| Summary: | Clinical psychologist George Stricker conducts the first of five sessions with an African American middle-age single mother. The client presents with depressive symptoms following divorce and a year of unemployment. The therapist works from an assimilative psychodynamic perspective to forge a therapeutic alliance, which gives ample space and time for the client to tell her story and express her emotions. He validates the client's expression of sadness and anger. The therapist judiciously asks questions only as they arise in the context of the client's story and responds in a way that mirrors her emotional experience. When she discusses her children, the therapist responds in support of her parenting efforts but keeps the focus on the client. While working from a relational perspective, the therapist intimates the intrapsychic work that will be facilitated in the therapeutic work, as the client seeks relief from her depression, greater emotional stability, and a return to work life.
|
|---|