Jennifer is a 25 year-old young woman, who lives with her current boyfriend, Mark. Jennifer’s biological father died when she was 2 years old. During the majority of her childhood, she and her brother were raised by her mother and stepfather. Jennifer’s life, from infancy to adulthood has been a tumultuous one- fraught with circumstances that have deeply affected her through to her core being. Never knowing her biological father, being witness to her family’s explosive arguments, domestic violence between her mother and stepfather, drug abuse by her brother, her mother’s infidelity to her stepfather, her parent’s divorce, which resulted in the separation of their family unit, being a victim of her own physically and verbally abusive relationships
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The affective symptoms that Jennifer is experiencing from depression are feelings of confusion, defeat, and being lost. When arriving at the restaurant to meet her mother for lunch, Jennifer “wanted to turn around and crawl back into bed.” (p.45) During lunch, Jennifer felt as if the walls of the restaurant were caving in on her, and began to feel removed from the situation. Her relationship with Mark began to decline after losing her job. She started losing interest in the things that would bring her pleasure in life, such as working out at the gym or socializing with co-workers. Subsequently, she became fearful of being around other people and of looking for a job. When Mark would criticize her for her lack of motivation in life, she felt useless and incompetent. This became a pattern of learned helplessness, as Jennifer’s feelings would worsen after Mark would increasingly criticize …show more content…
Depression is more prevalent in individuals who do not have the social support of a happy relationship/spouse. In Jennifer’s case, the lack of social support from Mark, coupled with her own anger and fighting, contributes to her depression. Culturally, being a woman, Jennifer is twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression than a man would be. One explanation for this is the life stress theory: women are subject to more stress than men. They have more responsibilities, taking care of the children and housework, than men in the home. Women face less opportunities, and more discrimination than men in our society. Family-social treatment for Jennifer would include interpersonal psychotherapy and possibly couples therapy for her and Mark together. These types of therapies involve changing how Jennifer copes with the close relationships surrounding her life.
IV. Jennifer’s experience is considered abnormal based on the following 4 D’s:
Deviance- Her behavior, being in a depressive mood for the entire day for days on end, with a lack of enjoyment for pleasurable activities, constant crying, and staying in bed all day contributes in part to what society views as improper functioning. This type of behavior does not align with societal norms for acceptable conduct.
Distress- Jennifer would exhibit
The affective symptoms that Jennifer is experiencing from depression are feelings of confusion, defeat, and being lost. When arriving at the restaurant to meet her mother for lunch, Jennifer “wanted to turn around and crawl back into bed.” (p.45) During lunch, Jennifer felt as if the walls of the restaurant were caving in on her, and began to feel removed from the situation. Her relationship with Mark began to decline after losing her job. She started losing interest in the things that would bring her pleasure in life, such as working out at the gym or socializing with co-workers. Subsequently, she became fearful of being around other people and of looking for a job. When Mark would criticize her for her lack of motivation in life, she felt useless and incompetent. This became a pattern of learned helplessness, as Jennifer’s feelings would worsen after Mark would increasingly criticize …show more content…
Depression is more prevalent in individuals who do not have the social support of a happy relationship/spouse. In Jennifer’s case, the lack of social support from Mark, coupled with her own anger and fighting, contributes to her depression. Culturally, being a woman, Jennifer is twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression than a man would be. One explanation for this is the life stress theory: women are subject to more stress than men. They have more responsibilities, taking care of the children and housework, than men in the home. Women face less opportunities, and more discrimination than men in our society. Family-social treatment for Jennifer would include interpersonal psychotherapy and possibly couples therapy for her and Mark together. These types of therapies involve changing how Jennifer copes with the close relationships surrounding her life.
IV. Jennifer’s experience is considered abnormal based on the following 4 D’s:
Deviance- Her behavior, being in a depressive mood for the entire day for days on end, with a lack of enjoyment for pleasurable activities, constant crying, and staying in bed all day contributes in part to what society views as improper functioning. This type of behavior does not align with societal norms for acceptable conduct.
Distress- Jennifer would exhibit