The person, whom I interviewed and whose case I will discuss at length in this paper, is a 35-year-old male Kenny Brown (due to the considerations of privacy, his real name will not be disclosed). Kenny lives in London, UK, while working as a manual laborer for one of the moving companies. He and his wife recently divorced on the account of both spouses having realized that they are psychologically incompatible. There were no children in the family. As of today, Kenny lives with his elderly mother in a two-bedroom flat. Both of them are extremely attached, in the emotional sense of this word. Keeny’s alcoholic father died a few years ago.
Because of what were Kenny’s responses to the interview questions, I realized that he suffers from the acute symptoms of depression, which in turn cause the interviewed individual to play with the thoughts of suicide. Partially, this can be explained by the fact that, despite being an utterly ambitious person, Kenny thinks that he has failed at realizing the full extent of his existential potential (he dreamt of becoming a physician). During his younger years, Kenny never doubted that he would be able to attain social prominence – having been an utterly bright and physically healthy person; Kenny thought he had all that it takes to make his life count. Unfortunately, this caused him to try making ‘quick money’ while affiliating himself with criminals. As a result, Kenny ended up serving five years in jail, due to having been charged with the trafficking of illegal drugs. While in jail, Kenny has grown bitter, as he realized that he would not be able to actualize his life-aspirations. His experiences in jail also caused him to drop his religious faith – hence, turning him into a hard-core atheist.
As of right now, Kenny believes that his life does not make much sense, apart from the fact that his mother depends on him, as a caretaker and the household’s sole provider. While reflecting upon this, Kenny continues to become ever more prone to depression, which in turn causes him to grow increasingly apathetic and to indulge in drinking alcoholic beverages. This, of course, makes Kenny a legitimate subject of the psychotherapeutic intervention.
Gestalt Therapy
When assessed within the conceptual framework of Gestalt therapy, Kenny’s case suggests that the individual in question is strongly affected by the sensation of existential anxiety, made even more acute by the fact that being an essentially lone individual, Kenny is naturally inclined to indulge in retroflection. What makes the situation even worse, in this respect, is on an unconscious level, he positions himself as a ‘man with the unfinished business’ – despite having sustained several setbacks, during his life, Kenny nevertheless believes that there is still a chance for him to become a socially prominent individual. This, of course, has caused him to grow ever more mentally unstable, as his preoccupation with ‘social facades’ drives Kenny to consider reaching self-actualization, in regards to what he could have been – a counterproductive undertaking. Instead, Kenny should be provided with incentives to seek self-actualization, in regards to what he is right now.
In this respect, Kenny could benefit from being exposed to Gestalt therapy, as such that stresses out the fact that, for psychologically unstable individuals to be able to effectively address their existential anxieties, they should be encouraged to think of the notions of ‘past’ and ‘future’, as nothing but mental constructs. After all, as the case-study implies, Kenny’s sensation of depression is the byproduct of his unhealthy obsession with contemplating life’s unrealized opportunities. Yet, for as long as a particular individual is alive, he or she continues to be presented with several here & now opportunities, which call to be taken advantage of.
What it means that Kenny’s human dilemma can be well resolved by the mean of the person in question being prompted to lead an authentic lifestyle (concerned with what happened to be the de facto affiliated circumstances), as opposed to remaining mentally fixated on the illusionary/inauthentic possibility of becoming someone what he will never be.
Existential Therapy
Kenny’s sensation of incongruence between his true self and his mental projection of its would-be-true-social-self, which causes him a great deal of mental anxiety, can also be dealt with within the methodological framework of Existential therapy. This is because, being a rationally minded (due to its atheistic attitudes) and yet adventurous individual, Kenny appears to have what it takes to be able to not only address life-challenges adequately but also to derive a certain emotional pleasure out of the process, which in turn should help him to reunite three currently disconnected modes of his being.
In its turn, this presupposes the possibility for therapists to succeed in convincing Kenny that his impasse can be well overcome by the mean of him deciding to face his fears/anxieties in an intellectually honest manner. What therapists will need to do, in this respect, is exposing Kenny to the rationale-based reasoning, about the fact that one’s affiliation with a particular social class, does not make the concerned individual less of an ‘existential sovereign’, fully responsible for its life-choices. By being encouraged to adopt a stoic view on the significance of the surrounding reality’s emanations and its place within them, Kenny will be able to reduce the severity of his depression. After all, it has been brought about by the state of disintegration, between Kenny’s ‘external’ projection of himself, on the one hand, and his realization of the fact that he is not in a position to live up to this projection, on the other. Therefore, there is indeed a good reason to believe that, while subjected to Existentialist therapy, Kenny should be more likely to succeed in reintegrating the ‘disown’ parts of his psyche – hence, becoming much more appreciative of life, as it comes.
Person-Centered Therapy
As it was implied earlier, it is specifically the reestablishment of the emotional/cognitive equilibrium in Kenny’s mind, which should enable him to eliminate negative overtones to his sense of self-awareness. In this respect, Kenny’s exposure to Person-Centered therapy may prove beneficial, as well. This is because the foremost conceptual premise of this particular therapy is that the very process of psychologists communicating with patients has a strong therapeutic effect on the latter. After all, the specifics of Kenny’s lifestyle presuppose that he is naturally driven towards indulging in social seclusion, which in turn causes him to feel increasingly unworthy in its own eyes. Therefore, by being provided with the opportunity to expound freely on the particulars of his depression-related experiences in the therapist’s office, Kenny should be able to: a) reduce the severity of his sense of loneliness, b) regain back it’s feeling of being a worthy individual. Moreover, the application of Person-Centered therapy in Kenny’s case should also help him to discover what may account for the actual purpose of his life. This is because; being an essentially discursive notion, the ‘purpose of one’s life’ cannot be deduced but rather induced. What it means is that, the more a particular person socializes with others (particularly with trained psychotherapists), the more she or he is capable of realizing what accounts for his destiny in life, and how it extrapolates the varying aspects of the person’s endowment with willpower.
Family Therapy
As it was noticed earlier, Kenny is strongly attached to his mother. Even though there is nothing wrong with Kenny’s feeling, in this respect, as a ‘thing in itself, it nevertheless is capable of harming him, in the psychological sense of this word. This is because, according to the Family therapy’s conceptual paradigm, the psychological adequacy of particular family members positively relates to their ability to ‘let go’ of their elderly relatives, when they die. However, it is quite clear from the case-study that Kenny would end up experiencing a mental breakdown if anything happens to his mother. This simply could not be otherwise, because, as of today, the sole purpose of his life has become taking care of her. Therefore, there is a certain rationale to believe that Kenny’s mental condition should improve rather substantially, once he and his mother decide to cooperate with psychologists, within the context of being subjected to this particular therapy. This is because, as a result of it, both individuals would be more likely to recognize the fallaciousness of the idea that their lives are interconnected to an extent of being ‘one’, which in turn should encourage Kenny to refrain from focusing on negativity – hence, contributing his mental well-being.