Pregnancy in an Unmarried Teenager - Case Study Example

? 25 March Pregnancy in an Unmarried Teenager: Family History: The family I selectedwas a Hindu migrated family o f Indian origin. The family had migrated from Delhi to Las Vegas 5 years ago. There are 13 members in the family. There is a father, a mother with three sons and four daughters. The father is the head of the family. They live in a rented three bedroom home in Las Vegas. The father works as a Supervisor in a local poultry farm, and the mother runs a beauty saloon. Character Name Age (years) Marital status Father Vinod 53 Married Mother Sushma 49 Married Eldest daughter Swarthi 25 Married Swarthi’s husband Mukesh 30 Married Eldest son Raja 24 Married Raja’s wife Sheela 20 Married Son Sidhart 22 Single Son Kali 20 Single Daughter Sohni 19 Single Daughter Minakshi 15 Single Daughter Bhoomika 13 Single Swarthi’s son Rahul 1 Raja’s daughter Meera 3 Minakshi’s dance tutor Bob 31 Married Of the four daughters, three are unmarried and are in their teenage. Minakshi has recently been found to have acquired a pregnancy. She is only 15 years of age, and is quite disobedient towards her parents. Few days before their shocking discovery, Minakshi’s parents were thinking about moving back to India just because of her. They thought that they would be in a position to better exercise their rights over their daughter in India than in Las Vegas. It is important to mention here that Vinod and Sushma took the decision of migrating to America in the first place because of Sushma. Sushma was gifted by nature with a very beautiful face and body. Although she was not very fair by the complexion, yet her features were extremely beautiful and adorable. Sushma had large and lustrous eyes, and the length of hair was up to the hips. She managed her hair well and tied them into a ponytail which added to her beauty. She was quite tall for her age, and was slim and smart by figure. She danced very well. Her teachers in India encouraged Minakshi’s parents to take her abroad to gain proper education in dance and build her career in this field. Since the time that they had migrated to Las Vegas in 2006, they started to loose control over Minakshi. In the Western culture with increased power in the hands of juveniles and where individualism prevails at large in the society, Minakshi felt free of the dominance of her parents that prevails in the Indian society. She remained out of the home till late night without the permission of her parents, and would not listen to them as they advised her to get back straight to home after the dance class in the evening. At she turned 14, she developed a relationship at a physical level with her dance tutor, Bob who was a Christian and a native of Las Vegas. Bob got married to a Christian girl in 2000 and fathered 3 daughters. Diagnosis of Pregnancy: Minakshi’s parents did not realize that their 14 year old daughter was in a physical relationship with her tutor for the whole year until by the mid of January, 2011, they found out that Minakshi was pregnant. It so happened that one day, Minakshi felt very dizzy and was frequently vomiting. Initially, Sushma thought her daughter might have taken some wrong medication for the treatment of sore throat. But Minakshi’s frequent vomiting caused Sushma to consult the doctor without wasting any time. The doctor took the sample of urine, and after a brief physical examination, the doctor diagnosed that Minakshi was expecting. Family’s Reaction and Immediate Consequences: The news was extremely shocking and traumatizing for each and every member of the family. To hear the news of her 15 year old daughter’s pregnancy, Sushma lost balance and fainted right on the spot in the clinic. She was immediately given treatment and within a matter of minutes, she regained senses. The news was so shocking for her that she could not speak. She tried to speak out but could only manage to murmur. Minakshi remained silent all this while and did not know what to do. Minakshi and Sushma were given the lift by the doctor to their home. The very doctor conveyed the news to Vinod, Sidhart, Raja and Kali. Swarthi lived in Patna with her husband and one year old son. Sohni and Bhoomika were in school when the news was revealed. To hear the news, Vinod had had a heart attack. He needed immediate help. So he was taken by Raja to the nearest hospital. Meanwhile, Kali and Sidhart slapped and kicked Minakshi, but the doctor, who had not left till then, told them not to get physical with Minakshi as it might have severe repercussions not only for Minakshi but also for themselves. Minakshi was screaming with pain. Sheela cursed and abused Minakshi for having practiced adultery. Sushma was traumatized. She remained silent. Days passed by and the news was conveyed to Swarthi. As soon as her husband Mukesh learnt the news, he divorced Swarthi saying it would bring a bad name to his family if he still continued to live with Swarthi. Swarthi took Rahul with her and fled to Las Vegas. So many depressing incidents happened within a matter of days, and a happy family was caught in a web of misfortunes. Minakshi became restricted to the corner of her room. No one took care of her. She was not served food. She fed upon the left over pieces of rotten bread and was rapidly loosing weight. Every one abused her, and the environment of their home no more remained conducive for a healthy psychological development. The family was in severe need of the medical counseling. My role in the Case: By the mid of June, 2010, it had been 1 whole year since the start of my practice as a psychological counselor after graduation. I had learnt a lot through one year of practice, and was eager to find more people who required psychological counseling. Raja was a close friend of mine and I knew him since college. Raja used to share his secrets with me and had confidence in me that I would not leak them to anyone. One day, as I was sitting in my office early in the morning, Raja came over to me. He looked depressed. He narrated the whole story to me, which was how I came to know of all the events that I have talked about in the text above. Raja told me that his mother has not spoken a word since she heard the news of Minakshi’s pregnancy, and told me that the whole family required psychological counseling in general, and Minakshi and Sushma in particular. He approached me because he had confidence in me and expected me to offer him help without having the news leaked out. It was a nice opportunity for me. I took it as a challenge and decided to take the case. We negotiated the fees in the start. I offered him a handsome discount since he was a close friend to me. The sessions started from 16 January, 2011. Before explaining how the family went through the counseling sessions, it is customary to discuss some of the most common psychological problems that teenagers and their family suffer from upon discovering that the unmarried teenager is pregnant. Psychological effects of teenage pregnancy: Unwanted pregnancy in teens may cause different psychological problems both in the teenager and the family. The members may experience mixed feelings about the pregnancy but depression dominates all of them. There is emotional instability, issues of self esteem, and the feeling of guilt. One of the major challenges that the family gets immediately exposed to is whether they should sustain the pregnancy or terminate it. Either way, the whole family has to go through various unwanted experiences. Pregnancy causes the hormones in the expecting mother to frequently fluctuate in levels, thus causing the girl to undergo drastic changes in attitude. She may feel anxious, sad, depressed, perplexed and pessimistic about her future. Mood swings are quite frequent. Particularly, when the pregnancy is unwanted and the family is too conservative to accept it, such an event can totally ruin the whole family psychologically, physically and emotionally. The expecting girl in such circumstances requires physical and emotional support from the whole family, and specifically the mother. Apart from the expecting girl, there are many more challenges for the other members of the family. The father fears the embarrassment he would have to bear in case the news leaks out to outsiders. Particularly, people from the Indian culture do not tolerate the act of adultery when practiced by the unmarried girls. Every year, thousands of murders are conducted in India in order to punish such girls who expect before marriage. Ina vast majority of cases, the murderers are none other than the girls’ own father and brothers. Likewise, in the case under consideration, to find out that Minakshi was pregnant was dreadful news for Vinod and his sons. That was why, Vinod had had a heart attack and is currently hospitalized, and Sidhart and Kali started beating Minakshi brutally upon hearing the news. They could have harmed her enough to kill both her and her baby had the doctor not stopped them in time. Sidhart and Kali have stopped to go out because their maid somehow got to learn about the news. They fear that she might have spread the news. So to escape the outsiders’ questions and mockery, they have taken leave from their offices. The biggest fear for Sushma is the marriage of Minakshi, Sohni and Bhoomika. Also, Swarthi has been divorced by Mukesh. So practically, all four of them need to be married. With Minakshi being pregnant, she finds it very difficult to find grooms for her daughters because in Indian culture, people retreat from engagement if such incidents happen in the family history. Swarthi’s divorce is an evidence of that. The intervention: Week 1: 17 Jan, 2011 to 23 Jan, 2011 I went to Raja’s home. Everybody was there except for Vinod who was hospitalized. I requested Raja to send Rahul and Meera out with the maid because the children could gain negative influence from the discussions. I made everyone sit. I told them to listen to me carefully and with patience. First, addressing Raja, Sidhart, and Kali, I made them realize their role in the current situation and their responsibilities towards their family. I told them to start going back to their offices immediately. Staying at home, they were building up an unnecessary pressure. It was quite possible that their colleagues might not at all have come to know about the news. So their staying at home was totally unnecessary and out of question, specially when the family was in need of money to bear the expenses of medical care of Vinod’s surgery and Minakshi’s medical follow up. I asked them to feed Minakshi and Sushma in time. I told them to tell Sushma that they would take care of everything. I asked the boys to frequently communicate with Sushma so that she might overcome her trauma. I told them to take Minakshi to doctor for physical examination because the way Kali and Sidhart had beaten her might have complicated the pregnancy. Week 2: 24 Jan, 2011 to 30 Jan, 2011 I met with Sidhart in person in my office. I asked him if he did what I had asked him to in the last meeting. He told me that things had started to get better. He had taken Minakshi to the doctor. The baby was perfectly alright. The boys were taking good care of their mother, but had still cut corners on Minakshi. Sidhart told me that mother’s condition had only slightly improved, and she had started to utter broken sentences. I suggested Sidhart to follow the same pattern for the next week. I told him to tell Sushma to prepare herself for meeting with me next week. Week 3: 31 Jan, 2011 to 6 Feb, 2011 I had conversation with Sushma over the telephone. I chose telephone as the medium of communication because this way, Sushma had to put in more effort than she would do if she found me in front of me. After the regular greetings, I asked Sushma if she was feeling better. I counseled her and told her that her sons would handle the matter maturely, and that she needed not worry. Having consoled her, I asked her what worried her the most. She said she was extremely worried about Vinod’s surgery and the future of all of her daughters in general, and Minakshi in particular. I consoled her and told her that we would mutually work a way out of the trouble. In the end, I talked to Sidhart and told him to tell Minakshi to be ready for meeting the following week. Week 4: 7 Feb, 2011 to 13 Feb, 2011 I called Minakshi. After regular greetings, I asked her to tell me what all she had in her mind. She said it all in just three words, then fainted and dropped the phone. She said, “I want abortion.” I called Sidhart and told him to take her to the doctor and keep a regular nurse for her. Things could not proceed much because of Minakshi’s condition, so I gave her the time of one more week. Week 5: 14 Feb, 2011 to 20 Feb, 2011 I went to her home to meet Minakshi. I asked her how she felt. She felt she was ok, but she maintained that she wanted the pregnancy aborted. I tried to convince her that abortion is a murder and she must not commit it. But she said that she had no other option. She had made up her mind. There was nothing I could do to change her mind. After talking to her, I told Raja to consult the physician for the abortion, but forbade it to get it done before discussing it with me. Week 6: 21 Feb, 2011 to 27 Feb, 2011 Raja came to my office. He said that the physician advised us not to opt for abortion as it was too late for it. Abortion would put Minakshi’s life in danger along with the baby’s. I strictly forbade him to let Minakshi get the abortion, and told him to bring Minakshi to me next week. Meanwhile, the boys kept communicating with Sushma, and she had been back to normal. Week 7: 28 Feb, 2011 to 6 Mar, 2011 Minakshi came to my office. After a discussion of three hours, I convinced her to change her mind and she did. Week 8: 7 Mar, 2011 to 13 Mar, 2011 I called Raja, Sidhart and Kali to my office and told them to accept the fact that their sister was pregnant as the fact could not be changed. They said they were trying their level best. Week 9: 14 Mar, 2011 to 20 Mar, 2011 Vinod was back after a successful operation. The whole family was reunited. They had accepted the fact that Minakshi was pregnant and required their help. Sushma came out of trauma. Vinod was convinced by his sons to spare the tension, and welcome the new member in the family. Status after 9 weeks: The family had decided that they would tell the outsiders that it was Sushma who was expecting and not Minakshi. Vinod and Sushma had decided to move back to India after the baby was born. There, they could tell others that they have given birth to their eighth child, and live a happy life. Minakshi had gone through enough tension to learn the lesson she needed to, and is now an obedient daughter. Read More