Monday, November 17, 2008

Case 10 - Thomas F.

Thomas F. was brought to therapy by his wife, who reported that he was having "crazy ideas about her." Tom maintained that his ideas were not crazy and insisted that his wife was having affairs with at least two men, both family friends.

Tom, forty-seven, and Carmen, forty-two, had married three years ago after a courtship of five year's duration. This was the second marriage for both. Tom had three children from his first marriage; these children lived out of the country with their mother. Carmen's only child from her first marriage had been killed in an accident when he was ten years old. Since they had lost the children from their first marriages, Tom and Carmen hoped that they would be able to have children together and reported being extremely happy when Tom, Jr., was born almost a year ago. However, their son brought considerable stress into their lives.

Tom and Carmen had met at the computer firm where both worked, Tom as a programmer and Carmen as administrative assistant. They were together almost constantly, both at work and at home. However, when their son was born, Carmen took a position at a local hospital, working nights in the admissions room, so that someone would always be available to care for their son. Tom was home with him during the evenings and nights, and Carmen was with the child during the day. They saw very little of each other, and nearly all of their energy was focused on parenting. Both had few friends or outside interests to give them support. They had bought a new house, and added debts prevented them form going out frequently, as they had when they were dating. In addition, Tom's mother had cancer, and Tom and Carmen were trying to spend as much time as possible helping her.

About two months ago, Tom began to express suspicions about how Carmen was spending her daytime at home. She assured him that she was too exhausted to do much more than care for Tommy, maintain the house, and try to get some sleep. However, tom's accusations grew worse, and he insisted that Carmen was having sexual relationships with at least two men in his absence. During this time, he continued his job as a programmer; and, except for several days in which he had left work precipitously in an effort to catch Carmen with her purported lovers, his performance at work had been unaffected. There was no prior history of mental disorder in either Tom or any of his first-degree relatives.

Monday, November 3, 2008

An excellent review of Psych movies

You can find an extensive collection of psychology related films at

http://www.psychmovies.com

While your there, participate in a brief survey of your favorite and worst psych films.

Popular Films With a Theme of Psychological Disorder

A Beautiful Mind
Agnes of God
Amadeus
As Good as it Gets
Awakenings
Benny and Joon
Birdy
Blue Sky
Clean and Sober
Don Juan de Marco
Eating
Eqqus
Fight Club
Frances
Good Will Hunting
I Never Promised you a Rose Garden
I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can
Inside Moves
Interiors
King of Hearts
Madness of King George
Mosquito Coast
Mr. Jones
Nell
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Ordinary People
Prince of Tides
Rainman
Slingblade
Sophie’s Choice
Sybil
The Dream Team
The Shining
The Snake Pit
The Three Faces of Eve
The Fisherking
Thelma and Louise
Truly, Madly, Deeply
Unstrung Heroes
What about Bob
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
When a Man Loves a Women
Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Whose Life is it Anyway?
Women Under the Influence
Ya Ya Sisterhood

Major Case Study – Movie Review

Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to observe an individual(s) who is struggling with abnormality. The story may be fiction or non-fiction. To potentially receive a high grade, the focus of your paper will be on the individual, not on the plot or theme of the movie. In some rare cases, the focus of the movie review paper may be on a faulty mental health or family "system."

1. Focus on the individual:

A. What do you observe about the person, their thoughts, feelings, behaviors?
B. According to the definition(s) presented in both lecture and the texts, is this person acting abnormal?
What are their difficulties?
C. Is a diagnosis given in the film? Is it correct? How was it made? How would you alter the diagnosis?
What do you think the diagnosis is?
D. What are the primary, predisposing, or precipitating causes of their disturbance?
E. How does their history relate to the disturbance?
F. Take a particular model of causality (e.g. biological, psychodynamic) and apply it to this case.

2. Focus on the environment:

A. Are there any environmental influences that you believe are influential to the person's disturbance?
(e.g. the era, the institution, the dysfunctional family, the therapist's practice)
B. Does the movie accurately portray the person? Or, do you believe the case is distorted by
"Hollywood"
C. How do others respond to this person? Focus on both mental health professionals and family
members.
D. If treatment was given, was it helpful, harmful?
E. What do you believe would have helped the person improve/change?

3. Do A Client Map

These are just some questions to ask yourself. Be creative. Each movie, each story is different and should provide a different focus to your paper. Work from your own experience and current
knowledge base. Do not feel that you have to do "research." To potentially receive a high grade, you should not simply answer the above questions, but rather address your main character with these prompting questions in your mind.

Remember to write clearly and in a well-organized manner.

Case 9 - More Than a Five-Fingered-Discount

"Fifteen years!" It was how long Winona had been shoplifting, but from the expression on her tear-streaked face, it might have been the length of her sentence.

Winona was 27, and this was her second arrest, if you didn't count the one as a juvenile. Three years earlier, she had been arrested, booked, and released on her own recognizance for walking out of a boutique with a silk blouse worth $150. Fortunately for her, two weeks later the shop fell victim to the recession; the owner, otherwise preoccupied, did not follow through with the prosecution. Badly frightened, she had resisted the temptation to shoplift for several months afterward.

Winona was married and had a four-year-old daughter. Her husband worked as a musician. After her previous arrest, he had threatened to divorce her and obtain custody of their child if she did it again. She worked an actress prior to being a homemaker. A conviction could doom her return to work.

"I don't know why I do it. I've asked myself that question a thousand times." Aside from stealing, Winona considered herself a pretty normal person. She had lots of friends and no enemies; most of the time she was quite happy. In every other respect she was law-abiding; she wouldn't even let her husband cheat when he prepared their taxes.

The first time Winona had ever stolen from a store was when she was six or seven, but that was on a dare from two school friends. When her mother found the candy she had taken from the convenience store, she had gone with Winona and made her return it to the store manager. It was years before she was tempted to steal again.

In junior high, she noticed that periodically a certain tension would build up inside her. it felt as if something deep within her pelvis itched and she couldn't scratch it. For several days she would feel increasingly restless, but with an excited sense of anticipation. Finally she would dart into whatever store she happened to be passing, whisk some article under her coat or into her handbag, and walk out, flooded with relief. For a time it seemed to be associated with her menstrual periods, but by the time she was 17, these episodes had becomoe completely random events.

"I don't know why I do it," Winona said again. "Of course, I don't like being caught. but I deserve to be. I've ruined my life and the lives of my family. Its not as if i needed another compact - I must have 15 of them at home."

Case 8 - The Case of George W.

George w., a thirty-six-year-old white male, was referred for therapy by the courts. Following his third conviction for driving while intoxicated, George had been sentenced to a six-month stay in a work-release program. Therapy was required as part of his participation in that program.

George began using alcohol when he was fourteen years old and had been drinking excessively since that time. His father, his maternal grandfather, and two of his three brothers all abused alcohol. George had been married to his second wife for two years and had a one-year-old child. his first marriage had ended in divorce four years earlier, partly because his wife would no longer tolerate George's drinking. He had maintained contact with his two children from that marriage.

George was employed as a supervisor for a construction firm. He had been with the same company for over ten years and had a good work record. He consumed little alcohol during the day, but on most evenings he would begin drinking beer as soon as he returned home from work, and he also drank on most weekends. He had tried to stop drinking on his own repeatedly and had been alcohol free for six months when he married his present wife. However, he stated that financial difficulties associated with the birth of their child led him to resume drinking. George reported frequent weekend episodes of binge drinking and occasional blackouts. He said that his wife was unhappy about his drinking and expressed disappointment that they never went out; but sincee she was always absorbed in caring for the baby, he did not believe going out mattered any more to her than it did to him.

George reported some mild depression and stated that he was very shy and never felt comfortable around people. Alcohol had helped him feel more self-confident, so that he was able to establish relationships with a group of male peers who also drank to excess. The possibility of an underlying avoidant personality disorder was considered. Otherwise, George's difficulties all seemed related to his alcohol use.