Ignoring Paula.

I’m having a reaction to my Psy436 assignment. It involves a case study, and my job is to define the factors that cause and perpetuate the psychological distress, as well as come up with treatment recommendations. Simple enough.

Having already worked on this exact case study from a humanist perspective, I find taking the ‘diagnose and treat’ approach very cold. It’s almost mechanistic. It feels as if it’s discounting this person’s humanness, the sense of her being, the meaning that her life experiences bring to the mix.

The approach I’m supposed to adopt ignores the fact that the client has experienced loss, and ignores the fact that the client doesn’t have any friends, ignores the fact that the client is quasi-fixated on her mother. It treats the distress very simply. The client experiences this, therefore it is caused by these behaviours. Change those behaviours, and the problem is solved.

I’m not comfortable with that at all. That said, the things we do for a half decent grade.