Jenny Saigon - Employed at Meijers - Case Study

Jenny Saigon

Jenny Saigon is a 23-year-old female who is currently employed at Meijers, and has been working a cashier there for three weeks. Jenny's last job as a childcare provider was short lived, lasting only about 4 months total. When Jenny heard from a friend that Meijers was on a hiring frenzy, she immediately quit her stressful babysitting job and put in an application. After a brief interview, Jenny was informed that she was the best candidate for the job, and when asked when she could begin, she immediately stammered, "Tomorrow". Jenny rushed home to her small cozy apartment, stopping on the way to pick out a new pair of jeans to celebrate the occasion. On the phone later on that night she called several of her friends and told them of her new job.

Jenny is extremely impulsive, and on top of that, she also has another problem. Since she was a small child, she has been having panic attacks. Although she has addressed these two problems to her doctor, neither of the two can pinpoint what is causing the panic attacks or the impulsive behavior. Jenny has given up hope on finding a solution to her problems, so she plans to live the remainder of her life battling with her impulsiveness and her panic attacks.

One day, Jenny was walking through South Christian High School, when she overheard the soothing voice of Mr. Huttenga, who happened to be teaching his extremely intellectual students about the six main theories in Psychology. Jenny stepped into the classroom, obeying the sign above Mr. Huttenga's door, which read, "Interrupt me please". "Can someone analyze me?" she asked, "I really need some help with these problems that I am having." Looking around the room, she immediately picked out the smartest person in the class, and she begged, "Oh, Big Mamma, you are so intelligent! Will you please analyze the problems I am experiencing, using the six main theories in Psychology?" "Of course I will, said Big Mamma, who was always nice to everyone."

So Big Mamma took Jenny aside and explained all of the 6 theories to her, and then began to analyze her problems. Looking at things through a Neurobiologist's perspective, Big Mamma decided that one of the reasons that Jenny is experiencing Panic attacks may be due to a pair of overactive Adrenal glands. The Adrenal glands are in control of the hormone Epinephrine, which is secreted into the blood in response to signals from the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. Fear, exercise, and stress trigger the release of this hormone. A high release of Epinephrine also occurs in a state of panic, causing what is referred to as a panic attack.

"Now," said Big Mamma, "What about your tendencies to speak or act in an unpremeditated fashion?" "The theory of Cognitive Psychology can be used to carefully assess this problem." "You see," explained Big Mamma, "when you do things impulsively, you are not doing anything wrong. Maybe you are impulsive because your brain processes information faster than some others do and weighs out the positive and negative affects of your potential words or actions, and you automatically express these without further thought because your brain has already processed the information. You already have reinforced your choice in your brain, and the next step is to act on it. "

"Another explanation for your impulsiveness", continued Big Mamma, "quite possibly could be described through the Behaviorism theory". "Because you grew up the oldest of 6 children in your family, you may be impulsive because you were relied on to make some of the more adult decisions, and