Merriam: Case Study

n order to understand the strengths, challenges, and conceptualization of the therapeutic process I will assess my technique in a session with a 24-year old female named Merriam. Merriam addressed concerns about her dependence on her family and the anxiety she felt surrounding that relationship. The client is a Spanish teacher at a boarding school in Connecticut. She lives alone and has a very strong relationship with her parents and identified a support network of friends where she currently lives. She has no previous history of therapy but does state that bother of her parents suffer from anxiety and she also experiences anxiety. Merriam uses coping strategies to manage anxiety but the strategies of writing things down is not working for

From the very beginning of the interview my facial expressions did not always convey confidence and security —I showed too much emotion and concern on my face. I do not believe that this is a major issue but I felt that it was too soon to convey this kind of empathy—this may have felt disingenuous to the client. I should have been listening objectively while remaining in control of my facial expressions (a relaxed face rather than the intensity I was conveying). Learning to relax my face is something that I will need to practice and remember moving forward. Another non-verbal that I should pay attention to is my fidgety hands, distractibility, and my frequent overt glances at the clock. I wanted to be aware of time but I was not as subtle as I would have liked to be when looking at the clock. In the future I will need to put a clock next to the client (facing me) so that I am not looking up or away from the client as often as I did particularly in the beginning and end of the

If my lack of confidence comes through in my questioning (like it did in this interview) it may not establish comfort and trust with the client. I should have started with some more straightforward questions rather than back tracking to explain the course of therapy. My voice inflection sounds unsure and trails off because I am not confident in what I am saying. I think that in the future I will need to have a clear end of a sentence and break the habit of asking too many questions at once. I also jump quickly into “reassuring her” rather than responding to her direct statement of feeling confused about the attachment to her parents, this misstep may have set the tone for the rest of the interview because I did not pick up on this statement right away. To establish a relationship with the client I used a friendly tone and open tone with very open body language. It was stated in class that we should cross our ankles or keep our feet facing forward however, I do not think that will work best for me in appearing “comfortable”. To start the interview I was for the most part clear when describing the parameters (defining rules) of our therapy session. For example, I addressed the confidentiality policy at the beginning of the interview and asked the client if she understood the information and listed to her relay the information back and ask a question. I defiantly misspoke when