Marcus Jones Case Study

Marcus Jones is a 15 year-old African American high school student who is showing all signs of addictive behavior to online gaming. His grandmother has brought him here in hopes to seek help in ending his addiction to online gaming, so Marcus can lead a normal life with social interaction with other individuals his age. After speaking with Marcus during a routine session to evaluate his addictive behavior, I have come to the conclusion that Marcus is addicted to online gaming, and if treatment is not provided can lead to more serious complications health wise. He seemed very irritable, fatigued, de-hydrated, and it was obvious this child rarely sleeps. Marcus and I will discuss further in detail how his addictive behavior started, and why he …show more content…
It is in the best interest for Marcus and his family to all be treated through the family system model. Marcus is very vulnerable to problems with an addiction for several reasons. First, his father has addictive behaviors, and then the entire family shows serious signs of imbalance. This is a dysfunctional family because there are no rules, or values being set forth upon these children. The mother encourages her oldest child to isolate himself from the world, so he can be financial set in the future. There is also a serious lack of communication within this family as well as a strong lack of interaction among the mother and her children. Even though she believes she’s doing the right thing by working hard to provide for her family, she is falling to see that her family is falling apart, and certain behaviors are more vulnerable to her children then she is aware of. Marcus’s mother and grandmother through treatment will learn about addictive behaviors, and how to handle these behaviors through setting boundaries and following through with those boundaries. They will also learn how to better communicate with each other, and interact in a healthy way. Hopefully we’ll be able to help this family to set values, and teach social interaction skills to Marcus and his younger siblings. The treatment will also involve family group therapy, as well as individual therapy because each family member seems to be heading in completely different directions. They have to be a family that has a foundation based on working together, not against each other. Social skills will be another part of therapy because this family lacks complete communication and social skills needed to lay boundaries, and rules