Maria, a 30-year-old woman from Puerto Rico and the mother of two boys, was hospitalized following a suicide attempt. She took an overdose of sleeping medication. For two months prior to the attempt, she had been seeking therapy for tiredness, loss of appetite, and sleep disturbances. Her therapist noted that she exhibited extreme helplessness and hopelessness. Additionally, Maria was low-keyed, restrained in behavior, avoided eye contact, and found it difficult to verbalize her thoughts and feelings.
The suicide attempt occurred after Maria’s husband, Esteban, her high school sweetheart, refused to allow her to attend night school. Maria had registered for night school at her therapist’s recommendation. She had signed up for a course and had even bought her books. In response, Esteban had gone into a rage, tearing up her registration papers and destroying her books. He refused to go to therapy with Maria.
Write a one-paragraph summary of the most critical problems Maria is experiencing for which treatment is recommended.
Image Credit: © Lise Gagne.
Date Posted: 06/01/05 nas
This file is also available in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). 
Originally published at http://www.sciencecases.org/therapeutic_relationship/therapeutic_relationship.asp
Copyright © 1999–2008 by the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science. Please see our usage guidelines, which outline our policy concerning permissible reproduction of this work.
