Ordinary People
The Novice Counselor was unable to obtain the “Prince of Tides” in time so she watched Ordinary People. This learner found the movie very enjoyable and moving. It is a story of a teenager named Conrad who has returned home from the hospital after an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Conrad struggles with depression and with adjusting to life with his family, especially his mother, who is pretty much emotional cold toward him. Conrad’s suicide attempt was triggered by the death of his older brother, who was their mother’s favorite. Conrad is racked with guilt over the death as he blames himself for the tragedy. Conrad’s father, unlike his mother, is caring, and trying to keep the family together. Conrad decides to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger, to deal with his emotional angst.
At first, Conrad doesn’t put much trust in Dr. Berger and is apprehensive about therapy. However, Dr. Berger slowly helps Conrad come to terms with his guilt and actually brings an improvement in Conrad’s depressive symptoms. This learner would guess that Dr. Berger is using elements of REBT (Rational emotive behavior Therapy) as well as mindfulness-based therapy as his theoretical orientation and in his intervention style. For example, when Conrad comes to the first visit, after some unproductive banter, Conrad mentions that he what he is looking for is to have more control. Dr Berger replies, “I am not too big on control”.. This shows the REBT philosophy of acceptance of things as they are (Okun & Kantrowitz, 2008). In later sessions, when Conrad blames himself for everything that happened to his brother, Dr. Berger facilitates a breakthrough by making Conrad see that it wasn’t his fault. This breaks Conrad’s cycle of guilt that was plaguing him. Such intervention is in line with REBT’s teaching that we should hold ourselves in good regard, that we are not bad people when bad things happen to us. It is also in line with REBT’s goal of accepting reality and letting go of false beliefs. Conrad thought that he was a bad person because he let his brother drown.
At one point Conrad tells Dr. Berger to give him a tranquilizer. Dr. Berger replies that Conrad looks like a death warmed over and a tranquilizer is probably the last thing he needs. He further tells him that if we don’t allow ourselves to feel depressed we may end up not feeling anything at all. This statement is in line with mindfulness-based therapies where people are taught to be in touch with their emotions and feelings as they are now, good and bad and accept their thoughts without judgement (Baer, 2006).
An Adlerian therapist would approach Conrad’s case by examining Conrad’s lifestyle and family dynamics to find out the purpose behind his feelings and behavior. Lifestyle analysis is the process of discovering the goals and motivation of the client (Capuzzi & Gross, 2007). The therapist would probably examine Conrad’s relationship with his family, especially his mother, and determine what purpose Conrad’s depression serves in dealing with the relationships and events. The Adlerian therapist would use encouragement to assist Conrad in developing the courage to face life’s problems (Capuzzi & Gross, 2007). The therapist would foster social interest in Conrad, as the concept of social interest is central to Adlerian psychology. The Adlerian approach would emphasize Conrad’s relationships with others, emphasize goal setting, and involve re-education and reorientation in an atmosphere of encouragement.
This learner plans to watch Prince of Tides to contrast that therapist’s approach with the one’s above. It will be interesting to compare all of these.
References:
Baer, R. A. (2006) Mindfulness-Based Treatment Approaches, Clinician’s Guide to Evidence Base and Applications, Elsevier, Inc., Academic Press.
Capuzzi, D., Gross, R.,(2007); Counseling and Psychotherapy Theories and Interventions; 4th Edition, Pearson Education, Inc.
Okun, B. F., Kantrowicz, R. E. (2008) Effective Helping, Interviewing and Counseling Techniques, 7th Edition,Thomson Brooks/Cole.
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