Therapy Assignment, Case Study Example

Abstract

In the practice of psychology, there are different approaches that are utilized in handling of different psychological cases in human mental or behavioral treatment. The major areas of psychology Behaviorist, Gestalt psychology, and psychoanalysis all have different approaches that are unique in handling human mental or behavioral conditions. Not only are these approaches unique in the ways they handle clinical cases, they also produce different results (Greene, 2008). The result is that, some methods are seen to be more effective than others in handling a problem depending on the condition that is being handled. This paper seeks to reveal the different approaches used in different areas of psychology, in provision of therapy to a clinical case study. It also seeks to show which of the methods is best suited as shown by the effectiveness of each approach in handling the patient condition. After assessing the possible methods or procedures of each approach, the paper will offer recommendations on the best possible approach that can be used in handling the given condition as represented by the case study.

Introduction to the Case

Logan is as an individual who has a lot of doubts about his abilities. He always spends a lot of time trying to make whatever he is doing to seem perfect. He has been doing this for a long time in his life, and it affects his work though the approach proved to be useful when he was still a student. His major problem arises as he has a lot of doubts about what he can or cannot do. He also takes a lot of time confirming information which he has already learned. In lay mans language, Logan can be described as doubtful and forgetful individual who also seems to be a perfectionist, and the result of his behavior is that he spends more than enough time in everything that he does and results to him being slow in his work. This is due to the fact that he spends time reviewing things that had already been done instead of recalling.

Given that this condition affects the way he works, it is evident that the case needs to be resolved before it further affects him. Normal individuals always use already existing knowledge in solving cases that arise, what one need are only the major areas that have been covered and the rest just fall in place with the help of previous knowledge. The details can always vary depending on the case that one is working on. For Logan’s case, existing knowledge is not useful in anyway and spends the same time to research for information that had already been used.

Approaches to Therapy

In the treatment of Logan’s case, there are specific aspects in the case that need to be addressed. First, the reason why he feels that he forgets what has been covered should be established. This will explain why he refers to older cases in treatment of his patients and also rewriting his notes over and over again. Another area that will be focused in the treatment of Logan’s condition is his doubt about his abilities and, why he can’t do anything without referring, also such condition should be treated as a case of him wanting to be perfect in everything that he does or just a case of mare forgetfulness. All the areas above should be focused in the search of the most efficient ways that the condition can be treated. His therapy sessions should address all the stated areas for it to be able to provide a holistic treatment of the case.

In the search of effective treatment (therapy) for Logan, there are different aspects that should be considered before therapy is prescribed. First the nature of the condition should be assessed to ascertain whether the condition is phenomenon related it is permanent. In psychology, the case (condition) of every patient always is unique. Although some patients may be suffering from the same condition, the manifestation of the case in every individual is always different (Yalom & Leszcz 2005). The search of the appropriate therapy method should focus on the individual manifestation of the condition in the individual. When Logan is going to receive his therapy, he should be accorded a one on one session with the therapist so that the individual cases that he suffers the conditions are be ascertained. It is aimed at understanding the condition of the patient at a particular incident and not based on what has been provided to be the general conditions of patients suffering from the same condition.

Another approach that would affect the way therapy would be conducted is cultural psychology. This is a form of stereotyping the way individuals in a given culture ought to behave. In the case study, Logan is considered to be having self doubt issues and therefore considered abnormal in the way he works for his field. In some situations or cultures, such working styles might be considered normal. The culture that he is in will definitely affect the way that he will be receive therapy it will also determine the type of therapy that he will receive. Cultural psychology will therefore be considered in the search of the appropriate therapy for the patient (Logan).

Other areas of psychology that will affect the type and way of therapy are the structuralism and functionalism theories of psychology. In psychology the theory of structuralism suggest that in the mind of an individual, there are different parts that work independently but still contribute in its unique way to the overall system of the brain. In this regard therefore, the appropriate therapy that Logan will receive is determined by the part of the brain that will be seen to be defective and contributes to the condition. The areas that need to be reinforced determine how the therapy will be conducted. In opposition to structuralism, functionalism indicates that the functioning of an individual is always conditioned by the environment that we exist in (Hersen, Haynes & Heib, 2004). This means that the case of Logan can be in some way be related to the environment that he is in. This is to say that the way he behaves may be as a result of his working environment or the way that he has been working in. Before therapy is begun, an assessment of the working conditions and environment of the place of work of Logan should be assessed. This will in turn affect the way that therapy will be conducted and also the effectiveness of the therapy will be conditioned by functionalism. All the above theories will play a part in determining the therapy or treatment plan for patient (Logan).

As already mentioned, all the psychological orientations approach psychological cases differently. The approaches differ in their level of effectiveness. In order to assess the best approach to be used in the therapy, an analysis of all the different approaches prescribed by the different psychological orientation is imperative. First, an assessment of the way that lagans case will be seen in the behavioral approach is analyzed. Behaviorism suggests that the all the behavioral exhibited by an individual whether overt or covert indicate how their thought process is organized. In Logan’s case his behavior of constantly reviewing things that have already been learned. Under Behaviorism, Logan will be taught of how he has to remember things by his own instead of constantly relying on written sources. His therapy according to behaviorism should include conditioning his mind through the use of thought stimulants instead of using the whole written sources as his reference when handling even of the simplest clinical cases. This process will eliminate stimuli that will make him think of referring to his written records. The condition may have developed because he always had access to the information that he wanted so his thinking may have been impaired by the condition.

The second approach that can used, Gestalt psychology in the provision of the appropriate therapy, his behavior is looked at a holistic view. That is all the behaviors are assessed as a whole rather looking at individual behavior and how it has contributed to the case. In Gestalt psychology the elements of Logan’s behavior are considered in the formulation of the appropriate therapy plan but rather a holistic approach to all the areas of his mind are determined in the development of the appropriate plan for therapy. This approach differs greatly with structuralism because in structuralism individual elements of behavior are considered to have been conditioned by a single functioning process of the mind. In this regard, when forming the appropriate therapy plan for Logan, his brain activities are to be considered as a whole.

Finally psychoanalysis will be employed in the formulation of the appropriate therapy for Logan. Psychoanalysis will help in investigating the mind through comparing it with a set of theories on behavior of individuals (Craighead, & Nemeroff, 2002) which will help in providing the best therapy technique that would be useful to Logan. This approach factors already existing theories of normal individual behavior as basis of prescribing the appropriate therapy to the individuals.

Having assessed all the possible strategies that can be used in prescribing therapy for Logan, it is now easier to indicate the most appropriate strategy that would be effective. All the strategies had unique approaches to the case. The most likely successful approach is the case of Psychoanalysis. This is because beside it being a unique approach in handling such cases, it still finds ways of incorporating aspects from the other methods. It incorporates the uniqueness of each case in determining therapy as well as utilizing preexisting ways that have been found to be successful in management of similar cases. This is by it comparing sets of theories that indicate normal behavior in individuals and the point of deviation of an individual behavior marks the places of the behavior of the patient that need to be worked on. After this only different treatment or therapy procedures are developed with the needs of every individual case in mind. This is a far much better approach than the cases that concentrate on each case without comparing it with similar cases.

Reference

Craighead, W.E. & Nemeroff, C.B. (eds). (2002). The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology And Behavioral Science, Volume 3. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Greene, R. (2008). Human behavior theory & social work practice. New York: Aldine Transaction.

Yalom, I.D & Leszcz, M. (2005). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (5^th ed). NewYork: Basic Books.

Hersen, M., Haynes S. N. & Heib, E.M. (eds). (2004). Comprehensive Handbook of Psychological Assessment: Behavioral assessment. New York: John Wiley and Sons.