Question

John is a happy man with a healthy appetite and sex drive. After a farm accident, John’s emotions are, overall, decreased and erratic. He gains weight and loses all interest in sexual relations with his wife. No longer feeling adequate in comparison to his neighbors, John thinks about suicide and drugs. From what you know about motivation, stress, emotions and personality what could be going on with John? How would you treat John for his problems if you were his therapist (choose one or two perspectives)?

Answer 1

The life of John after accident affected his psychological and mental condition, the symptoms are seems to be related with mental injury possible hypothalamus injury, actually detailed information is absent about John before and after life so that a therapist will work on assumptions rather than particular idea.

With the case of John, we must diagnose behavioural disorder as well as biological or neurological problems, as a therapist of John, I will use behavioural therapies with medications. The symptoms of John’s behaviour showing multiple behavioural and neurological problems so I will suggest him for some diagnosis test and a proper counselling session, here we should know that the situation is worse for John so that family and community support is more important than medications or therapies because John need to know and trust on pervious behaviour and his happiness with it. John is feeling to commit suicide and using drugs are the symptoms of major depression, so that some medicines like Prozac or Zoloft can prescribed for John but it must be engaged with control level, the behavioural therapy will work best for the case of John.

Individual and family counselling will help him to rejects the ideas of suicide and drugs, the responsibility of his partner increase, John need psychological support and free environment with control situation.