Case Study

Case Study: Kristen Assignment

Kristen is a 38-year-old divorced mother of two teenagers. She has had a successful, well-paying career for the past several years in upper-level management. Even though she has worked for the same, thriving company for over 6 years, she’s found herself worrying constantly about losing her job and being unable to provide for her children. This worry has been troubling her for the past 8 months. Despite her best efforts, she hasn’t been able to shake the negative thoughts. Kristen notes that there are no specific reasons for this worry of losing her job except that the economy has been in a serious downturn and she knows of friends and family that have lost their jobs or been laid off.

Ever since the worry started, Kristen has found herself feeling restless, tired, and tense. In fact, she reports that her muscles sometimes ache as though she had been working out, but notes that she has not worked out in months. She often paces in her office when she’s there alone. She’s had several embarrassing moments in meetings where she has lost track of what she was trying to say. When she goes to bed at night, it’s as if her brain won’t shut off. She finds herself mentally rehearsing all the worst-case scenarios regarding losing her job, including ending up homeless. This causes her to lose sleep and some nights she is only getting two to three hours of sleep.

In addition to this, she worries often about her two teenage daughters. She reports that they are both good girls who do well in school, are involved in sports, and have never been in any serious trouble. But Kristen notes that she has heard horror stories from others about the trouble their children have gotten into as they have grown up, including drug use and criminal activity. Kristen reports that although her daughters have given her no reason to be concerned, the thoughts of what could happen still come to her.

Kristen has also noted that her parents who are in their late sixties are also starting to show signs of aging with some health issues. She reports that it is nothing major, but again, her thoughts often drift to what she refers to as “worst-case scenario” and cause her to worry about what her parents will experience as they age. She notes that some of her friends are dealing with parents with Alzheimer’s or cancer, and she realizes that as the “sandwich generation,” this is something she may be faced with.

Kristen reports that she is a Christian and identifies as being Methodist. She attends church regularly. She notes that attending church and services does seem to assist some to assuage her concern and worry while at church, but they still return when she is not there.

Kristen did report that both her parents and her two daughters are very supportive. She also has a group of very supportive friends in her life that she reports she is grateful for and have assisted her since her divorce four years ago. Kristen also noted that the divorce with her husband was pretty amicable and that they co-parent the two girls well together. She is not currently in a romantic relationship and at this time reports that she has no desire for this. She reports it would probably just give her something else to worry about. She also notes that as irritable as she has been for the past 8 months, it would make finding someone who would want to date her very difficult.

Submit Case Study 1 by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Sunday of Module/Week 3.