Theoretical approach
Existential/Humanistic. The existential approach refers to philosophical aspects of treatment rather than to psychological ones. Hence, this theory identifies a person’s position in the world and emphasizes the importance of free choices, which are not dictated by cultural stereotypes and heredity. Existential therapy is based on applying a receptive attitude to life situations; it also teaches to avoid the restricted models of behavior thus paying more attention to the meaning of existence.
Client History
Erica Barry is a 50 years-old famous playwright that was divorced a person a long time ago. She gave 20 years of her life to her husband and now she is an independent and single woman. She is also depicted as an earnest and heartless woman isolated from society. She has a 30-yeas-old daughter Marin who is dating a 63-years-old determined bachelor Harry Sanborn. Erica is outraged by her daughter’s choice, as her stereotyped vision does not allow her to accept such relations. When Marin’s boyfriend gets to the hospital because of a heart attack where Erica gets acquainted with a handsome young doctor Julian Mercer. Julian admires Erica because of her talents and mature beauty still Erica realizes that she has fallen in love with Harry. Erica believes that women of her age should be fully devoted to their families and the desires of their children. So, when Marin asks Erica to dine with her father and his fiancée, she agrees to this proposal despite her reluctance to go there. Erica considers her past marriage unhappy and, therefore, she decides will stay alone and independents, as women of her age do not have chances for a happy personal life. Arising out of Erica’s position in life, her major goal is to separate herself from all pleasures of life.
Presenting concerns
The client has come to therapy for support in terminating an independent and lonely way of life. Despite being vulnerable and weak, she tries to reveal the strength of her character by allowing her passions and feelings to lie dormant for a long time. The client appears to be proud and confident because she thinks that she can take full control of her life. Erica is a woman wounded by her deplorable marriage experience; she is also discouraged by cultural and social norms that expect women to wait for the moment when they reach middle age. Her vulnerability and her imaginary strength are a killing combination for her thus making her personality rather complex. The client narrows her social position purposefully thus depriving herself of free will and of the ability to make choices. The role models established in society restrict the client and therefore she excludes the possibility of relations between a man and woman over forty.
Thoughts
Several thoughts can be connected with her difficulty include such phrases: “I am not a sexy woman”. She states that her life is “the drama…that makes you strong”.
Behaviors
Concrete behavior that influences her emotional state includes communicating with her husband that she despises, staying alone is not to be hurt again, keep away from some stressful problems. Her solitary life is a means of self-protection.
Feelings
This client’s sufferings are hidden under the mask of strength and confidence. She feels sad, lonely, and frustrated with herself. There are cases when she feels no support and understanding from her family. She is still rather vulnerable and, therefore, she is easy to be hurt.
Actual or core issues
Relying on a theoretical ground of existential therapy, several points should be taken into consideration. First, the client can determine her position in society and, therefore, she is an isolated person doomed to lead a solitary life. She rejects her affection for Harry, which is dictated by her pride and prejudiced attitude toward such a person. Eric also refuses her desire to be herself so that the meaning of her existence is framed within her distorted understanding of the essence of life. Second, the client has a vague range of choices; to be more exact, Erica has created her world where there is no place for choices and opportunities; instead, she sacrifices them to her family (daughter Marine and her ex-husband) and her work. This problem is revealed through her cognitive perception of the situations and is determined by her character and behaviorist characteristics. Her emotional instability is covered by a mask of confidence and estrangement, as a means of protection from reality.
Her inability to conform to reality and universals is explained by her stereotypical vision of people categories correlated with their life experience and life goals. She states that it is better to be independent and self-reliant rather than trust somebody and then fail.
Erica’s relations with Harry are the breaking moment in her life. She realizes that she fells in love; at the same time, she is at a loss, as she does not know how to get along with this feeling. What seems normal for other people is abnormal for her perception. This issue is explained by a distorted cognitive vision of the concept of love that does not conform to her visions on the essence of life. Perhaps, this attitude is the result of a solitary way of life.
The client still has problems with her family and her daughter Marine in particular. She cannot accept her dating a man who is much older than she is. This attitude is also determined by her inability to accept other than the norms created by her. She describes her family responsibilities as normal but further studies show that she feels closely devoted to her daughter and former husband.
Counseling goals
To improve the client’s state, it is planned to set several goals and decisions. Because the client is split into two realities, several goals have been created to balance her emotional state and to return her to reality. The goals are arranged in accordance with relevancy and emergency.
Finding the personal meaning of existence: This is the primary goal that should be accomplished. Eric should discover her veritable meanings and truth. She should acknowledge that she can be sometimes and weak so that she needs someone to rely on.
Coping with fears and anxiety: Our task is to make Erica realize the main fears and problems in life: denial of her needs, loneliness, frustration, fear to fall in love again, prejudiced attitude to her age, and excessive devotedness to family.
Living in reality: It is necessary to make Erica experience real life and to live fully in each minute. She should not be restricted by imaginary role models but avoid them and recognize new universals of life.
Enhancing self-awareness: Erica should understand that she deserves to be happy in her personal life. She should be deprived of age complex and reevaluate her desires and goals about the self. The client must overcome obstacles of her past grief experience. The client should acknowledge that her experience should not influence her own life and the lives of others. Instead, Erica begins labeling people in different categories.
Taking responsibility for her decisions: Our task is to show Erica what decisions should be taken to improve the situation. She should learn to distinguish right and well-thought-out decisions from bad ones. Sometimes, Erica takes too many responsibilities and overestimates her capabilities to make decisions. This is a long-term goal, as it will be achieved provided the client manages to cope with the above-mentioned task. She will need to learn how to distinguish between reasonable and wrongful solutions to problems.
The course of treatment and interventions utilized
Because existential theory is based on a philosophical concept and, therefore does not have particular strategies.
The desirable time of treatment is at least one month. This period will be enough for the client to decide on short-terms tasks stated in counseling goals. I am supposed to carry out several sessions where I should listen to the client’s concerns and understand the way she is going to behave in the future. The treatment orientation will be directed towards the client’s discovering, the actualization of her potentials, and her actual needs in the present time. The client should exclude the influence of the past on her present concerns. In particular, Erica should enter the world deprived of cultural biases and prejudices. Erica should learn to view life as a series of moments so that she does divide her existence into the past, present and future.
I have chosen integrated treatment strategies that combine cognitive and existential therapy to change dependency-related thought, emotional response, and behavior. During this session, I have also applied a self-centered approach, where the client should focus on her problems in relations with her daughter, ex-husband, and her boyfriend Harry.
The intervention presupposes the consideration of four main dimensions of existence: psychical, psychological, social, and spiritual. These existential dimensions presuppose the client’s interaction with the world and shape her attitude out of a particular experience. In this respect, I identified that the negative pole of Erica’s ambitions focuses on her intimate relations with men and her contact with the outer world.
To balance the poles and to restore a relevant perception of all dimensions, she should reevaluate the situation of Marin’s dating Harry and accept this fact with calmness and understanding. Erica should recognize that her outrageous attitude to this event is a result of her prejudiced attitude to relations between a man and a woman. Therefore, I launched a therapy course where I analyzed her behavior and thoughts thus making her understand that she has a choice and freedom.
The next stage refers to understanding the reasons for Erica’s unhappy marriage, which can be predetermined by her reluctance to understand that it is not her fault that marriage has been frustrated. Through her feeling, I should understand the reasons for her behavior outline what feelings are hidden under the mask of confidence and anger, grief, and suffering. Erica should cope with these problems using an in-depth evaluation of each concrete situation. To reveal the clients from the boundaries she created, it is obligatory to withdraw from this ideal world and to live according to the fashions of the present time. The problem is that the client feels fear in front of the future; she fears to be failure and aloneness.
Erica has a problem with the psychological dimension; she has created her personal view on the world directed on her experience. Therefore, treatment has been directed at withdrawal the connection of her past with future possibilities.
To involve Erica in the decision-making process, it is first necessary to encourage her independent actions, to make her independent decisions. The first step that should be taken by Erica is the acceptance of the fact that her divorce cannot be considered as the end of her life but as another stage of interacts with the outer world. Erica must realize that her decisions can influence other people, as it happens to her relations with Marin. The major accent of treatment should be focused on consideration of Erica’s present and future.
On the spiritual dimension, it is necessary to reevaluate her moral and ethical values. Hence, the prior importance should take human communication as the main meaning of existence.
Anticipated outcomes of counseling
After two or three sessions, the client will fully reconstruct her vision of the essence of existence and create a basis for further living. In a month, Erica will change her goals and dimension perceptions.
First of all, the client will reconstruct her vision of the self. She will pay attention to her own needs and desires; Erica will also admit that she needs a person with whom she can share her sufferings and pleasures, she will become more confident in her sexuality and beauty. As Erica is a successful playwright, she will also find her way in her personal and family life, she will cognate the meaning of love and mutual reliance.
Erica will understand that her past does indicate her present actions so that they will not have a negative effect. She will enjoy every moment of life thus admitting other social dimensions cross-culturally. Her vision of the world will be based on universal concepts about good and evil. The client’s fear and anxiety will not be a substantial obstacle in making important decisions in her life, as Erica will recognize that each person has fears but past fear of loneliness and disappointment will not influence her future.
Erica will transform her attitude to reality according to the existing matter of facts. She will be aware that life has a limited period and long-termed plans will be impossible to accomplish. At the same time, the client will be deprived of age complex.
Erica will be able to take the right decisions and acknowledge her faults, thus choosing a more philosophical position. She will be able to accept her daughter’s decisions and Hurry’s outlook on life. The relations with her former husband will not be further accepted as a negative experience so that Erica will accept the present status only.
Reference
Meyers, Nancy. (2003). Something’s Gotta Give [Motion Picture]. United States: Colombia Pictures Corporation.