Fred was recently employed as a psychologist for a hospital six…

Question Answered step-by-step Fred was recently employed as a psychologist for a hospital six… Fred was recently employed as a psychologist for a hospital six months after graduating with a Master of Counselling Psychology degree. His latest client is Clare, a 31-year-old corporate lawyer. Clare is single and lives with her 65- year-old mother. She looks up to her mother as a role model, for singlehandedly raising her after her father left the family when Clare was six years of age. Clare came to the hospital because she had been feeling “rock bottom” for the past two weeks. Clare said that she had hardly eaten or slept over the past two weeks, ever since she was assigned to work for a “very demanding client”. She also said that she had been feeling lethargic most of the time and having thoughts of herself as being a “terrible lawyer and an embarrassment to the legal fraternity”.  Clare was seen initially by a psychiatrist who diagnosed her with possible Major Depressive Disorder and referred her to see Fred. During the intake session, she related to Fred that, “I hate law, especially corporate law but that is where the money is.” She also mentioned that, “I owe it to my mother to make her proud. She always wanted me to be a lawyer. She always reminds me that I should be grateful for such a good mother who did not abandon me like my father did. And she is right. I should be the daughter she deserves.” Clare shared that she has read about Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and requested to “try out” CBT in their sessions. Fred however has never been fond of CBT (mostly because he had never scored well in assignments about CBT) and he believed that Clare needed a Person[1]Centred Therapy (PCT) approach, with the possible addition of family therapy, which would involve her mother. He did inform Clare of his decision and plan for the latter. Although she was reluctant, she agreed with Fred’s approach since she considered him to be “the expert”.  At the end of the third session, Fred asked Clare if she could address a “simple legal question”. He then handed her a tenancy agreement with numerous “Post-It” notes that had queries written on them and said “I need good legal advice and I know you are someone who I can trust with this.” Although Clare felt uncomfortable doing so, she agreed to help Fred because she felt good that he had considered her to be someone who could give good legal advice.  Clare’s mother usually accompanies Clare for her sessions with the stated reason of wanting “to make sure Clare gets the right help she needs.” After a few sessions of counselling, Fred decided that he would include Clare’s mother in the session for a “heart-to-heart” talk with Clare. He felt that he should not inform Clare about his plan to bring her mother into the session because she might “chicken out”. Clare had mentioned to Fred that it was difficult for her to communicate openly with her mother. Halfway through that session, Fred called Clare’s mother into the room.  Clare was visibly uncomfortable with her mother being in the room but remained silent. Fred then proceeded to inform Clare’s mother about how much Clare disliked corporate law. While he was still speaking, Clare’s mother cut him off and started expressing her disappointment towards Clare “for being such an ungrateful daughter.” Clare started sobbing and when Fred tried to de-escalate the situation by trying to calm her mother, Clare left the room in tears. Fred eventually managed to calm her mother down and tried to call Clare several times that day, but his calls were cut off. A few hours later, Clare messaged Fred to inform him that she would like to request a change of psychologist stating that she “feels worse now more than ever before.” Fred tried calling Clare to persuade her to reconsider her request because he was afraid that the hospital would hear about the situation and his new career as a psychologist would be adversely affected.  Firstly, analyse the ethical issue(s) that have possibly arisen in the above scenario and suggest ways to manage each issue. Secondly, as Fred’s clinical supervisor, evaluate and recommend TWO relevant personal characteristics that can help Fred work towards becoming a more effective counselling psychologist.  Social Science Psychology PSYCHOLOGY PSY354 Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)