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Applying Bowenian and Structural Theories

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Week 2 Application

No Plagiarism please!
Application: Applying Bowenian and Structural Theories
Theory-based treatment planning, the type you will use throughout this course, is informed and guided by your theoretical orientation. Incorporating your theoretical orientation into treatment planning will help you set goals and choose treatment techniques and interventions appropriate for the client(s) you serve (Gehart & Tuttle, 2003). This week you apply two counseling theories, Bowenian and structural, to formulate your treatment planning and apply appropriate interventions.
In this Application Assignment, you watch videos of counselors demonstrating the use of Bowenian and structural theories in family counseling. You then formulate treatment plans for the families in the videos, applying the theories in question and justifying the use of appropriate interventions. Keep in mind that while you may not have adopted either of these theories as your theoretical orientation, you should still base your treatment planning and interventions on them for the purposes of this Application Assignment.
Reference:Gehart, D. R., & Tuttle, A. R. (2003). Theory-based treatment planning for marriage and family therapists. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
The assignment (4–6 pages)Based on the theory demonstrated in both videos:

  • Define the problem.
  • Formulate a treatment plan including short- and long-term goals.
  • Describe two theory-based interventions you would use and justify your selection.
  • Explain one anticipated outcome of each.

Support your Application Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference list for all resources, including those in the Learning Resources for this course.
Submit your assignment by Day 3.

Describe whether the individuals in these case studies are homosexuals and how clinicians should interact with them in an ethical and supportive way

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Case Study B
Client Z is thirty-two years old and has a fifteen-year history of addiction, including a two-year history of crack addiction. Z has been in a variety of psychiatric and substance abuse treatment programs during the past ten years. Z’s longest clean time has been fourteen months. Z has been attending a dual-diagnosis outpatient clinic for the past nine months and going to Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings off and on for several years. Z has been clean from all substances for seven months. The following is a list of high-risk relapse factors and coping strategies identified by Z and Z’s counselor:

  • Z is tired and bored with “just working, staying at home and watching television, or going to NA meetings.” Recently, Z has been thinking about how much Z “misses the action of the good old days” of hanging out with old friends and thinks has not enough things to do that are interesting. Z has been referred to you for a recent drug arrest and a violation of a restraining order. Z cries often and has a history of bulimia and some type of body dimorphic risks. Z appears fixated on body size and weight and avoids social activities as a result of body discomfort.
  • Z is unemployed and is running out of unemployment compensation and has a sporadic employment history. Z describes current relationship as a safety net and is afraid of becoming more alone, lonely, and erratic if the partner leaves. On the basis of your inquiry, you discover that Z:
    • Has a history of eating disorders.
    • Has a long history of multiple partners and cheating on partners.
    • Has a history of noncompliance with medications.
    • Has had one prior treatment three years ago, which was initiated due to a suicide attempt; however, Z denies any current thoughts, plans, or dreams of harming self (suicidal ideation).
    • Denies any homicidal ideation at this time (no attendance to any self-help programs, such as eating support groups, Alcoholics Anonymous [AA], or NA).
    • Is at risk for homelessness.
    • Has no current AA or NA sponsor.
    • Has a limited support system.

On the basis of these two case studies, respond to the following:

  • Analyze the case studies and try to identify the gender in each case and possible diagnoses. Support your position with detailed facts and references to the readings.
  • Examine gender-related differences, gender biases, and gender inequity diagnosis concerns.
  • Provide the stand of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Counseling Association (ACA) on this particular topic.
  • Locate and evaluate the ethical suggestions of the ACA and the APA to assist your skills and ethical directions to help prevent gender bias and gender stereotyping when diagnosing clients. Describe how these ethical suggestions can be improved.
  • Describe whether the individuals in these case studies are homosexuals and how clinicians should interact with them in an ethical and supportive way. Support your response with the APA guidelines on this subject.

Justify your answers with appropriate reasoning and research.
Reference:
Leedom, L. (2007, March 10). Ask Dr. Leedom: Is there a gender bias against menin the diagnosis of sociopathy? [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.lovefraud.com/blog/2007/06/08/ask-dr-leedom-is-there-a-gender-bias-against-men-in-the-diagnosis-of-sociopathy/
Cite all sources in APA format and include a Turnitin.com Report.

Do you know that gender bias occurs in the treatment of psychological disorders?

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Discussion Assignment

Part 1
We would all agree that there is some level of stress in everyone’s life. The stress response may be quite similar for each of us; however, there are distinct differences in the way women and men experience and respond to stress.
In your exploration of these concepts, respond to the following:

  • Looking beyond the United States, do women live longer than men globally? Lifestyle differences may account for some differences in longevity and mortality rates. What are some of the differences in gender variations around the world? How do they impact gender, health, and longevity?
  • What are some coping strategies?
  • How does the social support system play a role in gender longevity? Are there gender differences in violent deaths? Validate your response with supporting research.

Justify your answers with appropriate reasoning and research.
Part 2
Do you know that gender bias occurs in the treatment of psychological disorders? Doctors are more likely to diagnose depression in women compared to men, even when both women and men have similar scores on standardized measures of depression or present with identical symptoms. Men are also more likely (more than three times) to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder than women (Leedom, 2007).
Read the following two case studies in which the gender is not identified.
Case Study A
Client X is a thirty-year-old parent of a new child (second child). X has a history of physical and sexual abuse as a child. X earned a General Educational Development (GED) at the age of twenty and has had intermittent employment, with the longest job lasting eight months. X’s mother has a history of untreated depression. As a teenager (likely to deal with the symptoms resulting from the trauma X experienced), X began drinking and smoking marijuana. At twenty-five, X began using heroin. X has been psychiatrically hospitalized three times following a suicide attempt at the age of sixteen and recurring suicidal thoughts. X frequently cuts self as a release and sometimes cuts too deep. X is facing eviction and has limited treatment. Current diagnoses are depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and polysubstance abuse. There is no program in which X can receive comprehensive integrated treatment for both disorders. X has recently been ordered to complete an assessment at your agency and to enter and complete a batterers’ intervention program as a result of a recent domestic violence arrest in which X has been identified as the perpetrator.

Do women and men have different coping styles for stress?

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Debates on Coping Stress

Lazarus’s cognitive approach suggests that the way you cope with stress is based on your mental process of how you interpret and appraise a stressful situation in which the level of appraisal determines the level of stress and the unique coping strategies used (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). According to Lazarus, there are specific events or stressors that influence an individual’s cognitions of an event, known as appraisals, and your coping strategies refer to your cognitive and behavioral efforts to master the stressful event (Franken, 2007). The primary appraisal assesses whether the situation is threatening, and the secondary appraisal assesses how we should cope with the stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
Another most debated gender stress–coping study has been the topic of orientation regarding gender and stress. Stress theory is often used to explain the relationship between social disadvantage and health (Scheid & Horwitz, 1999). Stress theory provides a useful approach to understand the relationship between pervasive prejudice and discrimination and health outcomes, but the predictions based on the theory need to be carefully investigated (Aneshensel & Pearlin, 1987).
Another debate on stress coping focuses on role overload. Balancing both work and family often causes a role overload (Barnette & Gareis, 2008). Others see role stress as significant because it explains why women experience more stressful events and strain than men. Poverty also presents a risk for mental disorders for women; statistics show that those who live in poverty are at least two and a half times more likely to receive a mental health diagnosis than those who are not poor (Mossakowski, 2008).
Even if women as a group are not exposed to more stress than men, it is plausible that some subgroups of women—poor women, black women, and single mothers—are disadvantaged in significant ways (Acker, 2000).
In a 2- to 3-page analysis paper in a Microsoft Word document, address the following:

  • Do women and men have different coping styles for stress? Evidence with regard to stress and gender has been mixed for decades. Compare the coping styles for stress of both men and women. Support your reasoning with research.
  • Some argue that female gender groups are more stressed than lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) genders. Some are of the opinion that lesbian and bisexual women are exposed to greater stress than heterosexual women because of added disadvantaged sexual minority status and that lesbian and bisexual women are exposed to greater stress than gay and bisexual men because of their added disadvantaged gender status. On the basis of your readings, experiences, and research, what are your findings?

Cite all sources using APA format on a separate page. Please attach a Turnitin.com Report.
References:
Acker, J. (2000). Rewriting class, race, and gender: Problems in feminist rethinking.           In M. M. Ferre, J. Lorber, & B. B. Hess (Eds.), Revisiting gender (pp. 3–43).           Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
Aneshensel, C. S., & Pearlin, L. I. (1987). The structural contexts of sex differences           in stress. In R. C. Barnett, L. Biener L, & G. K. Baruck (Eds.), Gender and           stress (pp. 75–95). New York, NY: Free Press.
Barnett, R. C., & Gareis, K. C. (2008). Community: The critical missing link in           work-family research. In A. Marcus-Newhall, D. F. Halpern, & S. J. Tan           (Eds.), Changing realities of work and family: A multidisciplinary approach           (pp. 71–84). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Franken, R. E. (2007). Human motivation (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York, NY:           Springer.
Mossakowski, K. (2008). Dissecting the influence of race, ethnicity, and           socioeconomic status on mental health in young adulthood. Research on           Aging, 30(6), 649–671.
Scheid, T. L., & Horwitz, A. V. (1999). The social context of mental health and           illness. In A. F. Horwitz & T. L. Scheid (Eds.), A handbook for the study           of mental health: Social contexts, theories, and systems (pp. 151–160).           Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.