COUNSELING

Counseling: Theodore Clark Case Study

Part 1

Client Name: Theodore Clark

Client Initials: T.C.

Client Age: 40 years

Client Race/ Ethnicity: Black

Self-Identified Gender: Male

Presenting Problem

Clarksdemographic informationincludes education, nationality and religion. He has completed a four-year degree from New Mexico State in consumer family science. His nationality is born and bred in Miami. His spiritual belief is none. He belongs to the Black race. Hisemployment historyshows that he is a special education program director and had always been granted a promotion. There are no current and relevantlegal problemsin his life, except that he wants to get a divorce from his wife through legal means. He has previously nohistory of counseling.

Currently, thereason for seeking counselingis his family problems and serious concerns over getting a divorce. Theonset and duration of concern are observed after he was caught cheating for six months; however, the problem seems to be persistent for the past few months as he was caught cheating on his wife. The wife got more troubled and is constantly on his lookout. Thefrequency and intensityof symptomsare still mild as he has shown in his behavior with his children; though, he disclosed that he is under constant financial pressure as his wife is selfish with her money. The frequency and intensity could be observed in his irritability, anger, shouting and loud outbursts. He wants peace of mind. The clientwants to improvehis life by having a divorce to release himself from the continuous stress.

Family Structure

Hisfamily of originis his Black ethnic background. Research has shown that Blacks tend to have more psychological distress andthe roleof the Black race is apparent in low life satisfaction and high depression and anxiety levels (Williams, 2018). There is lower psychological wellbeing among this particular race due these reasons. Thesignificant relationshipsinclude the wife and two children. Clark has been married for five years and has two boys; one is 13 years old and the other is 10 years old.These children are from his wife since Clark has been married only once.

Divorceshave not been mentioned but since the current marriage has lasted five years until now and the sons ages are 13 and 10 years, it shows that the sons are his current wives children from her previous marriage. This could also be a source of stress as well as he has to take care of his wifes children and his shouting on them troubles the wife as well.The current living arrangementonly shows the involvement of his wife, children, and himself. There are nomajor losses or traumas. Also, there is nofamily mental health history, family substance abuse history, or family violence history. Thestage of development impacts and developmental challengesare evident in the fact that he has been experiencing shouting and outrageous outbursts on the children who are not even the source of his troubles. His wife is already disturbed with his cheating and has been greatly bothered by his shouting on her children. These behavioral changes could cause developmental challenges like social complications, such as interactions with people could become troublesome if his mood is full of anger each time.

Multicultural Considerations

As mentioned earlier, he belongs to the Blackrace. Hisreligion and faithare currently none. Clark has noability limitations or impairments. Hissexual and effectual orientationcould be inferred from his six-month affair, which shows that he is heterosexual. It became known to his wife after cheating on her for such a long time. He is not transgender or cisgender.

Hisage is 40 years and according to this information, he belongs to Millennials generation. He has a middle classsocioeconomic statusand did not experiencehomelessnessas he is currently at a program director post and had been receiving promotions on a constant basis. There is nomilitary upbringingor any such involvement. Further, there is nogang culture, drug culture, or any possibility of having to facethe criminal justice systemby the client.

Theimmigration statusis born and bred in Miami andlanguage preference is English. Thegeographical influences and environmental factorsdo not seem to relate to his current concern since his stress appears to be from his continuous family stressors. Though, it has been studied that geographical regions do influence racial discrimination and the resulting psychological disorders and stress in the older Black population (Kim et al., 2016). Although, he is still in middle years of his life, Clarks psychological distress has not developed to serious stages and is only experiencing mild symptoms of stress. Hence, being born and raised in Miami and his age are not of concern regarding is current family stressor situation. Moreover, there is no experience ofoppression or marginalizationsince he has been awarded continuous growth with promotions; if racial discrimination were a hindrance, then marginalization or oppression could have been considered a major obstacle in his peaceful and satisfactory life, which is currently not the case.

Part 2

Narrative Summary

Theunderstanding of the problemsuggests that the client is under serious stress that he has been experiencing and has been evident in his behavior. For example, he believes in beating his children when it comes to dicipline, which is itself an indicator of his rash behavior. Given the ages of his children, he should not be harsh with his kids since, in adolescence age, the children...

…life-long satisfaction could be ensured. For this purpose,couple counselingmight be helpful since the wife needs to understand that if he has stopped cheating on his wife currently, then he might have become a better man and should be stopped punishing. Also, the wife needs to comprehend that giving her husband the financial stress would collapse their whole family structure, in which their children would suffer as well. Hence, the couple counseling could be beneficial in Clarks case.

Ethical and Legal Considerations

Since most of Clarks treatment and its relevant goals involve psychotherapy and counseling sessions, theethical issuesin counseling should be considered. The issues of client confidentiality, the right of self-disclosure, setting the right boundaries, and dissemination of information to any third party should be keenly reviewed (Sage Pub, n.a.).

Personal barriers for solving ethical issuesin Clarks treatment could be an inaccurate evaluation of his cultural considerations and failure to act independently (Akfert, 2012, p. 1809). The steps that could be taken for an intentional and proactive ethical approach include increasing ethnic familiarity and asking questions in the oral survey in which the client could open up about his racial concerns. Also, transference of own values for acting independently could be done by inquiring the medical institute where the therapist works to allow him to take decisions autonomously and free of political influences.

Social Change Implications

There are nosystems and barriersthat impacted the current situation and outcomes. Apparently, only family stressors seem to be the main reason for his condition at the moment. Thework with this client has informed my understanding of a larger social challenge, which is family changes, marriages, and divorce that could be primary sources of stress for some individuals. Personal conflicts negatively impact the lifetime commitment a marriage offers in real life and the stability of marriage along with its variations and changes in personal lives affect the individuals differently (Seltzer et al., 2005).

The steps that could be taken for bringing positive social change in relation to this social challenge include a closer examination of the contexts that are in relation with the family changes, such as social institutions, technology, social interactions, racial and geographical influences, physical environment, laws and policies and macroeconomic factors (Seltzer et al., 2005). The financial and family stress could have resulted from these contextual challenges that need to be scrutinized in-depth for a clear overview of the clients disorder and its better therapeutic intervention.

References

Akfert, S.K. (2012). Ethical dilemmas experienced by psychological counselors working at different institutions and their attitudes and behaviors as a response to these dilemmas. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 12(3), 1806-1812.

Brewin, C.R. & Holmes, E.A. (2003). Psychological theories of posttraumatic stress disorder. Clinical Psychology Review, 23, 339-376. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-7358(03)00033-3

Casey,…