Considering Matt’s case, the most appropriate therapy is solution-focused brief therapy. This approach is applicable to both emotional and mental issues. Following Northcott et al. (2019), solution-focused brief therapy guides an individual to construct meaningful, attainable adjustements by aiming at an individual’s skills and resources rather than their shortfalls. Matt is suffering from mental issues such as stress due to working overtime and weekends besides working under pressure and with different bosses; since he has four bosses to be answerable to. These heads have different ways of working, and each needs work done by Matt. Matt is emotionally stressed because he is anxious about his children since they expect much from him since he is the father and has to dully be there for his family at all times.
Matt has several types of conflicts; between himself, between himself and destiny, disagreement with others, and with the environment. He is fighting with himself concerning his career.; his main concern is that he is not comfortable with what he is doing, and he has been there for some time. Matt is conflicting with his wife about whether to quit his job or not. He is conflicting with the bosses concerning the pressure of work, working overtime, and working on weekends. Moreover, he is not comfortable in his working environment, being there every other time writing the reports. Matt is conflicting about his destiny, and he is not aware of what the future holds.
Covering the conflicts mentioned and connecting with the theoretical approach, I will address the conflict with himself first. Solution-focused brief therapy aims at the individual present and future circumstances besides their vision. Focusing on the clash between himself will help him develop a positive attitude and deal with the other conflicts. The main concern is the career, which is within himself. Therefore, solving that clash will solve the conflict between him and others besides his environment.
In focusing on Matt’s case, three central concepts can be used. The central concepts applicable include Alfred Alder’s theory; the theory focuses on individual psychology. Matt is anxious about his job and the provision of his family besides the aftermath of dropping his job. The approach will assist in his mental health issue and emotional status. Alfred Adler’s theory’s crucial concepts are: Striving for significance, social context, compensation, primary and secondary feelings of inferiority, unity of the personality, style of unity, feeling of community, fictional final goal, and all behavior is purposeful. The second concept is Sigmund Freud’s theory, which focused on mental health and personality. Lastly is Abraham Maslow’s concept of individual psychology; his aim was personal growth through emphasis on individual needs using a hierarchy.
Admittedly, the central concepts are fundamental in helping Matt’s case. These concepts can be used to solve his mental health issues such as anxiety and stress. Through the ideas, he will learn about personal growth and behavior. Additionally, he will gain knowledge on his primary and secondary feelings, social context, and compensation. Matt will be able to understand how to strive for significance in life. Since he is conflicting with his destiny, he will have a better plan for the future and a positive attitude. The concepts will help him amicably develop his personality and overcome the challenges.
Individual psychology is relevant in studying Matt’s case; the aim is on human behavior, cognitive, biological, psychodynamic, and cognitive and the mind. Besides, it assists in developing healthy, achievable, and realistic goals. Considering his state of career, therapy in regards to individual psychology will help him in setting his vision and goals. Moreover, individual psychology helps in personal growth; therefore, Matt will have high self-esteem and make critical decisions. With the conflicts he has, he will solve them in due time. His career development and goals will be clear and achievable in due time. Therapy on individual psychology will help him positively navigate his career.
Notably, there are two main strengths to the approach when working with the client. The process provides a holistic approach towards Matt; working with him, I will be able to help him make decisions for all aspects of life. A practical solution will be provided to help Matt solve his conflicts and deal with his concerns. In addition, with the holistic approach, every detail will be captured and assessed to provide a solution. Through the practice, Matt will be empowered personally. He will be able to identify his strength and weaknesses.; he will also learn the gaps in the company and recognize the advantages and limitations of taking his career. In reviewing the visions together, Matt will be capable of setting achievable goals. With personal empowerment, he will have high self-esteem and make critical decisions about his life without involving third parties. His mental health will be enhanced, and issues can be avoided through personal empowerment. Matt will establish appropriate skills and resources that he can use to improve his life in addition to advancing and acquiring new ones. He will achieve success after focusing on his personal development.
There are two main limitations of the approaches; these drawbacks will hinder their applications. The techniques are restricted to individuals; other parties are not involved. For Matt, the wife and the company are less involved. The bosses could be applied to empower them on how to treat their employees. Matt’s wife also needs to be involved in helping her understand Matt’s case better and help him solve it. Therefore, focus on individuals as the change agents lead to a lack of proper outcomes since some conflicts are between people and society, and some issues need third parties to understand better. The approaches are linked to several concepts; some are not clearly defined. For instance, applications of Adler’s psychology and his optimistic view of persons are present in several subsequent theories and therapeutic approaches (Sabates, 2020). With the several concepts, the process can be misunderstood, and therefore the wrong methods applied. Matt’s case is limited to his career, and with the various ideas, the identification of a specific one to solve his case can be challenging. The several concepts are limited and require a profound understanding to deal with Matt’s case.
In my personal life, at my teenage age, I dealt with depression. During adolescence, with the changes in my body, I developed low self-esteem. When with my agemates, I felt insecure; my parents tried talking to me but failed. I was unaware of depression, and it got worse with each passing day. Over the recent years, it keeps on reoccurring; I tend to sleep a lot and avoid people. Additionally, I have high anxiety levels, especially when in school. I tend to be afraid of has the future holds and want to be a perfectionist. I am always anxious about exams and addressing fellow students in class.
Covering my personal life story, narrative therapy is the most relevant. The treatment will help me in overcoming the mental health issues. I will learn to control my personal life in a positive way. In addition, talking to a counselor and sharing my life experiences will help overcome the mental problems. Low self-esteem limits me from communicating with other people, and talking to a counselor will grant me space. Narrative therapy will help separate me from my challenges and focus on solutions rather than the root cause. The respect from the therapist will increase my self-esteem levels and anxiety levels. Moreover, opening up will create space for overcoming depression at any time. I believe narrative therapy will improve my quality of life by raising my self-esteem and managing my anxiety levels. I will also be able to make critical decisions concerning my life and deal with the challenges amicably before getting depressed. With the application of narrative therapy, I have learned my strength and weaknesses, and I can set realistic goals for specific durations.
In essence, I had challenges in trying to apply narrative therapy. Following Rajaei et al. (2021), people doing narrative therapy develop a narrative centered around its challenges that can consume almost every aspect of their lives. The main issue was sharing personal experiences: I am a conserved person; therefore, it was not easy for me to open up. However, after some time, I was able to open up and freely share. Another challenge was trying to discover my strength and weaknesses after the sessions. The past experiences enabled the space to find the frailties.
References
Northcott, S., Simpson, A., Thomas, S. A., Hirani, S. P., Flood, C., & Hilari, K. (2019). solution focused brief therapy In post-stroke Aphasia (Sofia Trial): Protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial. AMRC Open Research, 1, 11. Web.
Rajaei, A., Brimhall, A. S., Jensen, J. F., Schwartz, A. J., & Torres, E. T. (2021). Striving to thrive: A qualitative study on fostering a relational perspective through narrative therapy in couples facing cancer. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 49(4), 392-408. Web.
Sabates, A. M. (2020). Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler. The Wiley Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences: Models and Theories, 111-115. Web.