The Case of Sherry

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The Case of Jen

Tiffany Brown-Smith

Department of Counseling: Lamar University

CNDV 5311: Individual Counseling Theory Technique

Dr. Robert Carlisle

July 17, 2022

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The Case of Jen

Jen is a 19-year-old sophomore in college that experienced a life-changing event when

she was younger that is now the cause of her ideas and perception of men. As a therapist, I will

look at the information provided about her past to determine which theoretical approach would

best assist her concerns. I will then look at the central concepts of the chosen approach to support

my selection. However, every approach has its strengths and limitations, and I must weigh the

positive and negative, to ensure I have selected the most efficient theoretical approach. To be an

efficient counselor, I must also be able to reflect on myself because it will help me empathize

with clients due to me applying the same techniques of this approach to my life.

Presenting Concern

Jen presented many concerns that assisted me in determining which approach would

work best to address her challenges. Until she was 12, both parents raised her. Then her father

cheated on her mother and left her and her mother for his mistress. After this event occurred, Jen

began to feel that she could no longer reach and maintain the goals of what she felt makes a good

daughter. This feeling resulted in Jen no longer talking to her dad and creating an idea that she

cannot trust men and they will always let her down somehow. Due to Jen taking her self-doubts

and using that as her motivation for her perception of the world around her, the best approach to

assist Jen would be Adlerian Therapy, Individual Psychology.

Jen also possesses other concerns besides her self-doubting her abilities to be a successful

daughter. She also blamed her parent’s separation on herself. However, her dad wanted to keep in

contact with Jen by attending school functions and talking to her on the phone, which means he

still wanted to be around her. When her father moved away, Jen created the idea that her father

chose his new wife and kids over her. He could have moved because of a job opportunity for her

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dad or his new wife or just wanting to move closer to her family, but that does not mean he chose

the “new” family over her. Once she created the idea that her dad chose his new family, Jen

stopped the communication between the two. She then developed distrust in men and felt that all

men would hurt her in the end. Lastly, Jen recognizes her belief that all men are untrustworthy is

not right, but she is not willing to look at her past or change her thought process because she

wants to continue to blame it on her father.

Though Jen has many concerns, I must address them one at a time, and the first concern

to address is her feeling of inferiority. Jen feels that if she had been a good daughter, her father

would not have cheated on her mother, and her father would never have had his “new” family.

Jen now has a unique way of understanding the world, a private logic, because her feelings of

inferiority were not dealt with effectively. Due to her using her unique understanding to motivate

her life negatively, she developed a faulty private logic. She used her feelings about her dad to

push her belief that all men cannot be trusted and will let her down every time. I need to address

this issue first because, with the Adlerian approach, the purpose of therapy is to help the client

understand how they have developed their faulty private logic (Neukrug, 2018). If I can get Jen

to discover the cause of her feeling that she was not a good daughter, we can then begin to

change her view of the world around her.

Three Central Concepts

Central Concept One

The first central concept in Adlerian Therapy I will use is the person’s birth order in their

family. Where a person falls in the family extensively affects a person’s feeling of inferiority,

beliefs, and growth in becoming an adult. For instance, the oldest was once an only child but had

to adapt themselves when their rival new sibling was born. The only child has rivals, but instead

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of a brother or sister, it becomes a parent (Manaster, 1977). Being her father’s oldest and the only

child of her mother is significant in Jen’s case because she would identify with the only child’s

behaviors and transform those behaviors into the ones that would align with the oldest sibling.

Birth order is relevant to understanding Jen’s case because, for 14 years, Jen grew up

being the only child of both of her parents until her dad had twin sons. Therefore, she has the

oldest child experience by having to adapt herself as an older sister. So, she was used to

receiving all her parent’s attention for 14 years and had a traumatic experience, then forced to

change her birth order. However, she did not truly experience the only child trait of making a

parent her rival until her dad had sons. Her dad having more children enhanced her feelings that

she was not a good enough daughter because if she had been an extraordinary daughter, then her

dad would not have had more children. This thought made her father her rival because she

blames him for how she sees the world.

Central Concept Two

The second central concept that supported my decision to select the Adlerian approach is

social interest. Social interest is when an individual naturally desires to do what is best for the

community and relate to others around them. However, even though this desire becomes natural,

a person must once learn the process and the components of social interest. When a child feels

wrong about themselves due to their inferiority, their social interest isn’t fully developed, and

these children turn into adults with a goal that is not the best for the community (Neukrug, 2018).

In contrast, when a child does not develop a sense of inferiority, they can thoroughly learn social

interest and grow into adults that acquire empathy and caring while wanting what is best for

others.

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The social interest concept is relevant to get a complete understanding of Jen because, at

the age of 12, when her parents divorced, she created her sense of inferiority. Due to this sense

generated when she was a child, her social interest ceased to grow. As a result, she is pleased

with making it evident about her contentment of not giving a man her trust even though she has

recognized that this feeling is detrimental to herself. However, due to her not having a fully

developed social interest, she did not gain the trait to empathize with her father and no longer

blame him for her views while having a positive perception of men. If Jen had not developed her

sense of inferiority, she would have grown into an adult that would be willing to accept and trust

men. She would have also understood that her dad moving away should not have affected their

relationship.

Central Concept Three

The final central concept that supported my decision to choose Adlerian Therapy was the

subject’s final goal or fictional final goal concept. The fictional final goal is a goal a client

creates based on their feelings of inferiority. When a client is not affected by inferiority and has a

positive private logic, their final goal will push them to enhance their life and abilities. However,

when a client develops a faulty private logic, their path is diverted from their original healthy

fictional final goal.

To understand Jen’s case, I must know what Jen’s subjective final goal is in life and what

would have been her final goal had she not developed a sense of inferiority. Jen understands that

her logic of her dad causing her thoughts is not healthy, and somehow, she thinks it is appropriate

to continue to blame him. Therefore, her subjective final goal must be blaming her father and not

taking responsibility for her thoughts. Jen wanting to take responsibility for her views and

continuing to blame her father; is not helping her, the community, or others around her. Once I

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can establish the origin of the inferiority feelings that caused the faulty logic, I will be able to

understand what led Jen to develop this subjective final goal.

Strengths and Limitations

Like every other theoretical theory, Individual Psychology has its strengths and

limitations. A strength of this theory is mainly client-based, which means no restricted timeframe

is needed to complete the client’s therapy. So, if a client can realize the origin of their feelings of

inferiority in a short time, then therapy sessions are no longer needed. If I can assess and

determine the start of Jen’s inferiority quickly, I can soon begin the process of re-educating her.

She would learn how to adopt a new private logic that can be good for her and the community.

Another strength of this approach that can assist Jen in developing a new private logic is

this approach continues to instill positivity into the client. For a client to no longer feel inferior, a

therapist must focus on the client’s strengths and continue encouraging the client. Therefore, the

client will begin to gain confidence and identify with a successful life. Fortunately, this was

important to Adler, so he emphasized this approach to focus on the client gaining confidence and

knowing their self-worth. If Jen begins to identify with a successful life, gaining confidence

knowing that she did not cause her parent’s divorce and was also an adequate daughter. Then she

would be able to get want she wants and change her perception of men. She also might be able to

reconnect with her father and potentially meet her extended family.

A limitation of Adlerian Therapy is the limited amount of research that proves its

efficacy. This psychotherapy approach’s efficacy is often tested compared to other therapy

approaches but rarely tested alone (Silverman, 2005). Using the central concepts, I concluded

that Individual Psychology was the best way I could assist Jen with changing the way she

perceives men, but I could have been wrong. With this approach, the only way I would know for

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sure that this is the most efficient approach I would have to try a different approach and compare

the results. Unfortunately, when clients feel they are not seeing change or the therapist is

uncertain about what they are doing, they could choose to cease the therapy sessions.

Another limitation of Adlerian Therapy is it mainly focuses on the client's early

childhood and how their childhood impacted their views and beliefs, which resulted in their

sense of inferiority. For the therapist to look at what caused the client to feel inferior as a child, a

client must be willing to explore their childhood. Visiting old childhood traumas may be difficult

for Jen because she wants to continue to blame her father. She is also not willing to investigate

her part on how she continued to assume that she cannot trust men.

Reflection

I grew up in a household where whatever the adult said was the law, and there was no

argument, no debate, no discussion, and I had to agree with everything they said. Therefore, in

my adulthood, I struggle with voicing my opinions and feelings. I would wait until I could not

take it anymore and then explode, which resulted in many arguments. This struggle was

detrimental to my love life because my significant others could not understand why it was hard

for me to voice my opinion before it got too bad. Now being married, I still struggle, and it has

gotten worst because my husband now can read my tone, mood, and facial expressions to know

that I am unhappy with something. He will then ask if everything is okay. My response is always

“no, I am fine,” even though inside, I want to tell him what is wrong but do not know how to

express myself. So, I deny my unhappy feelings. Instead, I can apply the catching oneself

technique by listening to my inner voice when he asks if I am okay and telling him what is

wrong. Even if I struggle with the words, I can still say something, and with practice, I will

become more confident and forthcoming with my opinions and feelings without being prompted.

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I could also encounter some challenges with this approach if the therapist wanted to use

the task-setting technique because that is client initiated. I would not be able to leave step one of

creating a task list because I would not know where to start. At the beginning of each year,

administrators require teachers to create a specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely

goal. Due to knowing how long it would take me to create the goal, I always begin the process in

the summer. I do this because I would start a goal then delete it or feel that it did not cover all the

requirements, and then I start self-doubting myself, so that process takes some time. So, if I

would have to create a list that has similar requirements to this goal, I would not know how to

get started because I would want to make sure I did it correctly.

As a person that identifies with many of the groups Adler would consider to be

oppressed, I see a cultural limitation in this approach. Neukrug stated that an Adlerian therapist

is a person that must understand the root of what caused the feeling of oppression (2018).

Therefore, if my therapist did not belong to these oppressed groups, I would feel that they would

not have a true sense of understanding of the root cause, because they would have never

experienced them. The therapist may have read about the root cause or heard stories of being

oppressed, but I would assume they would not understand without experience.

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References

Manaster, G. J. (1977). Birth Order: An Overview. Journal of Individual Psychology

(00221805), 33(1), 3.

Neukrug, E. (2018). Counseling theory and practice (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Cognella

Silverman, D. (2005) What Works in Psychotherapy and How Do We Know? What

evidence-based practice has to offer. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 22(2).

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