Family: A Case Conceptualization Of The Brice Family

Brice Family

The following case conceptualization was created to better organize the therapist's assessment and treatment plan for the client, the Brice family. Once the psychotherapist has crafted a case conceptualization, they are better situated to provide a reasoned and systematic approach to the treatment plan intended to help the clients realize their mental health goals. (Sperry & Sperry, 2020) Case Conceptualization The Brice family presented to therapy expressing concerns centered around the behavior of their oldest daughter Claudia. Primarily the family noted impairment in the interpersonal communication between Claudia and her mother, Carolyn. Distress in the system was evidenced by the many strained and argumentative relationships

The conflict centers around the mother, described as controlling, and her need to exert authority over her daughter. Initially, the daughter reacts to her mother's invasion of privacy and intrusions into her interpersonal relationships by retreating to her room. Typically after an argument, the husband and father would go to his daughter's room to calm her. While the mother sought out the middle child, a male, to complain about how his father was taking the side of his daughter. As the intensity of their arguing increased, the daughter ran away from home and threatened to commit suicide on multiple occasions. The daughter was briefly treated by a psychiatrist but terminated due to a lack of compliance. The parent's reaction to their daughter's suicidal threats was to quarrel. The middle child, wanting to get his parents to stop arguing, would make the youngest sibling, a girl, cry, which effectively stopped his parents from arguing. The strained relationships within the family result from their inability to communicate productively, causing anxiety for everyone in the family system. Systemic symptoms endorsed include avoidant behavior and a lack of

Bowen's Theory is an understanding that a family unit is constantly in flux. Ideally, family unit members seek to come together while simultaneously creating separate individual independence from the family unit. To achieve a homeostatic state, family members must learn to differentiate themselves on the intrapersonal level, that is, to learn self-regulation using reason over emotion when responding to anxiety. Differentiation on the interpersonal level is an understanding that you can concurrently be close to another person and remain independent from them. To better understand the family unit, a genogram is assembled to discover generational behavior patterns. The Bowen Theory includes triangulation, adding a third, not necessarily a person, to a dyad to deflect anxiety or tension. Furthermore, Bowen's Theory believes sibling position and how traditional characteristics can influence the family