Introduction
Jay1 was my client in crisis. He was a soldier during the Iraq war and had a traumatic experience. He lost his brother, cousin, and best friend, who were also soldiers in the war. Jay also had a near-death experience because he escaped a grenade bomb that exploded several meters from him. He had a self-denial crisis because he believed that any soldier who portrayed any post-war psychological problem was weak or disloyal. He also had a hard time coping with his marriage and family because of the duration of time and distance he was away from his wife and children. Apart from the distress he experienced, Jay was a normal person who wanted to get rid of his awful memories and did not exhibit any major psychological abnormalities.
Assessing the Situation
I actively listened to Jay’s predicaments about the war. He seemed troubled and vulnerable when he explained his near-death experience and the demise of these two family members and best friend. He also tried to act tough several times especially when he talked about his life as a soldier. I asked him several questions concerning whether he ever regretted serving in the army, how he thought about the war in general, and how he thought of his own family.
He answered that he did not regret serving his country in the armed forces but did not anticipate that his life would have a negative transition after doing so. He stated that ex-soldiers were not supposed to portray any psychological disorders after their experiences because they would be considered weak or disloyal. He also said that his family meant a lot to him though he felt that there was a great detachment between them and considering himself a part of them was difficult because of being very far away from them for a long time.
I assessed Jay’s situation to be a post-traumatic stress experience. He lost three important people in his life after doing a worthy cause for their country and also escaped death himself. He was a troubled person who was on self-denial because he had a hard time accepting that he suffered from psychological and emotional stress. I also assessed Jay to be a normal person who was afraid of taking the initiative to accept being part of his own family.
The Solution Focused Brief Therapy
I practiced the Solution Focused Brief Therapy approach on Jay due to the nature of his predicament and psychological turmoil. His experiences were in the past and he was an ex-soldier who needed to move on with his life. This goal-oriented methodology made Jay move from the crises in his past and progress into a fulfilling future. This treatment therapy helped him concentrate on the solutions to his trauma instead of the problems.
The Solution Focuses Brief Therapy is a crisis intervention technique that helped curtail Jay’s post-traumatic stress from the war. I offered emotional support and developed his coping techniques for the crisis. This crisis therapy and counseling involved specific assessment, planning, and treatment. It is a solution based pragmatic approach that helped Jay to deal with the psychological hurdles of the personal and family aspects of his life. I defined Jay’s problem to him to help him accept his situation to move forward while at the same time being empathetic and supportive to ensure his safety psychologically (Wiger & Harowski, 2003).
I counseled Jay and helped him accept that he suffered from post-traumatic stress and self-denial. I helped him to know that the condition was normal but temporal. He was encouraged that it was a typical reaction from any normal human being. This helped him accept his situation and it reassured him that he was eventually able to recover and stabilize his life back to being normal.
I helped him understand that the war was the cause of his brother, cousin, and best friend’s death and not him. I assisted him to understand that he did not cause the tragedy and could not do anything to prevent their demise at that time. I made him know that the consequences of every war could either be positive whenever there was victory or negative whenever there was defeat or loss of lives. I encouraged him to mourn over their demise and let out the pain from his heart.
However, this was not to tie him down to a long-term bereavement crisis. He mourned but it was aimed at helping him feel better and not worse after the process. I also encouraged him to counter his emotions by celebrating their lives and being happy whenever he remembered the good times he had with them. This helped Jay to be strong and have coping skills towards the loss of these three people in his life.
I assisted Jay to view his near-death experience positively and not negatively. The power of positive thinking helped him acknowledge the importance of his life after surviving such a traumatizing experience. He would only be grateful to be alive if he recognized that it was a life-changing experience. It facilitated him to embark on making his life more meaningful because of such a narrow escape. I gave him soul searching techniques such as helping him know that he came a long way and helped him appreciate his own life. This was beneficial to Jay to know that he survived from that experience unhurt and had to do more fulfilling things to make his life worthwhile again.
I assisted Jay to accept being a member of his own family. By acknowledging how his family was important, he became actively involved with them. I made him know that neither time nor distance should affect the relationship with his family. The fact that he said his family meant a lot to him was the first step to also make him mean the same to them by making them his priority. I encouraged him to consider recreational and outdoor activities with his wife and children and have plenty of fun and laughter with them. This helped him catch up on old times and made him recover from their absence.
Conclusion
The Solution Focused Brief Therapy approach on Jay was an emotional and psychological first aid process. It helped Jay and other clients who go through similar experiences to heal emotionally and psychologically. This therapy helps the client explore different solutions to their traumatic experiences. It is a therapeutic initiative and decreases the level of the client’s emotional and psychological reactions to trauma. It offers positive solutions towards moving on to the future. This approach is innovative, pragmatic, and produces positive results when implemented well by the client (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2009).
References
Seligman, L. W., & Reichenberg, L. W. (2009). Theories of counseling and psychotherapy: Systems, strategies, and skills. 3rd ed. Boston: Pearson.
Wiger, D. E., & Harowski, K. J. (2003). Essentials of crisis counseling and intervention. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Footnotes
- This is a fictitious name of the client in crisis.