Understanding Counseling and Psychotherapy - Case Study Example

? Consider Systemic and Socio-cultural Issues in a Counselling Case StudyIntroduction The project report will comprise relevant studies pertaining tothe socio-cultural issues in the concerned case study. It can be stated that socio-cultural issues are regarded as those issues that linger in a society or in an environment. It can be apparently viewed that various socio-cultural issues have the potential to impose significant impacts especially upon the psychological aspects of human mind by a greater degree (Barker, Vossler, & Langdridge, 2010, pp. 48-49). Thus, with this concern, the project report will portray various characters and events based on a particular fictional instance. The studies in this project will include all the elements that seem to be connected with the issues of socio-cultural activities and also relates to the issues concerning different socio-cultural aspects. The main aim of this report would be to analyze the case which has been taken into concern and to figure out the instances of the socio-cultural events that seem to occur relating to the case study. Moreover, based on the instances and occurrences, an appropriate fictional story will be made as the primary base of preparing this project report. Structure of the Assignment The fictional case study would be created for the purpose of drawing various socio-cultural issues within a family system. It will also draw different instances in which fear and sadness seem to affect the lives of those characters in which the case study will be based upon. In order to determine the structure of this assignment, it can be stated that the case study will be based upon a fictional character and the life events based on the concerned character in the study will be highlighted upon. The whole story will be based upon a fictional character named Aisha which has been taken into concern from the course textbook. She is a 28 year old women belonging to Saudi Arabia who is studying for the purpose of attaining 4 year degree from a university which is based on England. The main elements in the story will be analyzed based upon the instances of socio-cultural issues faced by her (Barker, Vossler, & Langdridge, 2010, p. 218). Context of the Case Study Aisha is a 28 year old student belonging to Saudi Arabia who is pursuing her 4 year degree course from a university of North England. She belongs from a conservative family and deeply values her morals and thoughts by a greater degree. She also seems to be attached with her own thoughts and is easily affected by the external events in her life. She has four siblings i.e. two brothers and two sisters and she being the oldest among her siblings got the opportunity to study abroad. Thus, she went to England for pursuing her education. She has an ailing mother who has been suffering from heart related problems since long. Her father is the only earning member in the family who runs a poultry farm for supporting his family in Saudi Arabia. She has a very loving grandmother as well. Aisha was very happy about the fact when she joined the university in England to pursue her education as it was a great matter of pride for her. It was in the year 2009, when she joined the university and till that time, her main focus was to complete her education in a successful manner. It can be viewed that she was always overwhelmed by grief and sadness owing to the reason that that she had to stay far away from her family. The memories of her family and friends always seemed to depress Aisha because she did not receive the love and care as per her expectation levels in England (Barker, Vossler, & Langdridge, 2010, p. 218). Relating Socio-Cultural Issues to the Client This section of the story would reflect upon analyzing various socio-cultural issues that Aisha faced and the varied instances of events that seemed to sadden Aisha. Also, the story reflects about the health condition of Aisha in a bitter way. As per the assessment of a psychiatric, it can be identified that Aisha was suffering from schizophrenia (Barker, Vossler, & Langdridge, 2010, p. 191-218). Relating to the aforesaid case study, it can be affirmed that individuals often experience various elements such as fear, anxiety and sadness along with other negative aspects that seem to disrupt their routine life. When the aforesaid elements become quite serious, people generally seek for psychological help from professional experts. In this case, Aisha was seen to stop attending her classes and was also viewed to become quite reclusive in a very unusual manner. Moreover, there were certain identified instances in which Aisha got involved with one of the socio-cultural issues i.e. racial discrimination which subjected her to numerous insults by a considerable level. As a result, the surroundings seemed to pose a considerable extent of hatred towards Aisha which was quiet hard for her to digest. Combining all these instances of events and her medical conditions left her with no choice but to take a proper assessment from a counsellor which was of primary importance for her at that very moment. Thus, by considering the above instance, it can be duly notified that Aisha faced certain socio-cultural issues as she got psychiatric assessment when her mental state was not in order (Barker, Vossler, & Langdridge, 2010, pp. 195-219). It can be apparently observed that the outmost priority of an individual is to seek psychological help when his/her mental condition is not well. A person may face numerous breakdowns due to many external events that seem to impact his/her mental as well as psychological aspects at large. The case study clearly highlighted the events through which Aisha seemed to get adversely affected by her fellow immigrants in England and also by her peers in the university in which she studied. She was not given due respect and was ridiculed in every possible manner. Moreover, it was also made clear that she suffered from schizophrenia due to which she was facing much difficulty while coping up with her daily activities. She even stopped attending her college, which eventually raised her sadness as well as fear by a significant level. All these instances or events forced her to take proper psychiatric assessment which was very important in that particular situation. It is worth mentioning that all the aforesaid aspects largely encompass certain crucial facets such as sadness, fear and grief that can be duly considered to be negative and can cause depression in the life of an individual by a certain degree. And, all these aspects need prior attention related to psychotherapy and proper psychological treatment. But before going for any kind of treatment, there is a need to properly study the root causes and the actual problems as well. In this regard, based on the level of criticalities and seriousness of the mental condition of a patient, appropriate measures are also needed to be adopted as well as executed. This process is considered to be the most appropriate psychotherapy and mental treatment process and also Aisha got assessed in this similar way which can be viewed in the case. In relation to the case, it can be apparently viewed that Aisha was ridiculed in every possible way owing to the reason that she was considered to be amongst the weaker sections of the society (Barker, Vossler & Langdridge, 2010, pp. 214-219). Describing Myself as a Counsellor The concerned case might prove to provide a lot of understanding as well as clarity regarding the concept of socio-cultural issues and their effects in the minds of an individual. However, if I got the opportunity to work with Aisha and provide her effective assessment then as a counsellor, I would have conducted a detailed analysis of the broad socio-cultural issues that seemed to reflect in her life which resulted in causing her grief and depression. Grief and depression are determined to be amid the key psychological constituents. An overabundance of grief within a person can in turn cause sustained level of depression. This resultant depression can take the shape of certain physiological disturbances along with mental ailments. I have ascertained that as a counsellor it is one of the prime responsibilities to gain an in-depth understanding of a client’s agonies. Consequently, I would have worked with her with the prime intention of deeply analyzing her problems and the level up to which the problems have affected her life. By taking this aspect into consideration, if I were a counsellor then I would have been able to measure the level of actions and the physiotherapy treatment measures that could have been put into use. I would like to work with Aisha as a counsellor by keeping her informed about the broad perspectives of genders and the differences existing between them. I would have provided her with the liberty of openly discussing her problems with me and I would have also made her realize the fact that women are not considered to be inferior to men. This way it could have led to building her confidence to a specific level and would have provided me with great measures to carry forward this treatment process. I would have divided a counselling session into two different parts which would have taken place every day. If I were a counsellor, I would arrange two counselling sessions per day because it would result in greater output and strong possibilities of addressing her problems in a much better way which is my primary objective. If I got the opportunity to engage her family members in the counselling process then I would rather choose not to involve them in the counselling process, as I strongly feel that it may hurt the psychological aspects of Aisha considerably. I would like to conduct the counselling sessions in a private and secure manner so that a session could be followed in an orderly manner. At times, it is observed that in the presence of family members a person is not able to open to the extent desired by a counsellor. Moreover, it is often found that the occurrence of psychological distress is somewhat related to the influence of a family member. I would carefully take into account all those critical aspects that seem to sadden her and burden her with fear. If I had the privilege of serving as a counsellor while working with Aisha, my main motive would be to relieve Aisha of her pain and misery. Also, in order to get into detail about the counselling sessions, I would also follow an effective strategy to resolve the socio-cultural issues. It is found that in case of Aisha, social-cultural complexities were a key facet which resulted in her facing distress over a period of time. Moreover, she was not able to come out of such difficulties by herself, which was bothering her. Specially mentioning, if I was a counsellor then I would have talked with her in feminine ways so that I could become her friend. And, if I am able to make her open in disclosing her thoughts then it could have yielded adequate results. However, the main aim of the counselling session would be to provide a clear picture of the problems related to socio-cultural issues faced by Aisha and the measures that could have been adopted to solve those issues at large (Barker, Vossler, & Langdridge, 2010, pp. 211-233). Conclusion From the above analysis, it can be affirmed from a broader outlook that socio-cultural issues do create a negative impact in the minds of the people to a considerable extent. The case relating to Aisha reflected various instances in which the socio-cultural events seemed to occur frequently. The case reflected on the fictional life events of a character named Aisha who had been adversely affected by the socio-cultural issues. Her life events were studied in the case and all the instances in which she was ridiculed by the immigrant community in England have been highlighted as well as studied. Thus, the case has been studied extensively with all the activities that seemed to put Aisha in grief and sadness being analyzed and comprehended. This eventually led towards understanding the aspects linked with socio-cultural issues by a certain degree (Barker, Vossler & Langdridge, 2010, pp. 103-233). Also, the case study reflected on various aspects through which Aisha’s problems could have been resolved as well as mitigated in a simple manner. In the concluding part of the case, appropriate recommendations were provided from my part which I would have implemented if I got the opportunity to work with Aisha as a counsellor. Self-Reflection I found this assignment quiet interesting as it facilitated me in gaining a comprehensive understating related to various aspects associated with socio-cultural issues. On the other hand, I also found much difficulty in analysing the case of Aisha as all the characteristics of the individual needed to be deeply studied which is never an easy task. Reference Barker, M., Vossler, A., & Langdridge, D. (2010). Understanding counseling and psychotherapy. United Kingdom: SAGE Publications. Read More