Patient’s Diagnosis
Carissa seems to be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) based on her behavior when she gets angry. Patients suffering from PTSD must have undergone a terrifying experience at some point in their life such that it brings back the awful memories and cause them to react in an intense manner. Carissa was married at the age of 13 years to a man who was 25 years and that subjected her to domestic abuse. The domestic violence is among the incidents that are likely to cause her trauma and cause her to react in a certain way. Furthermore, Carissa gave birth to three children for her husband Samuel and her first son died. It seems she is still moaning her son since during his first anniversary, she got into an incarceration with her uncle who she hit after he insisted that she should accompany other members of the family. Hence, it is evident that her violent behavior significantly contributed to her being denied custody of her own children. Moreover, Carissa threatens to take her life and that of her children demonstrates that she suffers from a mental health condition. Patients suffering from PTSD are highly irritable and can get hostile, which is the case with Carissa (Syros, 2017). Hence, it is essential to address the issue before it advances and cause more irreversible damages.
Another condition that Carissa might be suffering from is alcohol addiction. Carissa acknowledges that she has been drinking at least between five and eight times a day in her current boyfriend’s house. She further argues that she drinks alongside the boyfriend and they have made new friends who they hook up with during drinking sprees. Even though she does not acknowledge it as addiction or a problem that she needs to resolve, she argues that her being jobless and missing her children lead her to drink alcohol. The fact that she drinks the alcohol daily demonstrates that she is fighting with addition (Alavi et al., 2012). While it is true that her drinking habit emaciates from her current condition where she is fighting for child custody after a divorce, it is essential that she is subjected to treatment so that she can increase her chances of winning the case to have her children back.
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Client’s Primary Concerns
The client has a wide variant of primary concerns exhibited when interacting with the counselor. Firstly, Carissa feels sad that she is denied custody over her children yet her husband is allowed custody despite being arrested for domestic violence. She feels that the accusations laid by her ex-mother in law that her client boyfriend had touched Madison is an attempt to get back on her for cheating on her husband. Hence, she feels that the intention to take her children from her and denying her access is misguided. Moreover, she feels that her current boyfriend does not have the capability to harm her daughters despite the allegation that he inappropriately touched Madison. She argues that DCF investigation overlooked such claims and that her boyfriend was accustomed to living with her children (Psychologist, 2020). She demonstrates some confidence that her current boyfriend cannot cause any kind of harm to her girls.
Another concern that Carissa demonstrates is the nature of life that she lived while with her ex-husband and current boyfriend. She argued that life with her ex-husband was quite difficult because she was expected to do all the chores and ensure that everyone in the family is fine. However, her life with her boyfriend is different because he ensures that he provides for her and helps financially in sustaining her life. Accordingly, she has an easy time where she gets to rest. However, she has also found herself drinking liquor accompanied by the new friends that she has accumulated. She argues that even though she drinks liquor between five and eight times in a day, it does not interfere with her daily lives because she has nothing she has no commitment. She further argues that the absence of her daughter is among the factors have significantly contributed to her indulgence in alcohol frequently. Notably, she does not consider her drinking habit to be a form of addiction and she perceives the situation as though she can easily walk away of that situation.
Treatment Recommendations
It is essential to consider various treatment options to treat Carissa from her current condition so that she can be able to secure custody of her kids in future. The treatment will target her PTSD condition and alcohol addiction. Treating the PTSD condition will involve a combination of a therapy and prescription of some medication. Patients suffering with PTSD are prescribed the SSRIs drugs that help to ease anxiety and depression (Mendes et al., 2008). On the other hand, it is essential that the patient should also undergo the cognitive behavioral therapy targeting the same condition. The therapy helps PTSD patients to learn new ways through which they will respond to psychological, emotional, and physical distress without being hostile (Shubina, 2015). Consequently, the therapy focuses on changing the manner in which thinks and the associated reactions to specific scenarios. For instance, the emotional processing theory suggests that PTSD patients should identify safe or positive aspects that they can associate with the traumatic event (Watkins et al., 2018). Consequently, if an individual manages to remember something positive that occurred due to a traumatic event, the unhealthy functioning of the brain will seize and the individual will react to the memory more calmly. Moreover, the PTSD therapy enable the therapist convince the patient that the bad things taking place in one’s life do not happen because he or she is not good. By doing this, the therapist manages to be empathetic with the patient, which facilitates one’s healing.
On the other hand, a different treatment will be given targeting Carissa’s alcohol addiction. It is essential that she manages to live without indulging in alcohol so that she is able to take care of her children if she is given custody. It is essential to note that the cognitive behavioral model will also be useful in this case. Unlike in PTSD scenario where the model is useful in enabling the patient respond to distress appropriately, the cognitive behavioral model is useful in this case because it enables the patient to identify the triggers that leads one to consume drugs (Xu & LaBar, 2019). The patient is also advised on how he or she can avoid such scenarios or cope with them when they occur (Sudhir, 2018). Moreover, it will be essential to include her boyfriend in the therapy because he might of negative influence if he remains untreated. The two individuals should be motivated by the fact that after recovering, Carissa will be able to live with her children after winning the custody case.
References
Alavi, S. S., Ferdosi, M., Jannatifard, F., Eslami, M., Alaghemandan, H., & Setare, M. (2012). Behavioral Addiction versus Substance Addiction: Correspondence of Psychiatric and Psychological Views. International Journal of Preventive Medicine , 3 (4), 290–294. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3354400/
Mendes, D. D., Mello, M. F., Ventura, P., De Medeiros Passarela, C., & De Jesus Mari, J. (2008). A Systematic Review on the Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine , 38 (3), 241–259. https://doi.org/10.2190/pm.38.3.b
Psychologist. (2020). Clinical Interveiw for Child Custody Intro to Counseling and Psychotherapy . Www.youtube.com. https://youtu.be/woGGxDgRJzA
Shubina, I. (2015). Cognitive-behavioral Therapy of Patients with Ptsd: Literature Review. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences , 165 , 208–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.12.624
Sudhir, P. M. (2018). Cognitive behavioural interventions in addictive disorders. Indian Journal of Psychiatry , 60 (Suppl 4), S479–S484. https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_15_18
Syros, I. (2017). Cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of PTSD. European Journal of Psychotraumatology , 8 (sup4), 1351219. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2017.1351219
Watkins, L. E., Sprang, K. R., & Rothbaum, B. O. (2018). Treating PTSD: a Review of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy Interventions. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience , 12 (258). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00258
Xu, B., & LaBar, K. S. (2019). Advances in understanding addiction treatment and recovery. Science Advances , 5 (10), eaaz6596. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz6596
