Apply Counselling Theories to "the Orange Coat"

Introduction

The orange coat is a story told by a girl that has repressed a painful memory from her childhood. Ruth fears the full orange coat with sleeves shaped like cornucopia and has no idea why. She is absolutely terrified of the coat and no one that knows of her fear understands. This paper will discuss how psychoanalytical/psychodynamic, humanist/existential, systems, and narrative therapy might apply to Ruth's story.

Psychoanalytic Theory

The "journey" is often the metaphor for the process of discovery and is also one of the most compelling metaphors for the process of psychoanalytic theory. Whether Ruth is just trying to discover how to make it in the world or how to manage because of a coat that she fears, she will be striving to discover things that involve an unknown territory and primitive danger. While taking this "journey" in psychoanalytic theory a reflective stroll on the walls of her memories can bring her face to face with a terrifying ghost or a confrontation with her monster. This confrontation will not happen by chance. It is only when Ruth takes the "journey" with special courage and pursues it with an unusual perseverance that such confrontations will happen. In psychoanalytic theory, Ruth would be expected to take this "journey". This is a journey that Ruth and the therapist will not know completely, and must realize that they cannot know in advance what they will discover along the way.

In applying psychoanalytic theory to Ruth, I would be concerned with the areas of her experience that defy exploration. Ruth has kept a "secret" of what her mother said that day while she was on the stairs for years. Ruth's secret was not something she simply kept from her closest friends, rather a secret that she buried and kept from herself. Ruth's secret is the result of repression and has been seen as too dangerous for Ruth to explore until now.

Another avenue in psychoanalytic therapy that would be considered is Ruth dream. What did the dream represent to Ruth? "Dreams have two levels of content: latent content and manifest content. Latent content consists of hidden, symbolic, and unconscious motives, wishes, and fears" (Corey, 2005). It would be interesting to find out what the content in Ruth's dream meant. When she was swimming under water with Penny, was it something to do with how she "lived it underwater" (Clemons, 2002). Does the orange coat represent Ruth's mother smothering her and not allowing Ruth to live her own life because she needs to be "managed"? Does the orange coat represent her mother protecting her from the cold world? "Dreams may serve as a pathway to repressed material, but they also provide an understanding of client's current functioning" (Corey, 2005).

QUESTION: How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?

ANSWER: Only one, but the bulb must really want to be changed.

"This joke reflects a fundamental point about psychology. Any change that happens in your life must come from the client and their own efforts. Although we can guide clients, we cannot do the work for them (Theories of Psychological Treatment)".

Ruth begins her story by allowing us to feel her fear of the orange coat within the hall closet. Ruth's ego is unable to tolerate the tension that she is feeling because of the orange coat and therefore her id steps in to reduce the tension and avoid feeling any pain. It is clear that Ruth has used ego-defense mechanisms to help her cope with what happened to her in her childhood.

First, we will discuss repression and how it relates to Ruth. While on the stairs that night, Ruth overheard her mother speaking the truth about why she was really afraid of the orange coat. The repression is evident in Ruth's statement about what she heard that night; "it was many years before I could remember what my mother said while I was sitting on the steps". Ruth was able to cope by excluding what she had heard that night from her consciousness. It could be assumed that Ruth was in denial about what had been said that night. Maybe it was too painful for her to grasp so she simply denied it and repressed the event. It would be interesting to learn what Ruth and her mother's relationship was like after that day. Within the context of reaction formation, it could be assumed that if the mother was there that she would not know of Ruth's resentment (if there is any) toward her. Maybe her way of dealing with what happened was to just act as if it never happened and act like she had no harsh feelings. Ruth states; "I shook with relief almost as much as I once shook with fear. Ruth sheds light on the fear that Penny is feeling while speaking less and less about the fear she feels herself. Therefore it could be said that Ruth is also using the defense mechanism projection to cope with the "unwanted". It could be said that Ruth compensated when she tried to keep her fear from Penny and just be normal. "Now she would know that something was wrong with me, too."

The other ego-defense mechanisms cannot me clearly discussed on how they do affect Ruth; however I will discuss briefly how they could hypothetically affect her. If we were able to know Ruth's current story it would most likely show more of the defense mechanisms. We might find out that Ruth is having trouble with her mother now that she is face to face with her past. Ruth would be experiencing displacement if we found out that she was fighting with her friends and family because of the issue with her mother. Another possible avenue to explore would be to find out if she rationalized what her mother had done. Maybe she rationalized all those years that it was in her best interest. Maybe it was best for her to learn how not to cry therefore she would be less weak. Ruth could very well be part of a weekly softball team that helps her direct her aggressive energy into something that others may even look up to. If Ruth is married now she may be regressing back to her childhood and clinging to her husband in fear that he may leave. Ruth could have also experienced introjection and will be able to "manage things" the way her mother had done. Ruth may also have learned "how to manage" from her mother and if she has done so she would have experienced identification.

Humanist/Existential

"The current focus of the existential approach is on clients who feel alone in the world and are facing the anxiety of this isolation" (Corey, 2005). The existential approach has much more negative undertones than