Case Study:
Matthew is a 35 year old middle class white man. He comes from a traditional household, where his father was head and refused to let his mother work. Matthew’s father believed that women should not work, instead stay home and raise the children. Matthew adopted his father’s ways of raising his own family. Matthew works full time as a police officer. He and his wife, who is addicted to prescription drugs, are going through a divorce and custody battle. Matthew has been mandated to have therapy sessions for the stress of his job, divorce, and custody battle. Matthew states that his “kids are upset that their mother has been arrested for drugs again.”
Kiara is a 34 year old black woman. She comes …show more content…
I chose this model because the therapist needs to design interventions for change in behavior. According to Milan’s approach, families want to change a problem, while keeping the environment the same. In this case study, Matthew knows that his family’s behavior is very confrontational, yet he has not made any suggestions about staying home more to deal with them. Kiara knows her children are suffering from lack of parental guidance, yet she continues to use drugs. Jesse feels that his father is not there for him. However, when Matthew tries to talk to him, Jesse rejects his attempts. Lindsay wants a normal family, however, she continues to act out in school, causing more strain on her family …show more content…
Goal 1: Understanding reasons behind negative behavior
a. Inquiries about nature of problem
i. Why does Matthew have a hard time communicating with his wife and children? ii. Why do Jesse & Lindsay interact negatively at school?
b. Face to face sequence
i. How do you fight with significant others? ii. How did your parents fight when you were young vs now? iii. How do fights end in your family?
II. Goal 2: Understanding what issues the family wishes to fix.
a. Reframe and Punctuation would be used for each family member
b. Directives would be given to fix the family’s identified problem. This would highlight it more.
Middle Phase Goals:
III. Goal 1: Positive change in behavior takes place
a. The children would use pretending to reclassify behavior to the parents
b. Redefining would be used with Kiara’s anxiety over Lindsay taking prescription drugs for her AD/HD.
IV. Goal 2: Positive communication increase
a. Ordeals would be used for each member of the family
b. Directives would be used for each member of the family to break inappropriate sequences of behavior..
Late Phase Goals:
V. Goal 1: Maintain good problem solving