PSY305: Jane is a 33-year-old who Works as a Nurse on a Busy Surgical Ward: Social Psychology Case Study Assignment, GU, Singapore

Assignment Details:

Jane is a 33-year-old who works as a nurse on a busy surgical ward. Jane has been married to Steven for 14 years and has 2 sons, aged 11 and 8 years. Jane says that while they are seemingly happily married she has lately begun to fear that Steven is having an affair and will leave her. Jane came for counselling after her general practitioner (GP) recommended that she seek counselling for “depression”. Jane had seen her GP initially for lack of energy and vague gastrointestinal symptoms. Her medical examination had found no physical cause and a discussion into her mood had uncovered feelings of depression for the past 4 months.

Jane attended counselling and described feeling “down” and “depressed” most of the time. She said she would burst into tears frequently, without knowing why. She said it was difficult to motivate herself to go to work and had stopped going for most social activities. She said she felt “on edge” and “agitated” when she mixed with people because she felt had to pretend to be “happy” all the time. She had also noticed she felt short-tempered with her sons and did not feel strong enough to spend much time with them. Jane is the eldest of the four children.

When she was 9 years old, her parents divorced and she and her sister and twin brothers moved to a different home with her mother. Her father moved back to Malaysia where he is originally from. Jane describes how her mother became “depressed” after the divorce and seemed to withdraw emotionally from the children. Jane recalls feeling great sadness over not seeing her father and of feeling alone in their new home.

Jane describes how she took on the role of helping her mother to look after her younger siblings and began to worry a lot about whether her mother would be okay. Her mother had remarried some years later.

Choose 1 model from Group A and 1 model from Group B to answer the below questions:

Group A:

• Person-centred theory
• Existential Therapy
• Psychoanalytic Therapy

Group B

• Behavioural Therapy
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Family systems therapy

Questions regarding the application of the theoretical model to the case study:

1) How would you conceptualize the individual and her presenting problem based on this particular model of counselling?

2) How would you develop a counselling relationship with the client using this model?

3) What approach and techniques might you employ as part of your counselling with this client? What types of questions might you ask?

4) How do you feel as a counsellor when you adopt this model? Do you feel authentic and comfortable, or does it feel uncomfortable and incongruent?

5) Discuss whether you feel this is the best model for this presenting problem.

6) What are the multicultural considerations in employing this model?