John's Psychodynamic Theory

John’s self-report suggested that he was vey likely raised in a pampered environment, since John’s parents provided him with everything that he needed growing up. John’s problem seems to stem from family environment and childhood experiences. He felt he was unable to catch his parents’ attention and cannot impress them, and this inability led to the development of inferior complex in John, which subsequently influenced his style of life. He developed a style of life characterized by feeling of inferior and sense of unworthiness. John lacked adequate social interest, and avoided basic life tasks, such as socializing and contributing to a constructive society. As John stated, he suffered from low self-esteem. John was also very dependent on his …show more content…
Psychodynamic therapies will enable John to connect the past to the present behavior as well as examine unresolved interpersonal conflicts that arise from childhood experiences. From a psychodynamic perspective, there are two important treatment goals for John. The first is to develop a healthy style of life that reflects the social interest. Social interest has positive effects on one’s health, life satisfaction, job, and social life. John needs a sense of belonging, to be a part of the society, and he has the power to contribute to the society. This first goal will be achieved if John shows less depression symptoms and resumes previous level of effective functioning. When John becomes productive at work, regains interests in the activities he enjoyed, begins to socialize more with friends, or even start a new relationship with another woman, we will know this goal is successfully achieved. The second treatment goal is to enhance John’s self-esteem and positive beliefs about the self and the world. John needs to learn to think about the self in an optimistic way in order to reduce his stress. We will know this goal is at least partially achieved if John can make more positive statements about himself rather than negative self-descriptive statements. Alternatively, using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale to measure John’s self-esteem will also tell us whether this goal has been …show more content…
I will interpret and analyze John’s current lifestyle, trying to promote insight and gain awareness. As part of the therapy process, I will help John understand that he developed his current styles of life to compensate for feelings of inferiority. I will also emphasize the importance of social interest. I would encourage him to do good deeds to help others. This will make him feel better about himself. Another technique I will employ is acting “as if”. I will have John try to act as if he were a person with high self- esteem. Thus, John can see how acting differently feels. By acting “as if” John can allow himself to enact behaviors that are not comfortable to him and to approach his ideal self. My role as a therapist will be more like a teacher, who will show positive regard, empathy, support, faith, and hope for John throughout the therapies. The therapeutic relationship is a prototype of social interest as it can empower John to transform his relationship patterns. Treatment will be 50-minute sessions on a weekly basis and John will receive moderate length of treatment (i.e., one