Family Therapy Case Studies

Mr. and Mrs. Smith, African-American couples have been married for fifteen years. They have two children, one girl, Erica, who is 13 years old, and one boy, John, who is 10 years old. Mrs. Smith works part-time as an LVN at a local hospital and he stays away from home 4 out of 7 nights since he works 2 hours away. They used to be very involved in their local church. Mr. and Mrs. Smith state that they are coming to therapy because of their son John who has frequent temper tantrums and refuses to listen to simple instructions. Mrs. Smith reports that John’s most recent outburst occurred while she was driving the car and he threw his water bottle into the front windshield. Mrs. Smith describes being extremely frustrated most of the time with …show more content…
Smith reports that she was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder five years ago and continues to struggle with excessive feelings of guilt, frequent episodes of sadness, and irritability. She was prescribed medication at the time of her diagnosis five years ago and took it for approximately two years; she is currently not on medication. She also states that she went to individual therapy for about 6 months and recalls working on coping skills. Mrs. Smith reports being unhappy in her marriage and feels like Mr. Smith prioritizes his job over the family in that he stays away from home 4 out of 7 nights since he works 2 hours away. She describes her daughter, Erica, as being compliant and a good student. She feels unsupported by her husband, given that he is away from home for most of the …show more content…
Mrs. Smith has negative attitudes towards her marriage as she stated that she is unhappy. She has some assumptions about her relationship with her husband that he prioritizes his job over the family in that he stays away from home 4 out of 7 nights since he works 2 hours away. Due to that, she is frustrated and sad, she may be trying to rationalize the symptoms by giving real reasons why she feels that because of her husband’s attitudes and actions, as well as her son’s case as he has frequent “temper tantrums” and refuses to listen to simple instructions. For Mr. Smith, who would like to pursue a legal separation, which indicate his hopeless being in his marriage and he has his own stresses due to the work’s circumstances and how he receives his wife’s requests to be close to him as she needs to be firmer in her discipline of John and that this will make him become more