Socw 5311 - Case Report

Case Study Discussion

SOCW 5311

Toriana Goods

University of Texas at Arlington

March 7, 2017

Darnell Yardley is a 25-year-old African America male student who was referred to me by an academic advisor. Darnell’s presenting problems such as loneliness, depression, anxiety, and not being able to secure successful relationships concern me the most. Darnell reported feeling increasingly depressed and anxious, he states that he has always felt somewhat different than his friends and others around him. He only recently reported feeling more isolated and faces difficulty trying to figure out how to act normally. He states that his self-proclaimed social awkwardness and difficulty to feel like he fits in frustrated him. He is also discouraged because he often feels depressed and has failed with trying to get himself out of the “funk” he is experiencing. Darnell reports that people think he becomes too creepy, smothering and intense in relationships, therefore he tends to keep these friendship or romantic relationships at a superficial level.

I would use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Darnell in order to get him to think positive about himself and possible relationships.  Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a short term, goal oriented psychotherapy treatment that takes a hands on, practical approach to problem solving. Its goal is to change patterns of thinking or behavior that are behind people's difficulties, and so change the way they feel. CBT works by changing people’s attitudes and their behavior by focusing on the thoughts, images, beliefs and attitudes that are held and how these processes relate to the way a person behaves, as a way of dealing with emotional problems.

An important advantage of cognitive behavioral therapy is that it tends to be short, taking five to ten months for most emotional problems. Darnell would attend one session per week, each session lasting approximately 50 minutes. During this time, Darnell and I will work together to understand what the problems are and develop new strategies for tackling them. CBT will introduce Darnell to a set of principles that he can apply whenever he needs to, and that’ll last him a lifetime. CBT is based on a model or theory that it’s not events themselves that upset us, but the meanings we give them. If our thoughts are too negative, it can block us seeing things or doing things that don’t fit what we believe is true. In other words, we continue to hold on to the same old thoughts and fail to learn anything new.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy acts to help the person understand that this is what’s going on. It will help Darnell to step outside his automatic thoughts and test them out. CBT would encourage Darnell to examine real life experiences to see what happens to him, or to others, in similar situations. Then, in the light of a more realistic perspective, he may be able to take the chance of testing out what other people think, by revealing something of his difficulties to friends. Cognitive behavioral therapy differs from many other types of psychotherapies because sessions have a structure, rather than the person talking freely about whatever comes to mind.