Assessing the Family Goals Strengths and Needs Case Study

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Statement of purpose/intent

This piece is dedicated to examining the different challenges Jimmy and his family are going through. The objective is to identify the family and mental disorders present in each of the members and a suggestion at the appropriate treatment methods. As a Case manager the objective would be to recommend the best process aimed at achieving this goal. The greatest challenge is to identify what is ailing each family member and to fashion a pathway towards helping each member and the family as a whole endure their situation. This research recommends ways of handling the different situations with the hope that an expected outcome is achieved.

* Assess the goals, strengths and needs of this family

Family Goals: The priority at this moment is to get some professional help, first for Jimmy and then for Linda, his biological mother. There is enough evidence to the effect that Jimmy is suffering from the consequences of an unstable parenting. Linda has become an absent mother dealing with even bigger problems. Jimmy is struggling with a history of poor parenting that has made him a very unstable kid. He needs a lot of psychiatric attention and counseling to get him back to normalcy.

According to Sammi, Jimmy needs to spend more time with the mother. She probably thinks that this will solve the problem. Warren on the other hand understands that more visiting time between Jimmy and his mother Linda will probably not solve anything. This is because Linda is struggling with a bigger problem i.e. drug abuse, unstable and abusive relationships and lack of a stable income due to unemployment. It would be difficult for Jimmy to get any positive influence from his biological mother.

Strengths: Jimmy seems to enjoy friendship with Cara, his half-sister. It is also a good thing that Jimmy does not live with his biological mother. It also appears that Jimmy is more accepting of Warren and Sammi as his parents than he is willing to accept Linda as a mother. This has exposed Jimmy to some positive influence. Warren and Sammi also have a stable marriage unlike the previous marriage where a lot of partying was involved. It would appear that Jimmy’s parents really want to find help for Jimmy. This is a good thing as well.

Needs of the Family: Warren and Sammi seem to differ a lot on Jimmy’s behavior and the kind of assistance he should get. This is notwithstanding the fact that the relationship between them is described as very good. They spend adequate time together as a family and have commonality of interests. According to Sammi, Jimmy should spend more time with Linda, his biological mother. Sammi is really pushing for this relationship although the timing may not actually be right for these reasons; Jimmy may end up getting more frustrated with poor parenting since Linda is still struggling with a poor and abusive relationship. She is unemployed and is still struggling with cocaine and alcohol use. Linda even admits that she is very poor as a mother.

This family needs a lot of therapy and counseling. Linda must get rehabilitation and relationship counseling to help deal with her alcohol and cocaine addiction and assist her become stable in handling herself and her relationships. She also needs a lot of parenting lessons before she can be allowed to be anywhere near Jimmy. Warren and Sammi have shown better parenting and stability in their marriage. This is where Jimmy should be. The parents need more counseling on handling Jimmy with an objective of helping him get over a history of poor parenting. After Linda has successfully dealt with her addiction and relationship issues she can be allowed some time with Jimmy in order to develop a healthy mother-son relationship.

* Identify possible mental health disorders evident in this family

Jimmy

Jimmy may be dealing with these mental health problems:

Antisocial Personality Disorders (ASPD): Sociopathy or ASPD is a mental health disorder where a person demonstrates poor consideration for what is right or wrong and consistently ignores the feelings and rights of others (Rotgers & Maniacci, 2006). People suffering ASPD will often antagonize others and try to manipulate them. They do not have remorse or guilt for their behavior.

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Often such people will dishonor authority. They could lie, be impulsive or engage in violent behavior (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health., 2010).

Some of the indicators that someone could be suffering ASPD include: Contempt for right and wrong, being disrespectful, cynical and callous, pathological lying or deceitful behavior for the purpose of exploiting others, arrogance, superiority mindset, and being excessively opinionated, using wit to influence other people for selfish gain, criminal behavior, violation of other people’s rights through dishonesty and intimidation, hostility, agitation, irritability, violence and aggression, absence of remorse and empathy for others, dangerous behavior without concern for personal safety, lack of cognizance for the negative consequences of caused by their behavior and an inability to learn from their own mistakes, consistent irresponsibility and a failure to comply with financial or work obligations (Mayo Clinic, 2018).

Conduct disorders is also present with children suffering ASPD. Symptoms of conduct disorder include serious and obstinate behavior problems including: acute dishonor of rules, theft, deceit, property destruction, and aggression to objects and people. ASPD is often considered lifelong although victims might stop criminal or destructive behavior with time. It is not known whether the healing that comes with age is due to increase in awareness of the repercussions involved.

Describing Jimmy’s behavior

In the case of Jimmy it has been established that he suffers from mood swings. One moment he is happy and engaging and the next moment he gets angry, defiant and at times violent. Jimmy has been shown to have poor social skills and an inability to keep friends at school. According to his teachers, Jimmy has a problem with being attentive and settled in class as well. He also defies instructions such as refusal to do homework and occasionally argues with the teachers. Even when Jimmy’s parents withdrew privileges from him he still doesn’t bring himself to controlling his behavior.

When he first held a session at the local mental health center Jimmy showed a lot of dishonor. At one point he was asked not to touch anything else but the toys in the room. Instead of playing with the toys he went ahead and poured pens from the manager’s desk to the floor. He then refused to pick the pens up when asked to. Jimmy also struggles with temper. Simple things like disliking his dinner will get him angry. His violence often gets out of hand. He throws objects around carelessly hitting objects onto other people, the wall and even himself. His parents will occasionally have to hold him back to protect him from harming himself or other people. The tantrums can stay for hours. He may even tire himself from his aggressive behavior. All these are symptoms and signs of someone suffering ASPD. These problems with Jimmy can be traced to a history of poor parenting.

Anger disorders, aggression disorders, suicidal mentality disorders, and ASPD may be the problems Jimmy is dealing with currently.

Linda may be suffering from:

Substance Use Disorders (SUD): This condition involves use of substances that could result to clinical distress or impairment. Substances of use in this case entail psychoactive drugs (Douaihy & Daley, 2014). Dependence and addiction are characteristic of disorders involved with substance abuse. Addiction is a harsh consequence of the disorder. Some of the behaviors demonstrated by people suffering SUD include:

Social Impairment: This may entail occasional absence from work, neglect of children, failure to take care of household obligations, performance issues etc. Issues of arguments and loss of friendships may also come up (Douaihy & Daley, 2014). An addict can also lose interest in important recreational and social activities following the abuse.

Impaired control: Extended substance use may make it hard to stop due to addiction. SUD cause a drug user to spend more time in recovery and craving for more. The intense urge to get more makes it hard to even concentrate on other important aspects of life (Douaihy & Daley, 2014).

Obsessive use: Addiction is demonstrated when someone feels the urge to use drugs even when….....

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