Family Members with HIV/AIDS - Assignment Example

1. Family member(s) with HIV/AIDS: A. HIV/AIDS can be a terrible blow, yet it can also uncover aspects of the person and his or her most precious values (Conforti, 1997). Spirituality, it can open the person’s mind and beliefs into something that they have perhaps overlooked for their entire life. There are things that come into realization once the person is in tune with his spirituality, and often times it would even be life changing. B. The AIDS pandemic on children is confusing as well as challenging. They feel that they are different, and they know that they are. At some point, they might even be ostracized for such and it would be difficult for their social development. Spirituality helps them face acceptance. It is through acceptance that they finally realize that being themselves is not as bad as they thought it was. C. Culture, gender and religion are important factors when counseling a family with HIV/AIDS. Culture dictates what should be and should not be – taboos; gender has its implications as well, women especially from minority groups and has low-income suffer psychological distress (Catz et al, 2003); religion is of course the aspect that provides spirituality. With these factors in counseling those with HIV/AIDS, it would be processing the entire picture and being able to help the individuals with their pressing problems and concerns. It is something that the therapist herself must not have any bias with. D. Heterosexual females in the U.S. may be contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS in this population as culture dictates that sex is seems to be a necessity. Being a virgin at a certain age is unthinkable and having multiple partners, especially for the single ones, can be factor as to the spread of the disease. Low spirituality is also a factor as they tend to forget the meaning of their actions and what it means to religion, as well as in certain aspects of their culture. E. Those who have been diagnosed positive of HIV are prone to domestic violence – usually in terms of physical and verbal. It seems that the positive diagnosis has a condemning effect on these individuals, especially to women. Women, particularly African American, who are infected by HIV/AIDS are more likely to be victims of physical and verbal abuse compared to those who are not infected (Jones et al, 2003). 2. Family therapy with LGBTQ persons: A. When counseling adolescents, it is important to point out to them that sexual behavior and sexual orientation is different so as to make things clearer and easier for them. According to Ryan and Futterman (2001) young kids limit sharing about their sexual identities with other gay people as they feel they might be criticized, may lose jobs, lose friends, become victims of violence, etc... Sexual orientation is simply a component of identity, and sexual behavior includes activity. B. Two negative outcomes which may occur among LGBTQ populations due to internalized homophobia would be the deficiency of one’s performance in school – especially for gay and lesbian youths. Worse cases could even cause them to drop out of school. Another negative outcome could be the effect on their mental health – depression and anxiety could be the common cases (Ryan & Futterman, 2001). C. Considering that most cultures still has not accepted gays and lesbians in society, being a LGBTQ can be difficult. As pointed out by Ryan and Futterman (2001), each cultural or ethnic group sexuality hold different meanings and sexual identity is shaped by many factors. Religion also has a big influence – although it may depend on whether the family’s spritituality foundation is strong. Most religions recognize only two genders: male and female; and may ostracize those other than that. How the family understands its LGBTQ member all rests with what is taboo and what is tolerated in society. D. LGBTQ members of society are prone to ostracizing and violence compared to his or her heterosexual peers. They cannot be all that they can be because of fear that they might lose friends, family, respect, etc... As stated by Ryan and Futterman (2001), “While heterosexual peers are developing communication and self-disclosure skills...many lesbian and gay youth are learning how to hide core aspects of their identity”. Their social development suffers as long as they cannot come out with their true sexual identity, and unlike their heterosexual peers, they are going through life with caution as to what others might think about them. E. A therapist’s own religion and cultural background can be an obstacle in working with LGBTQ people if these two are the pillars that make up the therapist’s values in life. It may interfere with the beliefs that the therapist may hold true and dear and may become biased in counseling these people, which would be unfair to them. What the therapist can do is to educate herself about the myths and realities surrounding homosexuality (Ryan and Futterman, 2001). This way, the therapist will be able to work with an open mind and without bias. 3. Concepts in Family Therapy: a. Cut-offs is a concept wherein the individual cuts off or reduces any emotional contact with a family member as a way of managing unresolved emotional issues. b. Triangulation is a concept related to family therapy wherein it believes that emotional relationships in families are usually triangular. This means that whenever two members of the family system have problems with each other, they will have a third member to “triangle in” as a way to stabilize their relationship. Common family triangles include a child and its parents, two children and a parent, and husband, wife, and an in-law (Frey, n.d.). c. Pathogenic family is a concept related to family therapy wherein the family is the cause or perhaps it encourages the development of mental disorder among its members. It is commonly referred to as “dysfunctional family” (“Pathogenic family” n.d.). d. “The concept of boundaries in families is used to define alignments in the family business, e.g. alignments of a siblings relative to the older generation, or alignments of family who work in the family business, or alignments of divisions of the company... this concept reflects the balance of fairness and trust in a relationship between two people” (Paul, 1999). e. the biopsychosocial context uses the biopsychosocial model in family therapy. This model treats the biological, psychological, and social issues as systems of the human body – similar to other systems in the body such as respiratory and cardiovascular. It draws a link between the pathological processes that cause the disease, and the person’s perception of his health and its effects on it. f. Limited partnership is a concept related to family therapy wherein one or both of the partners contribute to the situation at hand. It is a model that is usually utilized when dealing with divorce cases. g. Bi-nuclear family is one that involves two separate households that are consisted of the children and the spouses of the partners in a divorce. h. Enmeshed family is a concept that shows a family that is often associated with attachment. Too attached, as though they are entangled in a mesh; attachment with another member or members of the family that has posed problems. i. A disengaged family is one that doesn’t have any “attachment” to their child. It’s a family that chooses to not have anything to do with their child’s welfares. j. Systems theory is a concept that believes that individuals cannot be understood alone; rather they must be a part of their family because the family is an emotional unit. To understand the individual, one must see the family where he comes from. 4. Case Scenario: Family Violence A. A family of four members living the average city life has been quite a normal family – from afar. The father works as an accountant while the mother stays at home as a housewife. They have two children, the eldest is a boy, age 17; and the second is a girl, age 13. They have been living a mediocre life. The son is not active in extra-curricular school activities, nor is he into sports. He simply loves to stay somewhere, listen to music, and just being comfortable. The second child, however, is more active in school activities. She isn’t part of the school sports team but she takes part in extra-curricular activities, especially dancing. The children are seldom at home, though. When they are, they are usually cooped inside their rooms doing their own things – seldom do you see them interacting as a family. The father, being the bread winner and sole income generator of the family comes home every night from work and the family sits down to have dinner together. He doesn’t have any vices, nor does he have any substance abuse. The mother, on the other hand, has had a history of being a party animal when she was younger – way before her married life. However, on the present day, she has long broken the habit. Lately, they have been trying to add another member to the family – but each time they do, a miscarriage occurs. The husband strongly wishes to have another baby in the family, and the consecutive miscarriages seem to disappoint him more each time. The wife is, of course, also disappointed, but deems she can’t do anything about it. Lately, there has been a gap between the couple as the husband seems to insert a line or two about blaming his wife and her previous lifestyle as to why she can’t get a full-term pregnancy. As well as adding how hard he works to bring money to the family while she does nothing but take care of the home. As time goes, the wife goes underappreciated with her husband’s words, and their once mediocre family seems to have gone just a step lower – into a distressed family. B. The father being an accountant in a respectable firm feels that his name and reputation should not be stained, and has made this clear to his wife and kids. Any family problem, minor or major, has always been kept within the family. Seeking help outside felt as though he or she may be putting their family’s name to shame. With the mother’s past experiences, she feels that by agreeing with her husband to such solution to their problems, she is not adding into any shame that might be brought to their family’s name. She feels that she is lucky to have met and married such a respectable man and it would be wise to bury her past experiences – especially that most of it are something she isn’t proud of. C. Basically, the family is a struggling family in terms of their emotional health. The father is disappointed and in turn has used his words to poison his wife’s emotional well-being. The children may or may not be aware of the exact reason as to why their family seems cold and heavy, but they have developed their own coping mechanism wherein the son have in turn shied away from the world and went into his own comforting place within himself, and the daughter have turned her pessimistic feelings into activities – causing her to stay out of their home more often. The father is the key to fixing this problem, whereas realization on the side of the mother is also a must. The children are simply feeling the tension, but not directly affected. D. Genogram Eco-map Work Past Experiences Spirituality Father Friends Mother Son Living Daughter Conditions Usefulness baby Average School Parents’ Home Income Relationship Environment E. Treatment Plan Father Seeing that his disappointments in his wife’s miscarriage are taken out on his wife, he should be made aware that his wife is not the one to blame. Working on it together would be a better solution, rather than blaming the other wherein she cannot do anything about it. Exercise on letting him remember how to appreciate his wife by letting him enumerate the good points and desirable traits of his wife and why they’re so special and valuable. Weighing things as to which is more dear to him, his family – wife, son, and daughter; or his job. This exercise would make him realize that keeping their problem a secret and not getting any help is not the way to do it. Mother Given that she is the victim of emotional abuse, she should be made to realize that she is useful and precious to her husband and children. Exercise on letting her recall and tell about her past experiences; a way to make her face it and be comfortable with it. Without those experiences, she wouldn’t know how to deal with things the right way. Exercise on thinking of ways on how to build a sweeter, more harmonious relationship with her husband as this would bring about a happier household and the children would love to be part of it. Letting her keep a journal that she will be filling each day. Whatever she has written will be discussed with the therapist and she will be processed with it. Son He has shied away from the world by retreating into his own world of music and books. He must learn to interact with people once more, and realize that his parents’ problems are not his to be ashamed of. Exercises on being more socially adept and make him aware of the benefits of it. Drawing or illustrating his emotions through whatever symbolism and expression he wishes and explaining it to the therapist. Should he feel more comfortable in a less confrontational approach, he could write a journal and he and the therapist will discuss it. He will be processed about it afterwards. Daughter She has notably chosen to spend more time with extra-curricular school activities rather than going home after school so as to avoid the heavy atmosphere their home possesses. Exercises on illustrating or expressing her feelings through any form of expression – drawing, poems, or simply an essay – and she will explain it to the therapist, followed by her being processed about it. She will be made to realize that her older brother is always there, and they could be each other’s support, which will promote a closer relationship between the siblings. Exercises to promote this will be utilized. The number of sessions is not definite yet, but the treatment plan for this family will be once a week for the father and children, and twice a week for the mother who is the victim of the emotional abuse. References Catz, S., Felton, C., & McClure, J. (2003). Psychological distress among minority and low Income women living with HIV. EBSCO Publishing Conforti, P. (1997). Spirituality. New York University Press Frey, R. (n.d.). In WikiAnswers. Retrieved November 28, 2009, from http:// www.wikianswers.com. Jones, D., Beach, S., Forehand, R. (2003). Partner abuse and HIV infection: implications for psychosocial adjustment in African American women. Journal of Family Violence, 18, 257-268. Pathogenic Family (n.d.). In WikiAnswers. Retrieved November 28, 2009, from http:// www.wikianswers.com. Paul, J. (1999). Glossary-family systems concepts: boundaries. Retrieved November 28, 2009, From http://www. davidbork.com/articles/JoePaulsGlossary.pdf. Ryan, C., & Futterman, D. (2001). Lesbian and gay adolescents: identity development. The Prevention Researcher, 8, 1-16. Read More