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Joemari Suba - Mid-Term - Case of Karen

Karen Rusa is a 30-year-old mother of 4 who has been experiencing anxiety and depression for years. She has intrusive thoughts centered around her children's safety and engages in compulsive behaviors related to numbers. Her husband has been physically disabled for 11 months, leaving Karen to handle all household duties alone. She is struggling to manage her children's behavioral issues and feels unable to properly discipline them. Karen was raised in a strict Roman Catholic household and still adheres to many of the rituals and guidelines taught to her, believing they will ensure her family's safety.

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Joemari Suba
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190 views2 pages

Joemari Suba - Mid-Term - Case of Karen

Karen Rusa is a 30-year-old mother of 4 who has been experiencing anxiety and depression for years. She has intrusive thoughts centered around her children's safety and engages in compulsive behaviors related to numbers. Her husband has been physically disabled for 11 months, leaving Karen to handle all household duties alone. She is struggling to manage her children's behavioral issues and feels unable to properly discipline them. Karen was raised in a strict Roman Catholic household and still adheres to many of the rituals and guidelines taught to her, believing they will ensure her family's safety.

Uploaded by

Joemari Suba
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Suba, Joemari T.

PSY118P/Sec 2

Case of Karen Information

Patient = Karen Rusa, 30 1st Page


years old
 Experiencing Anxiety-Related Problems for years.
Siblings = 1st of 4th Children
 She never sought professional.
Address = New York City
 She had a family physician.
Religion = Roman Catholic
 For 3 months she became increasingly depressed.
Status = Married
 Had been experiencing intrusive, repetitive thoughts centered
Husband = Tony Rusa, 32
on her children’s safety.
years old
 She thought her son got in to an accident (broken leg
Children = 4
playing football at school) (Alan). Even though she got
1st Son = Alan, 8 years old
confirmation that he was fine, she was still surprise that he
2nd Son = Robert, 6 Years old
arrived home unharmed.
1st Daughter = Jennifer, 11
 Specific numbers had come to have a special meaning to her.
years old
 1 or first, 2 or second and so on equated to her children.
2nd Daughter = Denise, 9 years
Her children’s age we’re significant also.
old
 And, also to her activities, she felt if she drank or smoke
Showing any less form how many her children were something
1. Anxiety – Related Problems might happen to one of them.
2. Intrusive and Repetitive  She acknowledged the irrationality of her actions. But,
Thoughts nonetheless did them because she felt more comfortable.
3. Irrational thoughts 4.  Whenever she was in a hurry to perform her rituals
Obsessive ideas  She would experience considerable anxiety in the form of
5. Compulsive behaviors subjective feeling of dread and apprehension.
 Described herself as tense, jumpy, unable to relax.
 She would often paint herself as someone directly responsible
due, to her inability to observe the numerical rules.

2nd page

 Husband is completely physically disabled for 11 months


 Due to a serious heart condition.
 Once was a clerk in a plumbing supply store.
 Spent most of waking hours lying on a couch watching T.V.
 Had convinced Karen that she should be responsible for all
household chores, family errands.
 Inequity of her situation was apparent to her. She felt
extremely frustrated, also found herself handling it
ineffectively.
Suba, Joemari T.
PSY118P/Sec 2

 Situations with her children


 Boys
 Both her boys were active and mischievous. Neither
responded well to parental discipline.
 Both experienced behavioral problems that school,
Alan was being considered for a placement in a special
classroom for disruptive children.
 Girls
 Spent much of their time arguing with each other.
 Jennifer was moderately obese, Denise teased her
mercilessly about it.
 Karen
 Becoming increasingly distressed by her inability to
handle the situations.
 Got little, if any, help form Tony.
 For the past several weeks, spent more and more time
crying and hiding in her bedroom.

Social History

 She was raised by her Italian immigrant parents.


 Her family was deeply religious
 Raised to be a devout Roman Catholic
 Attended a parochial school from first grade to high school.
 Vivid memories of strict practices of the church and school
authorities.
 Formal rituals of the church played an important role in her
life.
 Taught to observe specific guidelines that governed her social
behavior w/in the church.
 If she followed these rules it would ensure the safety of her
immoral soul.

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