Family Studies, Case Study Example

In October of 1998, the Hertle Family began to experience much pain after the parents, Judy and Rick, separated.  Their two children Susan and Billy were six and eight, respectively.  After the separation, the two children were split up.  Susan went with her mother, while Billy went with his father.  Judy and Susan lived with Judy’s parents, Frank and Joanne.  However, her parents lived in a completely different school district and forced Judy to have Susan transfer away from her brother.  Rick and Billy remained at the family’s original home in Franklin, Virginia.

The purpose for the separation evolved from Rick’s habit of internet flirting.  He would sign in to chat rooms on America Online and flirt with the females in the room.  After several months, Judy began to find transcripts of the chat room messages, instant messages and saved emails where women were sending him sexual photographs and sexual innuendo.  Rick denied ever having any intention of cheating or following through with the sexual advances of these women, but several weeks later Judy found several text messages from Rick’s cell phone from an unknown women named “Flower” that described her desire for sexual intercourse in rather graphic detail.  Judy and Rick had a rather violent confrontation where Judy threw a glass mug at Rick.  The cops were called by a neighbor to resolve the disturbance and neither person was arrested and no charges were filed.  The following day Judy and Susan moved out.

Rick’s family has a strong history of alcoholism and substance abuse that has become a problem in his own life.  Both Rick and Judy are of African American dissent; however, Rick comes from an impoverished background living in a trailer park while Judy’s father is a successful multi-million dollar stock broker and her mother works as a partner at the corporate law firm Smith, Fields and Hertle.  Specifically, Rick’s father and paternal uncle had issues with alcoholism.  Rick’s father habitually beat his mother for most of his childhood until he was finally arrested for assault and battery when Rick was 12-years-old.  He never saw his father again, but his uncle was sent to rehab and continues to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings every week in his hometown.  During the separation, Rick drank quite often and Billy became the victim of much drunken physical abuse from his father.  As a consequence, Billy developed a private personality and constantly argued with authority figures at school.  When Billy would have confrontations with teachers or the principal, his father would be called into the school and each time Billy would be spanked that same night – usually after Rick had several drinks.

After the couple had separated, Judy immediately began to see Dr. Shane Miller for psychiatric therapy and family counseling.  She begged Rick to attend, but he believed that counseling was “pointless and stupid.”  Nevertheless, the couple decided that it was in the best interest of the children that they work things out and move back in together after two and a half years of separation.  The two children only saw each other on major holidays and quickly lost any sibling bond that had existed.  After the family moved in together, the two children immediately clashed.  Billy had blamed his little sister for the parents separating claiming that “she was whiny and made things really hard on mommy and daddy.”  He began to take her toys from his sister and also started to engage in physical altercations with his sister by shoving her into walls and pushing her into the ground and putting all of his weight on top of her.  The two parents continued to reprimand Billy, but his behavior never seemed to improve.  They tried grounding him from his favorite activities at first, but then Rick began to spank his son when he disobeyed either he or Judy.  Rick’s alcohol issues appeared to disappear, but remain a dark cloud over him and his son’s past.

Judy remained adamant that the entire family should see Dr. Miller for family counseling and group or individual therapy sessions.  Dr. Miller began by immediately speaking with the entire family to discuss the objectives of their sessions together and then spoke with each family member separately on different occasions.  Utilizing family systems theory, Dr. Miller immediately recognized that each of the individuals in the family has an unclear role in the family structure.  While Rick is primarily the authority figure in the home, Susan views Judy as the primary authority figure from their time together during the separation.  Billy on the other hand does not respect Rick as an authority figure, but he is both afraid of his drinking and there is a lot of hatred in their relationship.  Nevertheless, Rick provides the finances for the family and Judy has always been a stay-at-home mother.

Dr. Miller began treatment by speaking with each family member separately to determine how each view their roles in the family and how they defined the other members’ roles according to each person’s perceptions.  Miller then discussed the family’s views with Rick and Judy separately to provide them with insight into some of the issues that may be present with identity definition.  Finally, Dr. Miller spoke with Rick and Judy together to express the problems with Billy and Susan.  It was determined that the two children should spend more time with one another working on chores together or playing outside in non-competitive scenarios to eliminate the potential for either child’s emotions to take over.  The goal of this treatment and close parental supervision is to ensure that their sibling rivalry erodes in a constructive manner.  Finally, Miller proposed that Rick and Judy begin couples counseling and that Rick should start to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to discuss he and his family’s problems with alcohol.  Dr. Miller also suggested that Rick and Billy spend time outside of the home doing fun activities where they can create a stronger bond.