Description
For this assignment, you will add to the case study you created in Topic 1 as you explore the family and the family dynamics more in depth. Imagine the family attended a session in which the therapist orients the family to treatment. Document the session in a 500-750-word addition to the original case study.
In the case study addition, documenting the session, be sure to include the following:
The family’s narrative explaining how they believe the problem started
The impact of addiction on each family member and what they would like to be different
Therapist’s explanation of addiction as a family problem in addition to a general method of treatment
Recommendations for community supports from a case management perspective as shared by the therapist in the session
Optional: Some dialogue between the family and the therapist can be included in the session documentation but it is not required.
While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.
This assignment meets the following CACREP Standard: 5.F.3.a. Assessment, evaluation, and case management for working with individuals, couples, and families from a systems perspective.
Addiction Family Case study
Adrianna Nelson
Grand Canyon University MFT 532
May 22, 2019
ADDICTION FAMILY CASE STUDY
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Addiction Family Case study
The Johnson family is a picture perfect white family made up of father (Dave Johnson),
mother (Nancy Johnson), nineteen year old son (Dean Martin), thirteen year old daughter (Jean
Sonia) and eleven year old son (Nathan Morris). To the community around them, the family is
one to be envied with the father working a great job in the technological sector and has
successfully built a home for the family, while the mother is a stay at home mom who caters for
the needs of the children.
However away from the prying eyes of the public, the real picture of the family is quite
ugly and plagued with the challenge of addiction. Nancy Johnson after many years of staying
home to bring up the children and experiencing what she called boredom fell into the habit of
sipping a little wine here and there; the consumption of a glass of wine that started out as a
simple way of passing time and making her life “interesting” turned into a habit that she is
incapable of controlling. For the last four years she has been struggling with an alcohol addiction
which she tried to hide from the rest of the family and those around them but it hindered her as a
mom and could not stay hidden.
Nancy’s drinking habit; neglect of family duties and outbursts when she is confronted on
the matter has forced her family to step up and try to hide the ugly reality to the world. As
Wegscheider (1981) asserts, in a family that experiences the challenge of addiction, the
wholeness and wellbeing of the family is not encouraged and various rules and roles are
established which keep the system closed. These rules and roles help in maintaining a sense of
stability without specifically dealing with the challenge of alcoholism. Although the family is
able to preserve their identity, the cost incurred is quite high.
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To the Johnson family, in order for them to preserve their identity as the picture perfect
family and function while supporting the mother’s alcoholism, various changes have taken place.
The mother in this case who was once the care giver of the family is a helpless alcoholic that can
hardly stay without a drink. She is hardly sober and as such cannot take care of her duties as a
mother and wife as she did before. She keeps promising that she won’t drink but always ends up
intoxicated. On the other hand Dave is both a loving husband and father and according to him,
he does not want his children to suffer and neither does he want them to be embarrassed by the
wife’s alcoholism. He therefore enables her behavior by excusing their absence from social
gatherings with family and friends and continuously gives excuses why they cannot attend. He
has also hired extra help around the house to cater for the family’s needs and still listens and
bears with every excuse that the wife gives when she fails to meet her obligation such as going to
a school meeting and so forth.
On the other hand Dean Martin as the oldest child in the family has been the hero of the
family stepping in and helping his siblings to cover up their mom’s failure. For example on
several occasions he has had to skip football practice because his mother failed to pick his
younger siblings. Although he is a very hardworking and excellent student, he has being weighed
down the last four years with having to be the adult when his father was at work and prepare
food for his siblings, help them with their homework and so forth. However currently Dean faces
a huge challenge because he has receive scholarship from a university in a different state
courtesy of his exemplary performance but is worried about living his siblings without help.
Jean Sonia on the other hand has been negatively impacted by the mother’s addiction and
has turned to be the trouble child who acts in immature ways despite being thirteen at the
moment. At first, Jean had a very close relationship with the mother but the alcohol addiction
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drove them apart and jean decided to act out. She indulges in heavy makeup, has been caught
several times smoking, drinking and so forth. Nathan Morris as the youngest child is the reserved
and isolated child who is lost in his own world. He used to be jovial and playful but with little
attention from his mother he became quiet and reserved. He is always playing his video games or
working on this or that on his own.
Although the family has been able to keep up appearances for a while now, things seem
to be bursting at the seams and urgent help is needed to put the family back on track.
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References
Hawkins, C. A and Hawkins, R. C. (2012). CHAPTER 10 Family Systems and Chemical
Dependency: Chemical Dependency A Systems Approach in McNeece, A. C. and.
DiNitto, E. D. M Pearson, Fourth Edition.
Wegscheider, S. (1981). Another chance: Hope and health for the alcoholic family. Palo Alto, CA:
Science and Behavior Books.
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