Therapeutic Approaches
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Assignment
Case Study
adapted from http://www.psyweb.com/Casestudies/CaseStudies.jsp
Maggie is a 28 year-old married female. She has a very demanding, high stress job as a second year medical resident in a large hospital. Maggie has always been a high achiever. She graduated with top honors in both college and medical school. She has very high standards for herself and can be very self-critical when she fails to meet them. Lately, she has struggled with significant feelings of worthlessness and shame due to her inability to perform as well as she always has in the past.
For the past few weeks Maggie has felt unusually fatigued and found it increasingly difficult to concentrate at work. Her coworkers have noticed that she is often irritable and withdrawn, which is quite different from her typically upbeat and friendly disposition. She has called in sick on several occasions, which is completely unlike her. On those days she stays in bed all day, watching TV or sleeping.
At home, Maggie’s husband has noticed changes as well. She’s shown little interest in sex and has had difficulties falling asleep at night. Her insomnia has been keeping him awake as she tosses and turns for an hour or two after they go to bed. He’s overheard her having frequent tearful phone conversations with her closest friend, which have him worried. When he tries to get her to open up about what’s bothering her, she pushes him away with an abrupt “everything’s fine”.
Although she hasn’t ever considered suicide, Maggie has found herself increasingly dissatisfied with her life. She’s been having frequent thoughts of wishing she was dead. She gets frustrated with herself because she feels like she has every reason to be happy, yet can’t seem to shake the sense of doom and gloom that has been clouding each day as of late. Maggie has been diagnosed with depression.
1. Choose ONE of the following therapeutic approaches:
psychodynamic therapy : (psychoanalysis), humanistic therapy, behavioral therapy, or cognitive therapy
2. Construct your paper based on the following (using your chosen therapeutic approach as a guide):
1st Paragraph: Clearly explain which therapeutic approach you chose for this case study, and why. Make sure you explain how it differs or is more effective than the other approaches.
2nd Paragraph: Clearly state the main problem or issue you need to consider when determining which therapeutic approach to use for this case study.
3rd Paragraph: Analyze and interpret relevant information about your chosen therapeutic approach in order to identify how this approach would view and understand Maggie’s depression.
4th Paragraph: Evaluate this case study to determine what kind treatment you would use for Maggie’s depression, based on your therapeutic approach. (For example, how would your therapy sessions be conducted, and what would your therapeutic goals be?)
5th Paragraph: Generate a comprehensive conclusion that integrates your thoughts about your therapeutic approach and how it would be used in this case study.
3. Check your work! Review and proofread your paper, using the following Intellectual Standards and ask yourself the questions to ensure your thought process is high quality.
Intellectual Standards Questions
Accuracy Did you provide appropriate information, so the reader can find out if what you said was an accurate representation of your therapeutic approach?
Relevance Have you demonstrated how the information you provided relates specifically to the case study?
Depth Did you consider other factors that could inform your decision about the type of treatment you would prescribe?
Logic Does what you say follow from the evidence?
Clarity Could you elaborate further in your explanations and analysis? Did you give examples to support your statements?
