MENTAL HEALTH NHS

Mental Health NHS

Mental Health NHS

Introduction

The following essay is a case study of a client named John who is suffering from major depression and was sent to see me for treatment by his concerned wife. I will provide brief background information about John then further discuss interventions and strategies I believe can be applied in each session with my client in order to make John's life more manageable. In the essay, I will be writing as the therapist, and the sessions are based on a ten week period.

Background Information (case history)

A 6-year-old child named John came to see me with the following litany of complaints, "I've reached a point where I can't go on....Got no fight left in me. And not enough guts to end it here. Best damn job I ever had almost can see my way out of the debt. Now, it's all going to hell...and now I really don't care about anything, except not going back to work. I can't kid myself. I just can't take it anymore. And I have to confess I have no faith left in anything including your profession. I came here on my wife's insistence but I don't think you can help me either....But, maybe I can tell someone how I feel, how balled up I am...I can't find any work...I can't afford to relax a couple of weeks on some warm beach, or forget my troubles with some floozy blonde. Hell that's for the books on the best seller's list. I've just got to go about acting like my normal stupid self and something's got to blow. It goes in waves. Sometimes, I am alright and then I get anxiety feelings, and my heart pounds. I shake all over, and think I am going to die. God, it's awful!"

Presentation Of The Problem

Since the client appeared to be an intelligent, executive type with a graduate degree, who reported no other major problem, except for the fact that he couldn't stick to a regular job and this is what appeared to be triggering acute anxiety attacks in him, I decided to use Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) with him. In the course of the preliminary investigation it turned out that the client was married; that the wife was very understanding and supportive and that there was no major area of marital discord between the couple, except for the fact that the client appeared unable to hold a job for too long, so he did not have a regular income. In fact, this is what had begun to threaten the stability of their marriage, so on his wife's insistence he had come to see the therapist.

CMM Theory

Coordinated Management of Meaning theory (CMM) has been positioned as a general theory of communication since its inception in the late 1970s. However, the kind of general communication theory CMM ascribes to be has evolved over time as it has moved from being characterized initially as an interpretive theory (Harris & Cronen, 1979), to a critical theory (Cronen, Chen ...