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Case Study (Assignment #3)
Mark Kaiser
Master of Arts Counselling Psychology, Yorkville University
PSYC6113-O-3AE
Dr. Smith
December 21, 2020
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Introduction
For this paper I chose to focus on the case study of Ben. The reason why I chose Ben’s case
study is because Ben experiencing bouts of anger. I have had personal struggles with anger
which I feel I would be able to relate with Ben in a counselling setting. Furthermore, I want to
focus on Ben’s anger and how it has affected the others around him. I believe that Ben’s anger
has been shaped and developed through his up bringing. Ben’s mother cautioned Ben not to
make mistakes; which I feel has contributed to Ben’s mistrust. To further this, Ben’s father
demonstrated recurrent stretches of psychotic behaviour which could also be a contributing
factor to his anger. I want to take on a humanistic approach for Ben and use the I CAN START
model by Dr. Victoria Kress. Stefaroi (2012) talks about how the humanistic approach focuses
on a higher degree of awareness, maximizing internal potential, emotional wellbeing/satisfaction, emotional control, empowerment, strong community, and personal growth. I
believe that the humanistic approach accompanied by Dr. Kress’ I CAN START model will be
able to help identify/explain Ben’s personality and his behaviours.
Ben’s Introduction
Ben is someone who cannot seem to control his anger. I perceive his anger to come across as
being disrespectful to others. An example of this would be when Ben verbally attacked his coworker which eventually led to his dismissal. At one-point Ben was married, but he continuously
accused his wife of cheating on him. Ben presents himself as someone that has a lot of mistrust
in others. I think Ben’s lack of trust has really affected his ability to form healthy relationships
and impacted his over-all progression in life. For example, Ben’s mistrust has allowed him to
miss opportunities for growth when he decided to verbally attack one of his co-workers.
Furthermore, Ben seems to be an introvert since he does not like large crowds or social events. I
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also suspect that Ben’s lack of trust has prevented him from new experiences. Majors, Carberry,
& Ransaw (2020), talk about some of the behaviours associated with mistrust. They talk about
how the black community has mistrust in society which is a causation for paranoia which could
potentially explain why Ben is “tense and ready to pounce at the smallest perceived slight”. An
example of this is when Ben’s neighbour called the police on Ben, because Ben thought the
neighbour was purposely letting the dog out to annoy him, and this lead Ben react by letting the
dog out of the fenced area. I strongly believe that Ben’s unwillingness to trust others has caused
him a great deal of unnecessary stress and paranoia.
I CAN START MODEL
Dr. Kress’ I CAN START model is an acronym for individual counsellor, assessment and
diagnosis, necessary level of care, strengths, treatment approach, aims and objectives of
treatment, research-based interventions, and therapeutic support services. As Ben’s counsellor, I
want to be able to share some of my struggles with Ben and share how I was able to overcome
them while using a humanistic approach. I feel that my struggles with addiction alongside my
episodes of paranoia will help establish a client counsellor relationship based upon similarities.
Even though Ben does not have issues with addiction, I trust that he will be able to open up to
me about his emotional well-being. I suspect Ben is repressing a lot of childhood experiences
and he is projecting his repressed emotions onto others. For Ben’s contextual assessment, he is
the oldest of three, academically intelligent, divorced, and he is employed. Ben’s assessment and
diagnosis could be that Ben is dealing with an undiagnosed mental ailment which I would
encourage him to seek a psychiatrist to rule out and major mental hindrances. Furthermore,
Ben’s necessary level of care could be that he continues to go to counselling on a weekly basis
and he does not require any inpatient treatment at this point. Ben’s strengths are that he is
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academically intelligent, and resilient (based on his up-brining and his successes academically).
Since I am focusing on a humanistic approach, I feel that Ben’s treatment approach will be based
through that lens which will include an evaluation of his hierarchy of needs. Ben’s aim and
objective of treatment will require Ben’s insight on what he wants to achieve, and I would ask
Ben to make a fortified plan, and then revaluate that plan accordingly. For Ben’s research-based
interventions, I would focus on a cognitive behavioural approach because that would help
eliminate some of Ben’s misconceptions about the people in his life such as his neighbour. As
for therapeutic support services, I would suggest that Ben seeks counselling on a weekly basis as
a starting point.
Humanistic Approach
“Humanism is a philosophy that is primarily concerned with humanity (i.e., the worth of
humans as individuals).” (Scholl, McGowan, & Hansen, 2012, p. 4). While taking on a
humanistic approach with Ben, I feel that Ben will be able to re-establish trust in his life and
which will help him feel empowered to make decisions that are not based on paranoia and
mistrust. The humanistic approach does an exceptional job putting the individual’s needs first.
Scholl et al. (2012) talk about how the humanistic approach focuses on putting the individual as
the center focus. This will in-turn help re-establish trust in Ben’s life by allowing Ben to build a
relationship with himself. I know for myself; this was essential. In order for me to be able to trust
others, I had to build a relationship with myself first and really work on building self-trust. As
soon as I was able to begin to trust myself, I was able to place trust into others. “Humanistic
therapies stress the importance of the client’s contributions in determining whether therapy has a
successful outcome, a position that is well supported by research suggesting that client and
relationships factors are the most important determinants of change” (Milton, 2010, Humanistic
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Practice in its Pure Form Section). I feel that bestowing some independence into Ben’s life will
really help lesson his fear of making mistakes, and this will prevent Ben from being so hard on
himself. Ben was influenced by both his mother and father. What Ben witnessed as a child when
he saw his father have unmerited anger, was that Ben did not necessarily need a reason to get
angry. This became evident when Ben was in high school because he got in physical altercations
with no cause, and his defense was “they were ganging up on me”. Therefore, I think Ben needs
to be held more accountable in his life; which is why the Humanistic approach is appropriate for
Ben. “Humanistic approaches identify the importance of ‘real’ experience in the development
and treatment of psychological problems and the reparative power of the ‘hear and now’ real
contact between the counsellor and client” (Aldridge, 2014, p. 82). From my own personal
experience, I have found the humanistic approach to be very effective. It allowed me to develop
myself in a way that built trust intrinsically, which in-turn gave me the opportunity to trust others
and society as a whole.
Summary
Overall, I feel that Ben would benefit from a humanistic approach. I believe that client
centered therapy is extremely effective when dealing with behavioural problems. Since I have
worked in the addiction field, I have found that client centered therapy is effective when reestablishing trust. I strongly feel that Ben needs to trust his decisions and lose the fear of failure.
I would want Ben to see that mistakes are just a new opportunity for success. Ben’s lack of trust
has impacted his relationships to the point that he got divorced without any concrete evidence of
his partner cheating. Ben has become delusional in his thoughts and should seek psychiatric care
to rule out any potential mental ailments. I would also want to find out more about his family
history, particularly his siblings. I feel that information about his siblings could help further
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explain some of his behaviours. For instance, is he the only male, or is it that he only has
brothers? It would be interesting to see if Ben had any trust in his family, or that he is not able to
trust his family either. I feel that some information regarding Ben is missing, but it could be
easily obtained through counselling. I am really interested in this approach because of what it has
provided me. Today, I feel that I am more empowered than ever from a humanistic approach,
and I would want to share my healing journey with Ben.
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References
Aldridge, S. (2014). Short introduction to counselling. London: Sage Publications.
Majors, R., Carberry, K., & Ransaw, T. S. (2020). The international handbook of Black
community mental health. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing.
Milton, E. M. (2010). Therapy and Beyond: Counselling Psychology Contributions to
Therapeutic and. John Wiley & Sons.
Scholl, M. B., McGowan, A. S., & Hansen, J. T. (2012). Humanistic perspectives on
contemporary counseling issues. New York: Routledge/ Taylor & Francis Group.
Stefaroi, P. (2012). Humanistic Approach in Psychology & Psychotherapy, Sociology & Social
Work, Pedagogy & Education, Management and Art. Charleston, SC: CreateSpace.