The Change of Beliefs, Attitudes, and Perceptions - Case Study Example

Adjustment Case Study The first article is a story by StoryCorps in an interview involving Marine Cpl. Zack and his father, Scott Skiles. They share their experiences on how their situations became adverse when Zack left to join the war in Iraq. Zack at the start of the U.S invasion worked at Babylon, Basra, and Baghdad. However, things got worse since Zack could not hold any job after he came back home from the war. He could not afford to pay rent since he was not employed. As a result, he ended up being homeless. He shares that he nonetheless saw nothing wrong with his situation, probably because of his experiences at war: at the coastal and hike trails, passing out at the park at day time (Caballero, 2015). According to the dad, Zack became hopeless. However, things changed for the better when Zack decided to go for inpatient treatment. The program helped Zack recover and today he has graduated from college. He is currently helping the other veterans through the same program that helped him recover, at the Pathway home, waiting for the next fall to commence his doctoral program in Clinical Psychology. The father and son shared a strong relationship before Zack left for the war and even after he came back (Caballero, 2015). The second article, also a story by StoryCorp, concerns a father’s agony about his 13 year old son shot and killed by a policeman 20 years ago. Nicholas Heyward Sr., the dad, eulogizes how his son was a special boy, an attribute seemingly shared by the head teacher of Nicholas Heyward Jr. The story, as narrated by the dad, goes that Nicholas Jr. together with his other friends was playing the game of cops and robbers having toy guns. The officer is claimed to be on patrol and was on an emergency call of fired shots. Suddenly, Nicholas Jr. appeared before the police officer and there he was shot and died instantly. Nicholas Sr. is an aggrieved man because no action seemed to have been taken against the officer who is still continuing with his duties. The last time that Nicholas Sr. came across him was at a parking area, confronting him in the process on why he could come back to the community after what happened. The officer was later transferred, probably to another station. The father still considers how special his son would have now grown to become, at age 33 (Esty-Kendall & Martinez, 2015). Major Adjustment Issues The major adjustment issues in the first article revolve much about Zack living home for the war. He had to change his lifestyle and adhere to the demands of being a soldier: the training, physical activities, engaging the enemy, and so on. For the period he was at war, he broke apart from his dad who had to live on hope and prayer that his son was and would come back well. Coming back from the war, Zack experienced challenges of inability to sustain any job and became homeless since he could not pay rent. Another major change came when he resolved to seek inpatient treatment from which he recovered and has since graduated from college and is seeking to further his education to the doctorate level. The second article entails the adjustments that Nicholas Sr. has to withstand as a result of his son’s unfortunate demise. Losing the son warranted a major adjustment as he had to learn to live without him. This is much particular as a result of the high hopes he had on his son; he knew the son would develop into someone special. His perception of the police force also largely changed in relation to him learning that the police officer responsible for the death of his son is still within the force. He probably views the police force as very ill, biased, and inconsiderate. He has to adjust to the fact that his son is no more and learn to live without him. Evidence Based Strategies In the second article, the strategies that Nicholas Sr. can use include the coping strategies, social support strategy, and personal control. Coping strategy involves the process through which individuals initiate attempts to manage the traumatizing situations. There are two types of coping strategies: emotion focused coping and problem solving. I would recommend the emotion oriented coping as this would enable Nicholas overcome his significantly affected emotions and become normal yet again. Social support strategy entails the use of various materials and emotional supports from the relevant others who care and love the affected person. As such, Nicholas can rely on his other three children mentioned in the article and his wife to provide the warmth and love and help him recover from his son’s death. Lastly, personal control is also an effective strategy. The application of the locus of control by psychologists has proved to help people overcome their emotional problems. Personal control will help Nicholas enhance his ability to cope with the unfortunate event that happened and enable him adopt a relatively positive opinion of the situation. In the first article, it is very evident that a variety of therapies as well as social support was utilized in helping Zack come out of the ailing situation. The three most effective strategies include social support, behavior modification, and cognitive therapy (Chouhan & Shalini, 2006). The social support strategy was particularly largely inherent in the article being that Zack’s father was significantly involved in encouraging and supporting him all through. Notably, Zack’s father says, “Every gift that Ive been given, I dont have a better one than to get to be your dad” (Caballero, 2015: par 3); “I believe in you, and Im on your side” (Caballero, 2015: par 13). This played a vital part in Zack’s recovery. At the inpatient treatment, I believe the program entailed both behavior modification and cognitive therapies. Behavior modification would help him change his behavior particularly through operant conditioning. As such, he identified with important tasks and courses such as going back to college as essential in his development. The cognitive therapy would largely influence his beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes (Folkman & Oxford University Press, 2011). Notably, Zack believed that he could not sustain a job and did not seem to see anything wrong with his situation. Through cognitive therapy, an individual is made aware of the problems associated with his situation and the need to influence his held beliefs in order to regain normalcy. The Best Strategy in Each Case In the second article, the best strategy for use by Nicholas Sr. would be social support. This is because he has other family members including the wife and other three kids on whom he can rely upon to get the same satisfaction that he got from his demised son. In the first article, cognitive therapy would be the best strategy. The change of beliefs, attitudes and perceptions was essential to Zack’s recovery, as this was largely the factors contributing to his ailing situation. References Caballero, A. (2015). Formerly homeless vet and his dad remember his darkest moments. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2015/04/18/400363059/formerly-homeless-vet-and-his-dad-remember-his-darkest-moments Chouhan, V. L., & Shalini, V. (2006). Coping strategies for stress and adjustments among diabetics. Retrieved from Esty-Kendall, J., & Martinez E. (2015). Dad aches for son killed by policeman 20 years ago. Retrieved from Top of Form Folkman, S., & Oxford University Press. (2011). The Oxford handbook of stress, health, and coping. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bottom of Form Read More