Psychological Help to an Abandoned Woman - Research Paper Example

Sociology My client, Miss Rajan is an Asian woman. She came to know of my institution through a friend. It after was after her husband’s betrayal that she was left desolate and emotionally disturbed. After 22 years of marriage she left the relationship childless but with doctor reporting torsions. Despite being a faithful wife for 22 years her husband left her comfortably for a younger and working wife. Her native community accords more respect to married women while having almost no respect for unmarried women like Rajan. This led Rajan to have feelings of unworthiness, stigmatized and dejected. She clinically suffered from depression, hopelessness, despair, eating difficulties and can’t even enjoy the activities she enjoyed doing previously (Lobbestael 2010). This is the final report on the case of my client miss Rajan. A friend of mine had taken Rajan in after her marriage collapsed. My friend knew about my practice in social work. She recommended Rajan to me after seeing the severe emotional condition she was stuck in. Rajan was reluctant to seek help since her whole life was closeted in her role as a devoted housewife. Her norm was to keep to her own problems and leave out everybody else except her husband in her personal life. Her husband was adamant and didn’t have any interest in her life leaving her to metamorphose to a loner. After she was introduced to me, I had to cope up with her queer closeted lifestyle. She kept her thoughts to her own self and pretended everything was okay in her life. She was reluctant even to give up her ex-husband’s name. Every time I tried to bring up the topic of her husband her facial expression would change and recoil back in her seat with her arms folded and squeezed to her abdomen as if in fear. Having been trained in behavioral theory I knew from the onset that her husband had caused so much agony to her. She was also reluctant in disclosing details about her life. Every time a client or a worker passed by with a child, Rajan would avoid looking at them and look the other way. Then after the child she would look at her with an affectionate expression. Every time we were in her room or my friend’s house she would keep herself busy with simple chores around the house. The simple chores also served as a diversion so that she could avoid direct conversation with me. She was wary of me while she was comfortable around my friend who had introduced her to me. She felt as if I was trying to intrude into her life. While my friend would converse with her while assisting her in her chores my professional approach was foreign to her. After observing and assessing her situation for a short time I changed my approach towards her. I would leave my files back in the office and I would join Rajab in any activity I found her doing. The chores that were difficult to me she would teach to do them. I at times deliberately do some chores insufficiently so that she would laugh at me and correct me. Between these activities I would bring in issues and experiences in my own life so that she could also open up to me. Eventually my method worked. I gradually managed to convince Rajan to seek medical attention and professional assessment. I also assumed the role as the professional who watched over her. She now slowly became my client rather than an acquaintance (Warren 1997). First I advised her on ways of suing her husband or seeking government funds legally. Health wise, I took her to a doctor who took her through structural clinical interview (SCID). Her health review results came agreeing to disease since they were well above 7.0. I also assisted her in accepting her health review results and ways in which she could hope for a new future and ways she could move on (Lobbestael 2010). As a social worker I assessed the client’s conditions from an objective and subjective perspective. Subjectively I sought to establish a professional relationship with her so that I could dig deeper into the client’s condition. Objectively I had to research widely on the ways in which such women like her, from south Asia are perceived by their societies. Due her clinical condition I also had to personally acquaint myself with knowledge on how to deal such cases like Rajan’s. The doctor’s report indicated Depression and Emotional and Behavioral difficulty condition. This explained the eating difficulties and lack of enjoying activities she enjoyed previously. The report also included reports of a mental depression condition in my client. As the social worker responsible for her, the doctor advised me on ways in which I was to monitor her progress in recovery. I also read widely on ways of dealing with Rajan’s condition. I also had to acquaint myself with her culture to understand the roots of her conditions. Rajan being an Asian woman was subjected to a second class citizen status by her community. Women in south Asia assume a role inferior to that of men and are ‘graded’ according to the condition in their marriage (how husband treats her). Independent women are shunned and stigmatized by the society. Women in this culture are also married off while still young girls (Abraham 2010). Young marriages contribute by disorienting the girls emotionally and at that tender age the girls are not yet mature to handle marital issues. These two issues relegate the girl to a class below her mostly senior male partner. As the girl grows up to a woman she gets accustomed to defining her successes and endeavors through her relationship with the husband (Rahhuram 2009). Once she is disengaged from her husband the scenario can leave disastrous emotional and at times mental problems. I was lucky to get a practical example of this issue with Rajan. Being 37 and married for 22 years it meant that Rajan was married off at a tender age of about 15-16 years of age. Armed with my knowledge I set out to work with Rajan so that we could improve her condition in partnership with her. The doctor gave her some injection medication and some oral medicine and gave me responsibility of ensuring that she took her medication required. I made up a schedule whereby Rajan and I would meet 3 times a week. On the first day we met in a week we discussed the importance of her medication and I followed up on her to confirm that she took it as prescribed by the doctor. On the second day we discuss about her stay in the new apartment our institution has provided to her with the help of the government’s social plan package. I also equip her with information on jobs that might be available for her and can help sustain her. On the third day we explore legal options for her. Rajan has finally agreed to sue her husband after clearly learning of the cruelty her culture exerts on women like her. She has also settled on being a field social worker and mainly for the sake of assisting women with a similar background like hers. In bringing to attention the ills that she had been subjected to her, it was difficult for her to accept them as a problem. I had to present what she had undergone from a very young as torture. To her it was normal and she had accepted being a second class status member of the society. Rajan even went on to quote her religious text which defines a woman as a man’s helper but not as a partner. I had to approach her understanding in a rather calm manner from what I had anticipated to do. I had to lay out concisely my different hypothesis to her in lay man’s language owing to the fact that she had terminated her studies for marriage. After some few visits she was finally able to reason from my point of view after justifying my hypothesis through manipulating the emotional pain she experienced. Through my strong professional connection to Rajan she was able to open up to me and tell me of her life back in south Asia and her immigration to the United States. I was able to learn that all the women in her extended family above fourteen years of age were already married and she was the unique one having no husband. I was able to generate a sense of responsibility in Rajan by going through previous trials of Asian men like her husband in the United States and back in India. Rajan’s health was able to improve tremendously. She was able to partially disengage herself from her discriminative culture. Her goal today is obtaining basic expertise so that she can go back to south Asia to advocate for women’s rights like equal members of the society. In the United States it’s much better for second generation immigrants from her homeland. She has already applied for admission in a local college where she intends to study basic social work. For Rajan to progress past her dark past we had to monitor her progress through a rigorous system and which I ensured we followed to the letter. We have measured her weight and SCID for 9 months with intervals of one month each. When I first met her, she had forty nine kilograms of weight way below the standard weight for an adult not in diet at her age. She also had to undergo the structural clinical review to ensure she attained a level below 5 to signify she had regained her good health. I came up with graphic representation of her progress in health and weight. Her health and weight progress was monitored in the graphs below. Weight graph Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Weight(Kg) 49 49.5 51 53 53 53.5 55 57 57.5 Figure 1: Weight Graph SCID GRAPH Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 SCID 7.3 6.8 6.3 7.1 6.9 6.2 6.1 5.9 5.2 Figure 2: SCID Graph Having a south Asian heritage Rajan’s food was different from the food I was accustomed as an American. Her favorite diets consisted of mainly vegetables with less protein. She could not also eat some animals’ meat since her religion forbids her from doing so. I had to make sure she fed on food rich in protein to ensure that she regained her weight. I was able to convince her to take fish at least twice a week to provide her with highly required body building proteins. Fish meat contains a lot of different kinds of proteins so it is easily the most suitable protein food for her. Despite my optimism, Rajan relapsed back to her unhealthy form. The relapse was offset by an allergic reaction to particular animal oil in fish. Due to her unstable condition the allergy resulted to stress which caused insomnia, difficulty in eating and a persistent feeling of sadness. She had to undergo a health reassessment again. The doctor carried out an additional structural clinical interview. I also had to change my tight schedule to be able to see her every day of the week for companionship and assessment. The doctor’s interview confirmed a relapse in her health. The doctor also recommended us to stop her feeding on fish and look for alternative sources of protein such as beans and alternative types of meat. Her weight stagnated at 53kgs without any progress for two months. The whole process that we had already begun had also to start again despite having achieved a lot in a very short time period. I also had to revise my schedule with Rajan so that nothing would get bypassed during the new healing phase. Later Rajan regained her pace in recovery and she is almost through with her depression medication and is already independent from social services. Conclusion Rajan is now herself, the great woman who was discarded off the window at a very tender age. As a professional I am contented for having mentored her to this noble profession. I am convinced that Rajan will make the best social worker. I can also see an activist future for her. Rajan’s case gives me a reason to be rejuvenated every day in my work as a social worker. References Rahhuram, P. & Puwar, N. (2009). South Asian Women in the Diaspora. London: Berg Lobbestael J. et al (2010). Inter-rate Reliability of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorder (SCID I) and Axis II Disorders (SCID II). Clin Psychol psychother. Abraham, M. (2010). Speaking theunspeakable: Marital violence among SouthAsian immigrants in the United States. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Warren, R. (1997). Social change and human purpose: Toward understanding and action. New York: Rand McNally Read More