Mr Grape Case Study

Mr. Grape was referred by the court for a psychological evaluation to assess his psychological and emotional functioning in regard to his risk of violence and other behaviors that could compromise his ability to care for his newborn child. At the time of the evaluation, Mr. Grape was experiencing depressive symptoms that manifested as irritability and explosiveness.

IV. Background Information
Mr. Grape is a 52-year-old, single, African American, male who was released from prison 10 months prior to this evaluation. Mr. Grape’s primary language is English. He described his childhood as fairly typical, but later revealed his parents separated when he was 8 years old. He stated the separation was due to his father’s recurrent domestic violence

Grape is currently under a certain level of distress related to his interpersonal relationships. Mr. Grape tends to have difficulties in his social environment because his relations with others usually are superficial, tenuous, and unrewarding. Therefore, he may experience episodes of disappointment, distress, or even despair. These episodes of emotional disarray are often found in cases of chronic depression. However, his level of distress often changes as his support system strengthens or weakens. Mr. Grape may have difficulties expressing and regulating his emotions especially in situations that are complex or ambiguous. Due to these emotional difficulties, Mr. Grape may display maladaptive behaviors when exposed to complex environments for long periods of time. It is likely he has a marked tendency to avoid emotional stimuli because he is quite uncomfortable when dealing with emotion. This avoidance of emotions is likely to lead Mr. Grape to isolate himself. In emotionally charged situations he tends to use intellectualization as a major defensive tactic. The use of this tactic tends to be less effective as his emotions intensify leaving him vulnerable to disorganization. Additionally, Mr. Grape tends to have difficulties controlling his emotions, and therefore his reactions may be stronger than what is expected from others, and may lead to maladaptive

Grape is able to perceive stimuli as others do; however, at times his tendency to oversimplify situations may not be effective causing reality distortions. Additionally, he may suffer from preoccupation which may cause distortions in his perception. It is likely Mr. Grape has an unusual concern for conventionality or correctness. He may be overly concerned with the detection of cues related to socially expected or acceptable behaviors. Nonetheless, Mr. Grape tends to make decisions that disregard social demands or expectations. At times this may be a result of a conflict with the environment and/or system of values that varies considerably from those usually endorsed by the environment. Regardless of the reason for his disregard of societal norms, it is likely Mr. Grape displays less conventional behaviors that are more individualistic. He may tend to avoid convention as a defense mechanism to maintain distance form an environment that is perceived as threatening and