Thompson Family Case Study
Within the case study of the Thompson family, William considers multiple identifiers that connect to PTSD that is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder diagnosis. Regarding DSM-5, that is, Diagnosis and statistical manual, the uncovering to the threatened or exact death, sexual violence, and critical injury includes the significant criteria or standards for the particular Diagnosis, especially among the adults (Thompson family case study, 2012). Consequently, the client within this context involves William, who happened to be a veteran in Iraq and experiences a critical situation through the particular war. Also, through a particular case study, the client seems to assume the diagnosis process: PTSD. According to the State ‘states’ mental institutes, circumventing feelings and thoughts connecting to a traumatic incident or situation indicates PTSD classic symptoms. According to the case, the client also does not recognize the Diagnosis associated with him (Wheeler, 2014). Such behaviors are additionally typical in other disorders related to drugs as well. Considering this, William is also an alcohol addict, which has impacted his job and, in turn, increased stress through his overall life and family.
Therefore, the therapeutic strategy to consider though this situation involves CBT is cognitive behavior therapy. This process has been proved and acknowledged to treat clients with PTSD (Ochberg, 2012) effectively. For instance, this therapeutic process shows progress in reducing the negative signs and improving their functioning through their daily lives. Considering specific institutes of mental health like NIMH, clients’ preferred treatment with PTSD involved psychotherapy, and medication therapy. Consequently, the initial line treatment for the involved clients includes SSRI’sSSRI’s like the daily Sertraline 25 mg PO. Moreover, this medication has been under numerous studies and has revealed clinical effectiveness amongst the active group. Therefore, after the medications, the client will show improvement, considering the impairment throughout daily life.
Reference
Laureate Education (Producer). (2012a). Academic year in residence: Thompson family case study [Multimedia file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Ochberg, F. (2012). Psychotherapy for chronic PTSD [Video file]. Mill Valley, CA: Psychotherapy.net.
Wheeler, K. (Ed.). (2014). Psychotherapy for the advanced practice psychiatric nurse: A how-to guide for evidence-based practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
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CBT Settings
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Family Versus Individual CBT
Cognitive-behavioral therapy(CBT) is a form of therapy that asks patients to change to a new way of thinking by recognizing, reframing and challenging negative thoughts (Hawley, Padesky, Hollon, Mancuso, Laposa, Brozina & Segal, 2017). Therapist uses their skills in helping the patient in identifying and understanding the effects of negative thoughts and behaviors and how to challenge such feelings and behaviors in marriage and family therapy. From the individual settings, the counselor or therapist and the patient work hand-in-hand to unearth unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns and how they impact their feelings.
Moreover, in individual therapy, exercises are carefully constructed, which are later used to help the patient evaluate their thoughts and behavior. In this setting, some treatment aspects majorly focus on behaviors, whereas others focus majorly on treatment. For instance, the therapist might consider focusing on avoidance, withdrawal, or social skills that are poor when the patient finds it difficult to identify or challenge the negative thoughts. On the contrary, the therapist may consider challenging unrealistic thinking if such behaviors are not as noticeable.
Besides, in a family, a family setting, CBT therapeutic approach examines the interaction dynamics and how it affects the family functioning or dysfunction. The therapist engages with the family and highlights issues that involve the beliefs, emotions, and changes in behavior. The therapist also needs to keep an eye on every member of the family and tries to notice how they respond to each other so as not to capture only individual thoughts, reactions, and feelings (Dattilio & Collins, 2018).
During my practicum, James who was one of my patients, believed that he was of no benefit, and he considered himself a failure in his relationship, his place of work and in his friendship with his fellow workers. All through, he perceived that it would always be difficult, and bad things would happen. These depressed him and affected his relationship as it made him lose heart on things quickly and believed that there was “no point of trying.” Emily, who is James’ wife, lamented, “My family is a mess, and I do not know how I can change it.” On these bases, I prescribed four sessions of individual CBT, two in a week for two hours each, and two sessions of family CBT with the wife once a week for two hours each week.
In individual therapy, I helped James identify the beliefs and look for pieces of evidence for and against them. After these sessions, James to view the world from a different point of view and challenged himself to view it from a central point of view. On the other hand, during family therapy, I used a modular approach which is sequentially delivered. That is, “self-monitoring, self-instruction, rational-analysis, and behavioral enactment”(Dattilio & Collins, 2018). I guided the couple through all these stages, and this strategy proved beneficial as the wife learned to support the husband without enabling and ending codependence.
CBT tends to focus more on thinking than emotions (Okamoto, Dattilio, Dobson & Kazantzis, 2019). As such, these make it ineffective in a family setting as members of a family have strong immediate emotional reactions. In short, when the patient feels more emotional, providing therapy that is geared towards cognition and behavior becomes less effective for change.
In closing, the integration of both individual and family techniques effectively promotes both intrapsychic and interpersonal challenges. Through this, the therapist can utilize each therapeutic approach’s strengths and tailor them to meet particular individuals’ and families’ specific needs.
References
Dattilio, F. M., & Collins, M. H. (2018). Cognitive-behavioral family therapy. Guilford Press.
Hawley, L. L., Padesky, C. A., Hollon, S. D., Mancuso, E., Laposa, J. M., Brozina, K., & Segal, Z. V. (2017). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression using mind over mood: CBT skill use and differential symptom alleviation. Behavior therapy, 48(1), 29-44.
Okamoto, A., Dattilio, F. M., Dobson, K. S., & Kazantzis, N. (2019). The therapeutic relationship in cognitive–behavioral therapy: Essential features and common challenges. Practice Innovations, 4(2), 112.
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