavation of the root cause for which she is upset and expressing anger upon her family members and Bill for petty issues (McCarthy et al., 2015). Countering this, minute speculation of her relationship with the family members and friends is itself the major drive for her anger and frustration. From this perspective, this theory attains a backseat in terms of the requirements of the discussion. Counter arguing this, active participation of the client like Jane in the process helps the therapists to focus on the current issues encountered. Oriental attitude of the therapists helps in the achievement of the targeted goals. Along with this, involving the clients into self-learning sessions assists them to recognize their true self. Presence of time and an integrated structure helps the clients to attain an easy grasp over their psyche. This theory would help Jane to achieve an easy understanding about herself and the psychic pressures that is compelling her to display such behaviors (Moon, 2014). Extension of the session would broaden her perspectives upon the circumstances, which might reduce her anger and restore happiness in her life. Portrayal of the events in her life from other perspectives would make her wonder about the course of the events and her approach towards the occurrence of the events. This session would reflect an experiment with her selfs, which makes Jane acquainted with her individuality. One of an important point about the therapy is the inspiration to become a master of one’s own thoughts. From this perspective, this therapy is suitable for Jane in terms of attaining self-organizational skills for systematizing her life. Herein, lays the significance of ABCDE model, which cleanses the negative thoughts out of the minds of the clients and adds happiness in their lives (Jauhar et al., 2014).

Jane's Current Difficulties

There are several approaches to the behavior exposed by the individuals. Typical examples in this direction are happiness on the success of friends. Other examples include grief and bereavement upon the demise of near and dear one. These reactions are segmented into three waves. The first wave is the exposure of the behavior, the second wave is the application of therapy and the third wave is the approach towards the encountered action. Within this, acceptance and commitment therapy is beneficial as it helps the individuals to adjust within their surroundings and emerge successful in maintaining the order and harmony in their lives (Bond, 2015). Commitment and dedication in performing the chores of life preserves the balance that is needed for leading the life in an organized manner. This therapy might aggravate the complexities of Jane. She already exists within a polluted environment. In this situation, if she is compelled to adjust with her surroundings, she would fail to normalize the situation. This is due to the instability of her mind, due to which she is exposing anger upon petty issues.

Through this therapy, Jane can be assisted to accept the ways events are happening in her surroundings. Countering this, this process would increase her anger on her incapability to solve the familial issues internally (Cooper et al., 2015). Instead of attempting to make Jane understand and accept the reality, it would be better if she is engaged into session where she can re-perceive the events from other perspectives. Countering arguing these aspects, making her accept the events that has occurred in her life would be a lesson for her in terms of realizing that success and failure are two inevitable phases of life. This teaching is an attempt to mould the innocence of an adolescent into the harsh realities, which the adults need to undergo for a meaningful existence. Herein lays the correlation of the other element, which is change. Acceptance of the suffering and bringing change within her character would make Jane a round character in the discussion. Countering this, mother’s illness is the point from where noticeable changes take shape in Jane’s life. This is the turning point in her life as she shows signs of maturity. Typical example in this direction is the care that she provides to her mother (Esbroeck & Augustijnen, 2015).

Other connotations of change here is leaving behind the family and moving on with Bill. However, Bill considers family members and friends more significant in his life than Jane. This leaves Jane with the option to stay within the family and attempt to restore normalcy. Exposure of conscious and rational approach in terms of controlling the outpour of negative thoughts makes Jane an adult.

The Importance of Counseling

The modular version of the therapy enlivens its application on Jane and its consequences. The psychological disturbances attain centrality in this model (Cooper et al., 2013). The incapability to sort out the situation entraps Jane within her own self. This questions her existence in terms of the events that are taking place around her surroundings. Other area which attains an interrogative parameter in Jane’s life is the influence of past upon the present, which darkens the future. The primary stages of counseling involve interaction with the self and accepting the psychological disturbed person within the individuality. This would bring partial stability in Jane’s mind. The later stages of the therapy comprises of the perception of Jane about her future life. Clarity in this direction adds colors to the dark future (Freitas et al., 2013).   

   The clarity in the earlier paragraph would make Jane aware of the appropriateness regarding the events taking her in her life. This awareness would act assistance for Jane to remove the negative thoughts that restrict her progression towards a happy and secured future. Emerging successful in this action generates evaluative skills in the psychologically disturbed persons like Jane to experiment with their intellectual imagination. This is done through the means of exercising the thought processes in terms of the perceived events. These aspects would take time for attaining firmness in case of Jane as she is still an adolescent (Revell, Duncan & Cooper, 2014). Countering this, the intensified events have made her capable of exercising intellect and imaginative power in terms of assessing the appropriateness of the situations. Moreover, it is due to her maturity that she accepts the events that she had seen in her adolescence phase. Along with this, it is this maturity, which raises doubt within her regarding the relationship of her mother with Hannah. Herein lays the importance of thinking and observing. As a matter of specification, she is observing Hannah from her childhood; however, raising questions about the nature of this relationship is an exercise of her thought process and imagination (Joyce & Sills, 2014).

Solution focused brief therapy, as the name suggests, is only concerned with the consequences after some tragic incident. The phrase “solution focused” is a partial solution for the issue, however, it contradicts the inner essence of the action of therapy. As compared to this therapy, the acceptance and commitment therapy attains a higher pedestral in this discussion. This is due to the assistance provided to the clients in terms of beautifying their lives after undergoing sufferings and ailments (Hawkins, 2015). The cognitive behavior therapy can be considered as part of this therapy, as acceptance and changes are a part of the behavioral conduct of an individual. Aligning Jane’s case in this context, engaging her in interactive sessions would make her familiar with the major issues, which compelled her to suffer from these issues. Maintenance of consistency in the provision of motivation and encouragement would provide Jane an escape into a beautiful utopian existence. However, speculating the present situation of Jane, she would be exposed to more harsh realities of the world, where she would long for her childhood. This thought is justified in terms of her slow and gradual exposure to the unknown realms of survival. This thought completes her life cycle, although she does not get the needed care, support and nourishment (Esbroeck & Augustijnen, 2015).

References

Bond, T. (2015). Standards and ethics for counselling in action. Sage.

Cooper, M., O'Hara, M., Schmid, P. F., & Bohart, A. (Eds.). (2013). The handbook of person-centred psychotherapy and counselling. Palgrave Macmillan.

Cooper, M., Wild, C., van Rijn, B., Ward, T., & McLeod, J. (2015). Pluralistic therapy for depression: Acceptability, outcomes and helpful aspects in a multisite open-label trial. Counselling Psychology Review, 30(1), 6-20.

Dryden, W., & Mytton, J. (2016). Four approaches to counselling and psychotherapy. Routledge.

Florence, I. I. (2014). The effect of counsellors’ personality types on interpersonal skills in counselling therapy. Nigerian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 19(1), 28-36.

Freitas, R. F. C. P., Ferreira, M. A. F., Barbosa, G. A. S., & Calderon, P. S. (2013). Counselling and self?management therapies for temporomandibular disorders: a systematic review. Journal of oral rehabilitation, 40(11), 864-874.

Hawkins, Y. (2015). Connectedness in Counselling: A Paradigmatic Shift through Multiple Domains (Doctoral dissertation, City University of Seattle).

Jauhar, S., McKenna, P. J., Radua, J., Fung, E., Salvador, R., & Laws, K. R. (2014). Cognitive-behavioural therapy for the symptoms of schizophrenia: systematic review and meta-analysis with examination of potential bias. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 204(1), 20-29.

Jordan, M. (2014). Nature and therapy: Understanding counselling and psychotherapy in outdoor spaces. Routledge.

Joyce, P., & Sills, C. (2014). Skills in Gestalt counselling & psychotherapy. Sage.

Loewenthal, D., & Samuels, A. (2014). Relational psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and counselling: Appraisals and reappraisals. Routledge.

McCarthy-Jones, S., Thomas, N., Dodgson, G., Fernyhough, C., Brotherhood, E., Wilson, G., & Dudley, R. (2015). What have we learnt about the ability of cognitive behavioural therapy to help with voice-hearing. Psychological approaches to understanding and treating auditory hallucinations: From theory to therapy.

Moon, L. (2014). Feeling queer or queer feelings?: Radical approaches to counselling sex, sexualities and genders. Routledge.

Revell, S., Duncan, E., & Cooper, M. (2014). Helpful aspects of outdoor therapy experiences: An online preliminary investigation. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 14(4), 281-287.

Saxon, D., Ashley, K., Bishop-Edwards, L., Connell, J., Harrison, P., Ohlsen, S., ... & Bower, P. (2017). A pragmatic randomised controlled trial assessing the non-inferiority of counselling for depression versus cognitive-behaviour therapy for patients in primary care meeting a diagnosis of moderate or severe depression (PRaCTICED): Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials, 18(1), 93.

Van Esbroeck, R., & Augustijnen, M. T. (2015). Exploring New Perspectives in Coaching. In Exploring New Horizons in Career Counselling (pp. 117-130). SensePublishers.

Wubbolding, R. (2017). Counselling with reality therapy. Routledge.