Solutions to a Patient Suffering from a Lack of Self-Confidence - Case Study Example

Introduction The case study focuses on the issues faced by a 24-year old unemployed man, who is still reeling under the adverse effects of the recent downturn in the economy. The man had a stable job and income before the recession and never worried about the security of his career. However, with the downturn, he not only lost his job but also his self confidence. He kept thinking himself to be an incompetent person and blamed himself rather than the financial health of the company for his troubles. He tried to get some odd jobs but soon became frustrated with anything new that he undertook. His patience level is very low and he gets angry easily, which is impacting his equations with his fellow employees, employer and clients. Case study During the initial consultation phase, it was found that the patient was very rigid in his attitude and did not want to take any feedback from the physicians or care givers. He often becomes violent and during such times, it became difficult to restrain him as well. Thus, it was decided that the patient needs holistic treatment that would help in soothing him and easing him of his pain as well. Post the initial consultation, it was found that Bach flower remedies would be an appropriate solution for the patient as such a treatment helps in providing emotional support to the patient, while helping in enhancing the positive energy and other characteristics in a person (McCaffrey et al. 2003). The remedy included providing consultation to the patient for around 20 minutes discussing the various emotional concerns of the patient, while providing continual Back Flower remedy. Such a remedy helps in encouraging the patient and makes them confident about the changes in their lives. They feel being cared and rewarded, while increasing their positive aura as well. Such a remedy is considered to be an advanced healing technique which aids a patient to take away his or her negative behavioural tendencies by understanding the overall nature of the person, the various personal traits and also the general perception of the patient towards life and disease. Some of the major negative behavioural tendencies being addressed by this kind of treatment include frustration, envy, guilt and jealousy. Such negative traits make a person imbalance mentally and create various health and psychological conditions (Howard 1990). With regards to the patient, he has been diagnosed with all these negative feelings and has been suffering from low self esteem and lack of confidence in his personal and professional life. With the help of Bach flower treatment method or remedy, the personality as well as the physical body of a person is considered to be a single unit, as they are linked with the mental well-being and the innate nature of a human being. Anybody with issues towards life, especially unconstructive attitude, could be treated with providing customised Bach flower remedies, as witnessed in this case study. In order to treat the patient, a customised treatment plan was executed, wherein the health issues that were obstructing the growth of the patient were annihilated, which were considered to the major sources that created pessimistic attitude in the patient. Such a treatment was initiated to help the patient attain a positive outlook and better health in an effective manner (Schaffer and Yucha 2004). Further, such a treatment also aimed at elevating the emotional state of the person by increasing the healing energies in a subtle manner through the use of flower essences. Through the use of Bach Flowers, the emotional wounds that a person might have received due to broken bonds, failed careers etc, may be healed and would help a person to gain balance and energy in one’s life. With the use of Bach flower remedy, it would be easier to achieve reduced stress, enhanced intelligence, improved happiness, raised energy, increased memory, better health, amplified creativity, better sleep, reduced high blood pressure, better relationships along with decreasing negative thoughts (Darokar et al. 1998). There are various flower essences that are being used in combination to provide Bach Flower therapy, which helps in removing negative thoughts in patients and is found to be more lasting and profound as compared to other such healing strategies, as the flower essences work in an invisible manner. Such essences produce vibrations that heal and harmonises the emotions of the person’s vibrations and in a measured manner influence the mind as well, which finally removes the negative thoughts and therefore leads towards healing the body together with the mind (Forbes 1983). While counselling and prescribing the patient, I faced many challenges. First and foremost, the patient was not very cooperative with regards to his condition and did not cooperate much in the initial stages of counselling as he mistrusted everyone and did not think that his condition could be improved. However, with subsequent sittings, I was able to build trust with the patient and he started sharing his experiences in a detailed manner. It was found that the recession took a deep impact on the patient, who though himself to be incompetent. It was an unsettling event as he always led a very comfortable life and never worried about his job. However, the incidence of retrenchment shattered all his belief and he was not able to gather himself up post that, which slowly and steadily started impacting his health and his mental conditions as well. In my initial interactions, I let the patient do the talking and let him vent out his frustration as he had become withdrawn from the society and hardly spoke. Thereafter, I started with the therapy by introducing him to Bach flower remedy. Initially, he was sceptic about the advantages of such a remedy and did not believe that flower essences could be the solution to his problems. Thus, I highlighted similar cases that were handled using the remedy to the patient to convince him of the benefits of such a remedy. After going through the previous case studies, the patient became receptive towards the treatment, which is an important feature of such a remedy as without acceptance, most healing techniques does not work (Fredriksson 1999). The entire treatment was carried out within a span of two months, with sessions twice every week. As this was a continued treatment process, it was important to follow up with the patient on a regular basis and carry out follow-up consultations as well. In order to remove all the negative behavioural traits, it was imperative to hold follow-up consultations with the patient to find out whether the patient has been able to gain physically, emotionally and spiritually from the sessions. These follow-up sessions helped in understanding the changes that could be witnessed in the patient and whether the therapy has been helping in developing the mental well-being and elevating the energy levels of the patient or not. Further, such sessions also helped me in understanding whether the patient has been able to improve his personal and professional relationships or not, whether his confidence levels have gone up or not and whether he has been able to sleep at nights or not (Jamil 1997). The patient showed remarkable progress in the course of the treatment, which helped in eliminating the negative traits in his life, helped in obtaining peace, have a positive mindset, become confident and happy by overcoming the challenges and achieve good health as well. The patient showed slow and steady changes, as he regained his lost confidence and started interacting with his friends and family again. He started discussing his problems with them and even learnt to control his anger and frustration. The treatment helped him in realising that it was not his fault that the retrenchment took place. He was able to accept the situation and could understand the larger dynamics rather than focusing on self-pitying about his condition. The various moods and emotions of the patient also underwent changes, with the treatment helping the patient to deal with issues such as fear, loneliness, despair, personality disturbances, sensitivity, indecision, lack of interest and despondence (Reilly 2001). Bach flower remedy identifies 38 different states which may impact the mind and which could be treated through 38 different species of flowers. This flower remedy could be prepared in two ways, one through the sun method and the other through the heat method. In the sun method, the petals of the flowers are steeped in water and then get exposed in the sunlight for around three hours. In the heat method on the other hand, the flowers are boiled for around 30 minutes. However, in each of these methods, brandy is being added to the water, that is being filtered post extraction. This helps in making mother tincture that is also diluted heavily using grape alcohol. For this case, I used a combination of flower species, focusing on the core personality traits of the patient. In the initial two sessions, I even used rescue remedies, which means combining remedies by using five or more flowers such as rock rose, cherry, clematis, plum, star of Bethlehem and impatiens. I opted for such a remedy as the patient was in a bad shape and was in a denial mode. To quickly relieve him and to help him accept his situation, it was important to give him a rescue remedy, followed by the stacked Bach flower remedies (Jamil 1997). It was an immensely satisfying case study as the patient not only improved by the end of the therapy, but was also able to take up a full-time job. It was however, a very challenging case as well as the patient often got violent in the beginning and did not want to believe that his case could be solved through Back Flower remedy. It took immense effort to make the patient understand the remedy and the benefits of the remedy as well. It was a different kind of experience and I got exposure towards learning how to handle patients with sensitive issues and needs. The experience of handling this case study would go a long way and I would be able to confidently help patients with issues regarding absence of self confidence, especially due to retrenchment. However, the success of the treatment is also dependent on providing future treatment goals as well. Such patients need constant monitoring and therefore, it is essential that the patient should be asked to visit the physician at least once in a couple of months in the beginning and later on once in six months or annually. Further, the patient might opt for a few more sessions in between so that he can rejuvenate his energies and diminish any negative feelings that he may have accumulated over the course of the period. Also, counselling sessions should be carried out with the physician on a regular basis to assess the progress of the patient and to understand if there are any further treatment needs. Such assessments are important to keep the patient on track and to make him secure about his future. As this has been a delicate case where the patient suffered a huge set back due to retrenchment, it is important for the patient to talk about the present challenges he might be facing in his current job and find solutions for tackling them as well (Reilly 2001). Conclusion The case study presented unique solutions to a patient suffering from lack of self confidence and negative attitude due to retrenchment. It helped me in understanding how to handle patients with such traits in an effective and positive manner. It also focused on how healing treatments such as Bach Flower remedy can help in providing a positive attitude towards life in patients suffering from absence of confidence and negative behaviour. Reference Darokar, M.P., Mathur, A., Dwivedi, S., Bhalla, P., Khanuja, S.P.S. and Mumar, S. 1998, “Detection of antibacterial activity in the flower petals of some higher plants”, Curr. Sci. Vol. 75, pp. 187-189. Forbes, H.A.W. 1983, “Selected individual therapies”, In Traditional medicine and health care coverage. (eds.) Bannerman, R.H., Burton, J. and Wen-Chieh, C. World Health Organisation, Geneva. pp 163-171. Fredriksson, L. 1999, “Modes of relating in a caring conversation: a research synthesis on presence, touch and listening,” J Adv Nurs 1999, Vol. 30, No. 5, pp. 1167–76. Howard, J. 1990, The Bach flower remedies step by step. Saffron Walden: C.W. Daniel. Jamil, T. 1997, Alternative medicine, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. McCaffrey R, Frock TL, Garguilo H. 2003, “Undersanding chronic pain and the mind-body connection”, Holistic Nurse Pract Vol. 17, No. 6, pp. 281–7. Reilly, D. 2001, “Enhancing human healing”, BMJ, Vol. 322, pp. 120–1. Schaffer, S.D. and Yucha, C.B. 2004, “Relaxation and pain management”, Am J Nurs, Vol. 104, No. 8, pp. 75–82. Read More

In order to treat the patient, a customised treatment plan was executed, wherein the health issues that were obstructing the growth of the patient were annihilated, which were considered to the major sources that created pessimistic attitude in the patient. Such a treatment was initiated to help the patient attain a positive outlook and better health in an effective manner (Schaffer and Yucha 2004). Further, such a treatment also aimed at elevating the emotional state of the person by increasing the healing energies in a subtle manner through the use of flower essences.

Through the use of Bach Flowers, the emotional wounds that a person might have received due to broken bonds, failed careers etc, may be healed and would help a person to gain balance and energy in one’s life. With the use of Bach flower remedy, it would be easier to achieve reduced stress, enhanced intelligence, improved happiness, raised energy, increased memory, better health, amplified creativity, better sleep, reduced high blood pressure, better relationships along with decreasing negative thoughts (Darokar et al. 1998). There are various flower essences that are being used in combination to provide Bach Flower therapy, which helps in removing negative thoughts in patients and is found to be more lasting and profound as compared to other such healing strategies, as the flower essences work in an invisible manner.

Such essences produce vibrations that heal and harmonises the emotions of the person’s vibrations and in a measured manner influence the mind as well, which finally removes the negative thoughts and therefore leads towards healing the body together with the mind (Forbes 1983). While counselling and prescribing the patient, I faced many challenges. First and foremost, the patient was not very cooperative with regards to his condition and did not cooperate much in the initial stages of counselling as he mistrusted everyone and did not think that his condition could be improved.

However, with subsequent sittings, I was able to build trust with the patient and he started sharing his experiences in a detailed manner. It was found that the recession took a deep impact on the patient, who though himself to be incompetent. It was an unsettling event as he always led a very comfortable life and never worried about his job. However, the incidence of retrenchment shattered all his belief and he was not able to gather himself up post that, which slowly and steadily started impacting his health and his mental conditions as well.

In my initial interactions, I let the patient do the talking and let him vent out his frustration as he had become withdrawn from the society and hardly spoke. Thereafter, I started with the therapy by introducing him to Bach flower remedy. Initially, he was sceptic about the advantages of such a remedy and did not believe that flower essences could be the solution to his problems. Thus, I highlighted similar cases that were handled using the remedy to the patient to convince him of the benefits of such a remedy.

After going through the previous case studies, the patient became receptive towards the treatment, which is an important feature of such a remedy as without acceptance, most healing techniques does not work (Fredriksson 1999). The entire treatment was carried out within a span of two months, with sessions twice every week. As this was a continued treatment process, it was important to follow up with the patient on a regular basis and carry out follow-up consultations as well. In order to remove all the negative behavioural traits, it was imperative to hold follow-up consultations with the patient to find out whether the patient has been able to gain physically, emotionally and spiritually from the sessions.

These follow-up sessions helped in understanding the changes that could be witnessed in the patient and whether the therapy has been helping in developing the mental well-being and elevating the energy levels of the patient or not.

Read More