Object Relations Therapy - Term Paper Example

Object Relations Theory by Martin is a 25-year old single black male International from Kenya. He came to the United s as agrant-holder in the course of a program for future doctors. The government of his country chooses the best students at the age of 18 and sends them to receive education in America in order to apply their knowledge in Kenya later. Martin has been sharing the apartment with two other students for the last five years. Martin has started a relationship with a girl two months ago being single during all his life before. All Martin`s family, a mother, a stepfather, two elder brothers, and a little sister lives in Kenya. A month ago Martin has been feeling stressed and found himself unable to cope with sadness and apathy episodes. He felt tired any time of the day and lost enthusiasm towards sport, studies, and personal life. He used have nightmares frequently and suffered from insomnia. He also had conflicts with his roommates and got used to spend nights in pubs drinking. His girlfriend advised him to visit the counselor and he accepted her offer though being very skeptical about the possibility of any treatment. He had no previous counseling or psychiatric treatment. Martin initially showed himself as a reserved and confident man. He looked a little bit exhausted and it was evident that he did not sleep well for a long time. At some moments he seemed shy and awkward. His English was correct though he definitely had an accent and he probably worried about this. He was uncomfortable during first session and refused to speak on sensitive topics (his family). Though later Martin felt more confident and relaxed and even changed his sitting posture. The man was obviously very smart and bright as he made clever remarks and responded adequately to my questions. Martin was sure that he was able to manage with his stress himself and needed no help. Previously Martin was able to control himself ad had no self-destructive experience and his drinking was very disturbing to him as well. It was obvious that Martin was an absolutely self-sufficient person because he adapted to living in a different culture very quickly. He had no financial or psychological support from his family that is why he started working very early and learned that he could rely on himself only. The sense of loneliness was not familiar to Martin because he dedicated all his time to studying or to working in order to earn his living. He did not have any close friends in childhood and in college as well. He also was worried because his future practice would require a lot of contact with people while he found it difficult to maintain stable contact with someone. Martin was close to his girlfriend though was also very doubtful about his relationships in future because he had no examples of happy marriages. As he said he expected something to go wrong unexpectedly. Martin grew up in Kenya in a middle class family which was still living there. Martin`s father died when he was 11 and it was a traumatizing experience for the boy especially after his mother got married another man who had his own children. Martin was dreaming of living apart from his family from teenage age that is why he decided to pursue his studies of biology and medicine. When he moved to the United States he felt abandoned and his strong African accent did not permit him to make friends with anyone. Martin`s present family was described reluctantly by the man and it became evident that they did not get along very well. His mother and stepfather had a little business while his elder brothers did not have stable jobs at all. Martin confessed that he viewed the second marriage of his mother as unhappy and destructive. His mother lost connection with him after the birth of his sister and Martin`s stepfather was extremely critical and sometimes abusive to the boy. Martin`s stepfather got used to blaming Martin in poor financial state of the family claiming that he did not want to feed another mouth. He also seemed to release his dissatisfaction with family life by intimidating and criticizing the boy. Martin said that his mere existence was unwanted in his family because he reminded his stepfather of his dead father. Martin`s mother was unable to contradict her husband and defend her son being busy with Martin`s sister. She was also an obedient and tranquil woman who sometimes behaved as an infant acting hysterically and blaming everybody else for her personal failures. Martin sensed that his mother lost all the interest towards him after the death of his father. Elder brothers were not seeking friendship with Martin and often mocked and teased him. Martin confessed that the changes that occurred in his family and his mother`s attitude to him after her second marriage made Martin believe that he was the only person he could ever trust. Martin`s father unexpected death in a car accident was devastating , however inability of his mother to provide him with appropriate support pushed him to total disappointment in any close relationships. Martin`s stepfather aggressive behavior was also stressful to the boy that is why he got used to escaping into his own illusionary worlds ad studying. Bad relationships with peers and siblings made Martin shy but very determined- he knew that he wanted to become a doctor and that he needed to work hard for it. The only person who supported Martin throughout his childhood was his grandfather who was still living in Kenya. Martin was examined according to personal observations and his own history. Beck Depression Inventory was used to examine the possibility of depression. Martin met several basic criteria for depression which were present during more than three weeks already (this is only the term that has been reported though the client seemed to suffer from the symptoms for a longer time): Depressed mood most of the day reported by Martin himself and his girlfriend who sent Martin for the therapy; Loss of interest to studying, diminished interest to jogging which was Martin`s favorite method of stress resistance, low interest to spending time with the girlfriend; Insomnia almost every day; Martin sleeps for no more than several hours every day; Feelings of worthlessness which are recurrent; Change of eating habits (DSM-V). Additionally Martin abuses alcohol and does not even consider it a problem. There were several reasons of Martin`s depression episodes. First, his relationships stimulated his memories about his own family though he previously tried to suppress them; second, Martin was passing through youth to adulthood which presupposed taking serious decisions (one of them was to return to Kenya later), and third, Martin`s inability to build close intimate relationships with others turned out to be an obstacle for Marti`s normal development. Thus, it is possible to say that his object relations were disturbed which provoked barriers between him and his surroundings and creation of excessive boundaries. Unreliable parenting made Martin believe that all relations would be disappointing and problematic. Inability to cope adequately with the loss of his father and to share this grief with close people made Martin closed and detached. He managed to create self-protection that required most his psychic energy. But with appearance of the girlfriend Martin had to revise his boundaries and share his emotions with another human being. The thoughts about someone crossing the boundaries provoked stress in the man which combined with overall stress from the situation in life resulted in depressive episodes. All in all, inability of his parents, mother in particular, to provide Martin with adequate care and affection resulted in his building of rigid boundaries and protecting them at the expense of his enormous efforts. There is a need for Marin to recognize his painful feelings of anger and disappointment towards his mother and probably towards his all new family members. He also must allow himself to feel grief over his late father to stop being in a frozen unemotional state which prevents him from creating new connections with people. In this process it is the therapist who can help Martin to manage with his feelings of anger, dissatisfaction, and grief. Martin still feels dependent on the relationships with his mother whom he lost contact with after her getting married for the second time, and his present state of depression might be caused by disrupting of the relationships with her, the person who can be referred to the primary object which was supposed to provide Martin with meaningful connection. When being still a child Martin needed an external object to provide him with the sense of wholeness. Loss of two such objects: death of the father and the marriage of the mother resulted in the feeling of emptiness. Parents served as necessary objects for the experience of self for Martin. It is also possible to suggest that incompletely developed sense of self resulted in clinging to the objects and their loss resulted in subsequent state of melancholia. For Martin expression of his real feelings and anxieties are impossible that is why he taught himself to suppress them, and from the perspective of the objects relation theory, his depression is the only possible way to communicate his real self to the world (Reinecke & Davidson, 2002). In treatment of Marin`s depression it is important to achieve several goals: First, it is necessary to reduce the amount of stress caused by overload at the university and future perspective of return to Martin`s motherland. The therapist must become the figure that could provide Martin with support and encouragement. It is necessary to emphasize the things that had already been achieved by the man, and there is a solid ground for Martin to be proud of himself: he managed to receive education he dreamt of, he has adapted to a completely new culture. It is also crucial to help Martin to find new mechanisms that will help him to manage with current depressive state. Second, it is impossible for Martin to move further without accepting his past. The therapist has to encourage Martin to processing his painful past as it is impossible to change it and accept the failures of his mother and the death of his father as something undisputable. Martin has to understand the psychic energy he spends on blocking memories about his past in attempt to understand who was guilty and why he could direct to the present. On this stage Martin has to accept pain as inevitable part of life that allows a human being to remain a human being. Third, it is necessary to help Martin develop connection with his present family on the level he needs it. If these relationships are not frustrating and will bring any positive emotions then it is better to reconcile. Moreover, Martin has changed, and his family members must have changed already as well. However, if there is no possibility to create a meaningful dialogue with his family it is necessary to achieve independence, factual and emotional. After all this work is done it is crucial to help Martin to accept his true self with his sensitive side. He needs to understand that with his barriers push people away from him. Martin`s search of therapist`s help is the sign that he actually needs peers` support. Martin has to learn how to accept care from the people who love him (like his girlfriend). Only in this case Martin can act as a complete personality. The counseling session with Martin was very inspiring and positive though it was initially difficult to tune Martin to showing his sensitive side but once he understood that in therapist`s cabinet he is safe from any judgments he felt much more relaxed. Martin`s natural quick wits and good adaptation helped to make the work with his depression fruitful. Martin`s stamina will definitely help him in following the chosen course. I liked that I managed to create the atmosphere of trust and sincerity which helped Martin to open up. However, in several moments I sensed that speaking about past was too traumatizing to Martin especially when he spoke about his father`s death and I felt uncomfortable at these moments. References DSM-V Classification. Retrieved from: http://www2.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Intranet/Homefront/Criteria_Major_D_Episode.pdf Reinecke, M., & Davidson, M. (2002). Comparative treatments of depression. New York: Springer Publishing Company Read More