Conceptualization in Practice: Trauma and Healing.

Conceptualization in Practice: Trauma and Healing
Name
Conceptualization in Practice: Trauma and Healing
Summary of Client Narrative
Room is a 2015 film that focuses on the life of a kidnapped mother and her son. The film's main protagonist, Joy, is played by Brie Larson. She is a woman who is held captive, and she is also living with her five-year-old son (Jacob Tremblay) while being forced to live in a small garden shade (Abrahamson, 2015). Her son refers to her as Ma. They spend all their time in the shed, and the women undergo many issues as she explains to her child that the shed is everything that exists. Jack's entire world is based on the things he can touch and see within the tiny shed, and with assistance from Ma and his imagination, he believes that he lives in a fairy-tale kingdom. Ma influences her son to think that inanimate objects in the surroundings, such as the television or sink, are his confidantes or cherished friends. Ma was kidnapped as a teenager, and she has been in the shed for over seven years. Her captor often sexually assaulted her.
Additionally, her captor also impregnated her, and she tries her best as a mother to protect her son's innocence while ensuring that he has everything he needs (VanDerWerff, 2015). For instance, she agrees to have sex with Old Nick, her captor, so that she can get supplies and groceries. During the sexual encounters with Old Nick, she ensures that Jack is hidden in a cupboard so that he does not see what goes on. Ma considers the room to be a shared universe with her son until his fifth birthday (Abrahamson, 2015). She decides to explain to him the reasons why they are living in the shed. It is difficult for her to convince Jack that a larger world exists beyond the shed, filled with a wide array of things that he has seen on TV. For Jack, anything that exists in reality as a magical object that comes from the TV.
Preliminary Diagnostic Opinions
Based on her behavior, the preliminary diagnostic for MA is that she has PTSD. Based on the first DSM5 criteria, Ma underwent a direct experience of a traumatic event. This is through sexual violence, whereby she was raped, giving birth to her son while still in captivity. Based on the second criterion of intrusion, Ma is re-experiencing emotional distress since she tries to protect her son from what she is undergoing (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2014). However, she reaches a breaking point and decides to tell him about the truth. Based on the third criterion of avoidance, Ma tries to avoid reminders such as places, activities, conversations, objects, and situations which are linked with the traumatic event. For example, she agrees to be interviewed for a television show. However, she becomes upset when the reporter asked her why she chose to keep Jack rather than letting him go to the hospital so that he can be adopted.
Based on the fourth criterion, Ma also has negative alterations in mood and cognition. She began to have negative feelings and thoughts after the trauma (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2014). This was a factor why she wanted to commit suicide since she felt guilty about what she underwent. She blames herself for the life that Jack experienced. She continues to have exaggerated and persistent negative expectations and beliefs about herself and also her mother. Ma also has a persistent inability to have positive emotions. She cannot experience a loving feeling or happiness. She is not happy since she feels that she has lost many years in captivity and also what happened to her. Based on the fifth criteria for PTSD, Ma also has a marked alteration of reactivity and arousal, which is linked to the traumatic event (Abrahamson, 2015). For example, she has angry outbursts and irritable behavior, and often argues with her mother. Ma is also reckless or engages in self-destructive behavior (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2014). For instance, she decides to commit suicide. The duration of the disturbance is also for more than a month since she continued to experience the disorder several months after she gets freedom. The disturbance also causes distress with her social relationship with her family and son. She is not happy that he does not understand the world. The disturbance is also not caused by the psychological effect of a substance like alcohol or medication.
Clinical Decision Making (Culture and Identity)
The clinical decision-making process is influenced by culture and identity. Every individual has a unique link to a particular cultural identity, which can be influenced by their gender, sexual orientation, education, age, income, religion, and nationality. Identity and culture influence and interact with each other. For instance, gender influences whether a person would be traumatized because of what their child is going through. In the current case, the women are undergoing a traumatic incident since she is the mother, and a father might not have undergone the same trauma. Females are also prone to a wide array of traumatic experiences such as sexual abuse, which was happeni...