The Lauren Case Study: Understanding The Challenges And Treatment Options Essay.

Lauren’s problematic behavior and its root cause

Write about the Lauren Case Study.

Lauren’s biggest problematic behaviour is that she has decided to be a loner basically because of the social issues happening in her life. The connection between her family issues and injuries she has perceived during the accident and a game contributes to her low-esteem. Dropping friends at such an age where individuals are vulnerable to peer pressure is a dangerous effect to Lauren. She was better placed when she was able to play games and socialise with her friends freely without restriction such as doctors’ guidelines towards the incurred injuries. As a result of not being able to participate in her daily activities; she has also lost much of her social life and this has worsened her family relationship as she does not respect David as her step-father.

As a result of being lonely, Lauren is being drunk too much on Saturdays and Sundays. This has remained to be ‘the only thing' she can comfortably engage with her few new friends she is able to catch up within the neighbourhood.  According to Pescosolido, et al. (2010), Alcoholism can make a person loose the beauty of life because of the increased chances of not being a vibrant person. Lauren has been working on a part-time job on Sundays and because of her drinking behaviours, the manager is also losing the faith of her because she is not able to make it in the workplace on time. Lauren will not improve her situation for being an alcoholic; rather, the situation will worsen because she will be unable to perform her daily activities and manage her relationships. She was doing well with her older friends before they were involved in an accident and her life was going on well. Therefore, her behaviour of drinking too much on the weekends might highly affect her problematic problem of spending a lot of her time alone on internet and TV (Hosseinbor, Ardekani & Bakhshani, 2014).

Rob is a respected and well-performing practitioner who has a significant experience in his profession. His approach towards treating Lauren might be highly contributing much on her adherence to the medical advice and treatment follow ups. Developing a method dealing with Lauren's stress would be helpful and good for enhancing of her treatment effectiveness. Tony, who is Lauren’s biological father is one of the greatest and meaningful individuals in her life. Involving a counsellor in the treatment process will be significant towards managing Lauren’s stress and loneliness (Moses, 2010).

The impact of alcoholism on Lauren’s life

Lauren has been gaining waiting and this can be highly connected to her reduced self-esteem and this can be improved by helping her engage in physical exercises. This is one of Rob's advice that Lauren did not follow and adhere to maybe because she thought he was pushing her too much. Also, reducing the intensity of alcohol use would enhance her commitment to other important activities such as managing her asthma conditions and improving her social relationships. Diagnostic tests should be conducted to understand the real health conditions that can be treated using medications and provide a follow-up plan to ensure that she adhering to doctor's prescriptions (Zimmer-Gembeck & Skinner, 2008). Finally, the doctor Rob should invite her father (Tony) in some of the treatment session and this might change the situation because she has great respect for him. Also, Tony should be informed on Lauren’s condition and be engaged more on the treatment plan to help in encouraging and advising her daughter.

Lauren’s is a girl who is not comfortable with the life she is living and she is ready to change only that she has she has not been advised appropriately. Rob has been deviating from the conversation targeted in helping and advising her to change from the bad behaviours. Due to adolescent effect, she might not have liked whoever was telling her to change from heavy drinking and being unsocial. However, Rob was not doing the best approach of helping Lauren recover from her glandular fever and chronic fatigue. The best approach towards improving Lauren’s condition is by involving a close person is either of her age or her parents.

Rob has been planning to involve Laurens mother and stepfather in one of medical check-up meetings. This would not be a good idea because she is not in good terms with her step-father and probably she might be uncomfortable in his presence. Lauren has suffered much from the accidents and probably her parents’ divorce hence having to live in an environment where she is not comfortable. A person who has been through such a trauma might need to be treated in a more sensitive manner to ensure that they the recovery plans are effective. Adolescents are sensitive to an investigative session because they feel that the involved crossing the boundaries because they have a lot in secret that they are not comfortable speaking them out.

There are some possible modifications that Rob could make in his treatment plan towards Lauren to improve its effectiveness. Firstly, he could assure Lauren privacy of whatever information they could discuss and building trust that would be useful in the treatment process. The treatment of teenage with a depression might be hard if they are not accompanied by either or both the parents. This inclusion of some close people in Laurens life would ensure that they are all taken through a psychotherapy process (Sawyer, Miller, & Clark, 2007). The main factor that highly contributed to the challenges in the treatment process between Rob and Lauren was due to failed trust. Lauren had started to gain more weight and she had tried to manage it but she finally gave up. This being of the disappointing point of her, Rob could have developed advice on how to manage her body size and she could be comfortable to share more about herself.

Rob’s helpful actions towards treating Lauren

Anything that is focused on solving her primary problems such as discomfort in living with her stepfather would be meaningful to Lauren. She believes that her mother and Tony were doing well until they divorced. Since she will be happy when they are together, it could be helpful if they get both involved in her treatment decisions and meetings. A follow-up plan might be helping by making contacts every time to check on how is doing. Encouragement on frequent psychosocial and medical check-ups would also be helpful to Lauren and future endeavours in health.  Rob should also make Lauren understand how dangerous it is to her health is she does not follow up the mediation. For instance, failure to manage asthma might lead to chronic conditions that could also lead to death (Buu et al., 2007).

Lauren should stop taking too much of alcohol because it makes her much disorganised and disorients are the lifestyle (Sobell et al., 2009). Ron should schedule a session that has a social advisor, her father and any other person who might create the environment conducive for her such as her brother Mark. In this meeting, Lauren will be advised of the costs and the benefits of drinking too much of alcohol. She would justify that drinking makes her forget her problems and relieves her mind from the stress. In contrast, it only makes thinks worse and stopping too much drinking of alcohol would improve her relationships, hence making her more socially connected. Also, some alcoholics usually defend themselves by stating that drinking alcohol makes them have fun, Lauren cannot claim that because her sort of drinking does not seem to have such benefits (Olanipekun & Bada, 2014).

Some of the problems caused include feeling anxious, depressed and ashamed because of the experienced changes in living styles and behaviours. Lauren does not feel comfortable because of her body and neither does she feel her loneliness (Hallal et al., 2006). Also, her changes in behaviours that have also been contributed by her alcoholism have affected her relationships and are currently having no friends expect those they drink together on weekends. Lauren has responsibilities that has not been done pretty well because she has been much committed in drinking, feeling hung over and being lonely. She is working on a part-time basis and her manager is losing faith in her because of not keeping a commitment with the responsibilities and coming to work late (Glass et al., 2009).

Rob’s unhelpful actions towards treating Lauren

Lauren should understand that alcohol is not the only way to deal with stress and as she stops drinking, other options such as socialising would help her break her boredom and solve her stress. Also, improvements in her performance will be experienced and she will be able to work effectively and take care of herself; for example engaging in physical activities to reduce her weight (Janssen & LeBlanc, 2010). Since she might be addicted, she will be advised on how to deal with alcohol cravings such as talking to someone she trusts such as her father, keeping herself busy with other activities and self-encouragement based on reasons why she should not be drinking (Nigg et al., 2006). The above-mentioned guidelines would help Lauren to stop drinking and focus on the beneficial parts of her life.

References

Pescosolido, B. A., Martin, J. K., Long, J. S., Medina, T. R., Phelan, J. C., & Link, B. G. (2010). “A disease like any other”? A decade of change in public reactions to schizophrenia, depression, and alcohol dependence. American Journal of Psychiatry, 167(11), 1321-1330.

Hosseinbor, M., Ardekani, S. M. Y. & Bakhshani, S. (2014). Emotional and social loneliness in individuals with and without substance dependence disorder. International journal of high-risk behaviours & addiction, 3(3).

Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., & Skinner, E. A. (2008). Adolescents coping with stress: Development and diversity. Prevention Researcher, 15(4), 3-7.

Moses, T. (2010). Being treated differently: Stigma experiences with family, peers, and school staff among adolescents with mental health disorders. Social science & medicine, 70(7), 985-993.

Sawyer, M.G., Miller, L.R., & Clark, J.J. (2007). ‘The mental health of 13–17 year-olds in Australia: Findings from the National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being’. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 36:2, 185–194.

Glass, J. M., Buu, A., Adams, K. M., Nigg, J. T., Puttler, L. I., Jester, J. M., & Zucker, R. A. (2009). Effects of alcoholism severity and smoking on executive neurocognitive function. Addiction, 104(1), 38-48.

Buu, A., Mansour, M., Wang, J., Refior, S., Fitzgerald, H., & Zucker, R. (2007). Alcoholism Effects on Social Migration and Neighborhood Effects on Alcoholism over the Course of 12 Years. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 31(9), 1545-1551. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2007.00449.x

Nigg, J. T., Wong, M. M., Martel, M. M., Jester, J. M., Puttler, L. I., Glass, J. M., & Zucker, R. A. (2006). Poor response inhibition as a predictor of problem drinking and illicit drug use in adolescents at risk for alcoholism and other substance use disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 45(4), 468-475.

Olanipekun, J. A., & Bada, F. O. (2014). Alcoholism: A Social Deadly Disease of the Society. International Journal of Innovative Research and Development|| ISSN 2278–0211, 3(13).

Sobell, M. B., Sobell, L. C., Peterson, A. L., Brundige, A., & Hryshko-Mullen, A. (2009). Using Reduced Alcohol Consumption As A Strategy To Minimize Weight Gain When Stopping Smoking. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 33, 245A.

Janssen, I., & LeBlanc, A. G. (2010). Systematic review of the health benefits of physical activity and fitness in school-aged children and youth. International Journal of Behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 7(1), 40.

Hallal, P. C., Victora, C. G., Azevedo, M. R., & Wells, J. C. (2006). Adolescent physical activity and health. Sports Medicine, 36(12), 1019-1030.