Psychology peculiarities of lifespan development of a female - Case Study Example

Psychology peculiarities of lifespan development of a female Introduction The current case study is to focus on the issues and peculiarities of lifespan development on the example of a female client on the stage of early adulthood. Nora, the client, is 23 years old and single. She is characterized by multiple educational and academic achievements as well as high aptitude to creative activity and possessing remarkable talents in painting and photographic art. However, she has developed a set of rather morbid fixations that hinder her social, personal and intimate life, the roots of which are to be clarified. Physiologically, Nora is healthy despite possessing some extra weight. She reports disturbing lack of self-confidence and rather negative self-image. Her self-esteem is impaired by her body discontent, which she has reportedly had for many years. Furthermore, she reports multiple problems in personal life, with several negative experiences of intimate relationships with her male partners. Background To understand the causes of the client’s social phobias and fixations, one should consider theoretical frameworks related to lifespan development and typical changes and transformations occurring during different periods of an individual’s life. The two periods to consider in this case study are adolescence generally defined by Feldman (2010, p.5) as the period between 12 and 20 and early adulthood lasting form 20 to 40 years. Therefore, the client has recently entered the stage of early adulthood, and – according to numerous researches - certain developmental issues might be related to the transition from adolescence to the current stage. Considering the development pattern for Nora and the fact that there is no inherent genetic mental issues or physiological injuries that could hinder her development, it is reasonable to address nurture-based theories of development in order to draw parallels between the current state and the environmental effect produced on the client during her most sensitive development period. Behaviorism, social cognitive approach and Vygotsky’s theory emphasize the role of social environment in formation of certain psychological, cognitive and emotional traits in the individual, stressing importance of interaction with family, peers and instructors. Particularly, “importance of the family context during adolescence has been highlighted for a number of positive outcomes, including well-being, emotion regulation, academic achievement, and autonomy (Syed & Seiffge-Krenke, 2013, p.373). Communication with parents, their unconditional love and appreciation play the crucial role in development of an individual’s self-image. It is notable that adolescence in the client’s development was marked by the divorce of her parents and rather difficult relationships with the father. In this case study, Nora reported negative experience with her father, who generally neglected her achievements and underrated her. Moreover, the client had problems with overweight, having been rather prone to obesity in early and middle adolescence, and her father’s remarks concerning her overweight could serve as a powerful driving force for fixations’ development. Apparently, the key psychological issue Nora faces at the current stage of development is negative self-esteem (as it is reported by herself), and tracing her development during adolescence enables revealing the causes. General tendencies drawn by Badayai and Ismail (2012) imply that self-esteem drops with the transition from childhood to adolescence. Self-esteem as a psychological phenomenon or a culturally and socially based construct is believed to be associated with the individual’s striving to have some value coming from an unconscious fear of death. Erikson’s developmental theory that arose on the foundations of Freud’s framework portrays adolescence (which is considered to last from 13 to 19 years) as a vulnerable period of existential searches and high dependence on the way the individual might appear to other people, especially to peers. “When adolescents shift their attention from parents to peers, peers become a core influence for their development” (Reitz, 2014, p.281). Therefore, peers play the key role in the process of socialization. As adolescence is the most vulnerable developmental stage in terms of self-esteem and self-image, negative self-image Nora has roots in traumatic experience received in family environment and among peers during adolescence. Nora reported that she was often derided at and bullied at school by her peers and classmates. Thereby, one of the key sources of negative self-perception was the client’s appearance and particularly overweight. At the same time, it is clear form her answers that she is subjected to the influence of media and beauty standards embodied by celebrities, which appearing there. Driven by the identity crisis (if viewed from Erikson’s perspective), adolescents and young adults seek models to follow and emulate (Stever, 2011, p.2). Nora is vulnerable to the visual images of skinny female singers and models, and this attachment worsens her fixation based on her weight and figure, even though her weight is currently much closer to the norm in contrast to her adolescent years. The second important aspect of Nora’s issue is her self-esteem and perception in terms of relationships with male partners. First of all, suffering from reported body dissatisfaction, the client lacks self-confidence in choosing the potential partners and in any personal relationships with the opposite sex. However, analyzing the entire picture, one can trace the source of the complex problem in Nora’s relationships with her father and the general pattern of relationships between her parents. If looked at through the prism of social learning theory suggested by Bandura (Berk, 2014), Nora’s psychological and social development is influenced greatly by the role models that she imitates in the course of development. In this case study, morbid relations in the family – it has been mentioned that relations between parents were rather tense and non-normal – were seen and adopted as a pattern by the daughter, who is likely to transfer this pattern in her further personal life, which might lead to negative consequences. On the stage of early adulthood, where Nora currently is, “fathers may serve as prototypes for their daughters in more mature relationships” (Connolly, McIsaac, Shulman, Wincentak, Joly, Heifetz & Bravo, 2014, p.12). Again, Erikson’s view of development stages describes the period of early adulthood as the period of isolation vs. intimacy, when the individual is concerned with affiliation and belonging. Thereby, Nora has entered this period and thus she is now concerned with establishing intimate relationships and long-term commitments (for she has already formed her identity). Another negative impact relations with the father produced in adolescence is lack of unconditional acceptance, which “involves constructive feedback and affirmations, reassurance of worth, approval, praise, and appreciation not on the basis of child's performance and behaviour but on the basis of their existence” (Makri-Botsari, 2015, p.51). The client’s interview implies that she experienced shortage in unconditional love on the side of her father, yet this type of love is important for social development and formation of self-identity during adolescence. As the result, Nora seeks approval and praise in her potential partners as well as in her peers, and gets distressed receiving no feedback. Current State Currently, the client in on the early stage of emerging adulthood, which is marked by changes in occupation (from studentship to employment) and environment. She is on the peak of physiological development with her cognitive skills and talents continuing to evolve due to self-development and training. However, she finds herself in a rather unfavorable mental state due to difficulties in communication with peers. These difficulties root in Nora’s negative self-image, inferiority complex and body dissatisfaction. This set of complexes hinders her normal interaction with people and ability to make new friends: she gets unconfident and abnormally shy. In order to dispose of body dissatisfaction, Nora has recently started attending fitness, yet her condition has not improved yet, she feels exhausted and depressed. Moreover, Nora stints herself in food for fear of gaining weight. Suggested Intervention As the client does not have severe forms of mental disorders, it is necessary to focus on wise counselling and carefully selected therapeutic instruments in order to prevent more serious problems and release her from her fixations rooting in adolescence and negative experience with her father. First of all, it is important that the client understand the reasons of her problem in order to struggle with it efficiently. Psychotherapists’ consultations might help extract as much information about Nora’s adolescence and even childhood and explain the reasons of her feelings to her. Theoretical literature implies that the inferiority complex imposes the thoughts about being rejected, negatively evaluated or condemned for appearance, the way of communicating or social status. The individuals constantly model possible reactions in their minds in order to justify their shame or embarrassment. However, such tactics is unfavorable. Instead, Nora needs psychotherapeutic intervention, for the specialist will unfold the core of the problem and help her release unfavorable emotions. In this case, as father was the main cause of Nora’s lack of self-confidence, negative self-image and failures in intimate relationships, the specialist could advise her to write a letter to him and express everything she would like to say to him. This release of negative emotions and insults that have been restrained since middle adolescence will help Nora relieve her complexes. Moreover, an important point of treatment is making the client pronounce her problems aloud and clearly. Also, the task of counselling is helping Nora to learn to distinguish the image of her father from her potential partners, as distancing negative experience with her father will show that the world of men is not hostile by its nature: not all men will neglect or reject her perfections. Generally, the best way to overcome Nora’s issues is mild psychotherapeutic intervention with counselling and, of course, active participation on her side. However, the client’s attempts to alter her behavior are also important – she should be encouraged to enhance her self-esteem in various ways: attending fitness, altering her clothing style (in a way that will help emphasize her strong points), going out with friends more often and reading motivating literature. Conclusion The issues faced by the hypothetical client of this case study, Nora, include inferiority complex, lack of self-confidence and morbid fixations on her father’s negative attitude towards her. Theoretical framework of various development theories and interviewing the client show that the cause of the problems lies in the period of early and middle adolescence, when individuals experience dramatic changes in their physiology, environment and self-perception. Nora projects her relationships with the father onto her further life including peers and partners. Unfortunately, this problem is not rare in the modern society with disrupted family roles and high frequency of divorces. However, this problem belongs to minor psychological issues and can be handled with help of counselling and mutual work of both the client and the psychotherapist. The core aspect of treatment is releasing the fixation on the father and distancing this experience from current and future experiences both with peers and with partners. Reference list Badayai, A. A., & Ismail, K. H. (2012). Life-Span Trajectory of Self-Esteem Development: A Myth or Reality. Online Submission. Retrieved June 14, 2015 from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED535650 Berk, L. (2014). Development through the lifespan. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. Connolly, J., McIsaac, C., Shulman, S., Wincentak, K., Joly, L., Heifetz, M., & Bravo, V. (2014). Development of Romantic Relationships in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: Implications for Community Mental Health. Canadian Journal Of Community Mental Health, 33(1), 7-19. Feldman, R. S. (2010). Development Across the Life Span (6th Edition). Pearson. Retrieved June 14, 2015 from http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205805914.pdf Makri-Botsari, E. (2015). Adolescents' unconditional acceptance by parents and teachers and educational outcomes: A structural model of gender differences. Journal Of Adolescence, 4350-62. Reitz, A. J. (2014). How Peers Make a Difference: The Role of Peer Groups and Peer Relationships in Personality Development. European Journal Of Personality, 28(3), 279-288. Stever, G. (2011). Fan Behavior and Lifespan Development Theory: Explaining Para-social and Social Attachment to Celebrities. Journal Of Adult Development, 18(1), 1-7. Syed, M., & Seiffge-Krenke, I. (2013). Personality development from adolescence to emerging adulthood: Linking trajectories of ego development to the family context and identity formation. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 104(2), 371-384. Read More