Age Gender: Female Marital Status: Widow Stressors

Age

Gender: Female

Marital Status: Widow

Stressors as Perceived by the Client

Major Stress area of concern: The client's husband of 25 years passed away less than a month ago. She is still grieving and also dealing with stress related to settling her late husband's estate. The client has had chronic back pain, migraines, and foot pain for the past several years. These problems culminated in hospitalization due to the need for osteopathic care and surgery on her foot. The client and her husband were partners in employment, and after the death of her husband, the client has been overburdened with work.

Lifestyle Patterns: The client does not sleep or eat well, especially after the death of her husband. The client relies heavily on fast food and does not cook for herself. She has been prescribed sleeping pills, and has been taking them regularly. She stopped smoking ten years ago, but she drinks a few glasses of wine every evening. The client exercises rarely to occasionally, but her foot and back pain have made exercise less of a habit and more of a chore.

3. Anticipation for the future: The client is extremely anxious about the future, as the death of her husband was unexpected. She was not prepared for the onslaught of work related to her having to assume many of his responsibilities in their family business. In terms of her physical health, the client feels confident that she is healthy but worries that her emotional anguish will prevent her back pain and migraines from healing.

4. What is the client doing to help herself? The client is reaching out to friends and family, and has sought professional counseling. She attended church services for the first time in years, but does not "vibe" off of organized religion. She has started to read some self-help books and is returning to her interest in Buddhist meditation. However, she has yet to discover one core method or routine behavior that can help herself cope.

B. Intrapersonal Factors:

1. Physical: Chronic back pain; migraine with persistent and severe headaches coupled with frequent nausea. Menopausal. Severe foot pain that requires surgery, which has forced her to change her footwear and walking habits lately.

2. Psycho-sociocultural: Conflict with daughters over husband's estate is causing some family strife. Guilt over being concerned about money, coupled with anger and resentment at what she perceives to be greed on her daughters' part.

3. Developmental Factors: Having experienced the death of her husband, the client is confronting an entirely new stage of life. Her daughters are in their early 20s, and neither is married.

4. Spiritual belief system: Client has not thought much about religion or spirituality since her youth, when she was interested in Buddhism. Her husband was an atheist, and she lost interest in religion a long time ago. Since her husband's death, she attended church because she "needed to get out of the house." She does not have well-formed spiritual beliefs and describes herself as agnostic.

C. Interpersonal Factors: Speaks with both her daughters regularly, but she gets along with one better than the other. Their relationships are strained since the death of the client's husband. Rather than bring them together as a family, the death has allowed some tension to surface related to money. Assumes the bulk of responsibility for managing the business she shared with her late husband, and has trouble delegating his tasks. Because his death was sudden, she has no person who understands the business enough to seamlessly take over his responsibilities.

D. Extrapersonal Factors: The client feels a loss of control over her life, and strong sense of abandonment since the death of her husband. She grapples with anger. Afraid to relinquish some control over the business, but at the same time aware that she cannot handle everything herself. Feeling overwhelmed, angry, and afraid. Conflicted about how to handle the husband's estate.