Case study: Case Description/Observation Psychology Essay

Family Therapy
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Case Description/Observation
The family in question belongs to Lisa, a 39-year-old white heterosexual married woman, and Li, a 42-year-old man of Canadian and Chinese origin together with their children, Jimmy, the son of 14 years old and Emma, who is eight years old. Lisa called inquiring for a sit-down at the family counselling center because she wanted to discuss her mental health as she had been feeling depressed over her son. The son had been getting himself in unnecessary trouble in school. He had started missing his homework assignments, which led to him failing his classes. He had also been suspended the previous week for punching another student. When asked about her daughter, Lisa said that all her life, Emma had been quiet and did not portray any behavioural issues at the moment of the discussion. However, when she came in for an interview, Emma did not seem normally happy compared to other kids her age.
The mother also adds that the girl is arguably inactive, and her speech is not spontaneous and cheerful, as it would have been expected. From the first interview, it was evident that there were serious marital issues in the family. In the second interview, an individual session, Lisa claims that her husband, a software programmer, feels somewhat entitled and has been spending at least 5 hours playing online poker games. Although Li's perception is that he has the right to do whatever pleases him during his free time, his wife feels that the phenomenon is a dangerous addiction and a betrayal to the family, both emotionally and financially. The tension between the two of them has had a negative impact on their son's behaviour as the husband does not take time to connect with his son and the whole family, in general. On the other hand, Li feels that the entire situation is due to Lisa's high levels of stress and her uncontrollable anger.
Different pieces of information emerge and other conclusions that can be made from the observation and evaluation of the case above. One reason that brought the family to therapy is the growing feeling of disconnection between the family members. They were drawing much and much further away from each other up to the point that the effects were now outwardly presented and affecting the parents and the children. The disconnection in the family is due to numerous distractions, including mistrust and other objects such as the Internet, computers, and commitments. The family then resolved to therapy to improve communication and resolve conflicts with the view of fixing troubled relationships and marriage. The assessment of the family yielded a new piece of knowledge, which implied Lisa loves her family and friendship more than Li does. The feeling has kept her making attempts to fix the wedding, and her uncertainty has caused her depression and loss of trust and love for her husband.
Theory 1: Solution-Focused Family Therapy
Conceptualization
Solution-Focused Family Therapy is also called Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) and Solution-Building Practice Therapy (SBPT). The method was developed in the 1970s by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Franklin & Reddy, 2019). The theory is straightforward as it focuses on solutions rather than on what has already happened. The development and advancement of the approach was carried out in an inner-city outpatient mental health service environment where clients were permitted to the therapy without scrutiny and screening. The creators of the theory then spent several hours over many years, carefully taking notes and examining the questions that therapists asked, their behaviours, and their emotions during the sessions (Goldenberg, Stanton & Goldenberg, 2016). Moreover, the two also assessed how certain practices and activities of the therapists affected the clients and the outcomes. Finally, the information was accumulated and used in creating SFBT, one of the leading and highly recommended approaches to family therapies in the world.
Since all therapies take the form of organized and specialized conversations, the conversation in SFBT is aimed at creating, developing, and achieving the goals and solutions of situations (Perry, 2018). For the case of the family of Lisa, according to this theory, the leading cause of the problem is that the family tends to find out and address the issues in the family rather than solving them. The main problem in the family is that the tensions within the marriage have escalated to the point of affecting their children in school, their relationship with each other, and their social lives with other peers. However, instead of dealing with the immediate issue, Lisa devotes her time to investigate the process of the development of the problem. She blames Jimmy's behaviour on Li's addiction to online poker games and his limited time and attention with the family. On the other hand, the husband states that the nature of his wife: short-tempered and highly stressed, is the leading cause of the issues in the family.
Another reason as to why things in the therapy are not going as expected is because of the wrong process that the current session is following. According to SFBT, the family should start the initial meeting with their thoughts on the ideal solution for the situation (Franklin & Reddy, 2019). The problems within the family, lack of trust alongside many other reasons that brought the family to the sitting, should be significantly minimized. The therapist would then ask Lisa and Li to state the goal of the therapy and the whole process of the three working together towards a common outcome. Further, the therapist ought to ask the family to give specific typical situations when the problem in the household is not significant, and every time the couple might say that they are having a plausible time. By doing this, the specialist and the family are developing a picture or a representation of a scenario of the desired solution (Goldenberg, Stanton & Goldenberg, 2016). Besides, they are working on identifying all options of possible solutions and the resources that they require to achieve the goal.
Treatment Plan
Before evaluating the scenario and offering solutions to the family, there are specific ways that the therapist can handle the four members of the family, both in group interviews or in individual sessions. The first thing that the specialist should do is to ask relevant questions and listen to their answers. This means that the therapist should dedicate more time to the clients, listening and making notable observations while avoiding answered interjections and proposals (Perry, 2018). Secondly, the client should notice and reinforce particular instances and evidence of the clients' special abilities, qualities, strengths, resources, and general competence to provide solutions to their problems. Further, it would be credible if the therapist worked more with what the client has to offer instead of magnifying their disabilities and areas of weaknesses. Additionally, the specialist should carefully review the small details of the client's behaviour and use them to understand the situation and devise solutions that benefit them.
One thing that would aid in identifying the solutions for Jimmy's behaviour in school, Emma's inactiveness and unhappiness, Lisa's high-stress levels, and anger and Li's neglect of the family, would be to examine previous solutions. Therapists using SFBT have realized that current problems are not so much stiffer than the previous ones (Franklin & Reddy, 2019). Moreover, they have learned that due to the ongoing issues, the brain functionality of an individual tends to be disturbed, and their composition is disrupted. However, it is apparent that the members of this family have solved many issues before, and they probably have significant ideas on how to solve the current one. Therefore, since the therapist lends a listening ear in the situation, he helps the client figure out the potential solutions of the family tension by asking them questions on whether this might be a repetition of a much less problem. If so, outline the counter techniques that proved helpful (Goldenberg, Stanton & Goldenberg, 2016).
Another way to find a solution to the problem lies on the kinds of questions that the therapist asks. Asking excellent questions is critical in any form of therapy, and the technique is much more significant in SFBT. The validity of the practice is evident in the sense that the right questions serve the role of provoking the thinking and discussion of the client on how to achieve their goals and in the process of finding solutions. One of the questions is called a coping question (Franklin & Reddy, 2019). The question intends to aid the client in recognizing the level of their commitment, resilience and appreciate some of their measures that they used to cope with previous problems effectively. There are numerous ways of asking the question, but of all of them, the wording of a coping question would come down to "When you face a similar difficulty, how do you manage to accomplish your daily obligations?" In this case, the problem would apply to Lisa because although she has had to endure the effects of her husband's addiction to gambling, she has been able to wake in the morning, dress, and get her children ready for school.
Another type of question in this theory is the miracle question. This question is believed to be the most powerful technique in SFBT for the generation of the initial steps of creating a solution. The success of the question has been tested and proved to be correct and helpful in many different cultures all over the world. The miracle question works by encouraging clients to create a specific mental picture of a future where the current problem no longer affects their lives as it has been completely eradicated (Goldenberg, Stanton & Goldenberg, 2016). The future is the desired goal of the clients, and its art of imagination helps them to be hopeful and see a way forward in the possibility of living in this future. The question also aims at enabling them to identify solid steps to take to achieve the dream. Usually, a therapist asks the miracle question in the following manner; "Relax, an...