Lifespan Theories and Practice

This paper will outline a case vignette specific to a female at the age of 26, a young adult transitioning into adulthood. Through the case vignette, a description of the life stage will be provided in detail as it relates to social and cultural influences. Besides, a treatment plan will be outlined for the case vignette.

Case Vignette

            Kimberly is a 26-year-old female from Boston, Massachusetts. Kimberly is the younger of two older brothers, one by three years, and the oldest by five years. Kimberly’s mother was diagnosed with cancer when Kimberly was only five years old. Kimberly’s mother battled with her disease for about six years before she lost her life when Kimberly was 11 years old. Throughout that time, Kimberly dealt with being bullied at school but kept it to herself in fear of burdening her mother, who was struggling to fight cancer and who was also the one person who she ever felt like she could talk to. After Kimberly lost her mother, she grew up living with her father, who she describes as emotionally disconnected and highly anxious, and her two older brothers. Kimberly stated that she did not feel comfortable asking her father for help because he was dealing with his own issues and would get easily stressed out. Although Kimberly dealt with social problems such as being bullied and being socially isolated throughout her grade school years until college, she has been successful in work and school, completing her bachelor’s degree and working as both a restaurant server and a voice-over artist. Kimberly, however, has not been as successful in making and maintaining relational connections. Kimberly has never had a significant other before.

Kimberly decided to start therapy because of her overwhelming feelings of self-hatred, worthlessness, loneliness, and sadness. Kimberly reports feeling like she has nothing to offer and has disclosed that she does not see a reason why someone would want to be her friend or her romantic partner. Kimberly has expressed believing that she is physically unattractive and that she does not feel like she deserves friendship or love. Kimberly has also expressed socially isolating herself and not allowing people into her life because of her past experiences. Kimberly has been living independently and supporting herself financially. Kimberly has limited social support by her family and friends because she doesn’t turn to them in fear of burdening them, the same way she didn’t turn to her mother when she needed to in fear of burdening her.

She describes herself as a people-pleaser and expressed feeling like she has to overly compensate in relationships so that the other party stays interested in her. She has discussed how she has a hard time saying “no” to people and her lack of boundaries. She reports feeling used and taken advantage of by the people in her life. Although Kimberly feels lonely, she has stated that she prefers to be alone. She has expressed feeling anxious and nervous in social settings. Kimberly is incredibly self-aware and insightful about presenting problems and her identified needs. Kimberly’s main goal for therapy is achieving a higher level of self-esteem.

Life Stage: Young Adulthood

Adolescence to adulthood is a period of growth that is significant as it sets the stage for middle adulthood and later adulthood. Young adulthood is considered to be between the age of 18 and 25 (Scales et al., 2016). Others have posited that young adulthood goes up to the age of 29. However, it is internationally considered that youth begins at early adulthood to the age of 30 or slightly beyond (Scales et al., 2016).  Adulthood is the longest and last stage of human development. Although the point when adulthood starts is not distinct and clear, it is generally accepted that adolescence fades, and young adulthood begins. The definition of who an adult is, varies with culture and can be explained from biological, chronological age, social responsibilities, psychological, and perceived maturity views (Scales, et al., 2016). Some cultures see adults as individuals who have reached the age of maturity, where they can produce offsprings.

Biologically, adulthood begins when puberty sets in, and the individual can produce offsprings, which may be accompanied by physical changes. Psychologically, adulthood is defined by the way an individual perceives themselves and maturity. This includes the emotional stability of the individual, confidence level in specific tasks, chronological age, and social responsibilities. Concerning the chronological definition, the number of years an individual has lived on earth defines whether they are adults. The chronological definition of adulthood is controversial because the age for determining adulthood is not consistent. For instance, some claim that adulthood begins at 20 or 21 years, while others claim that adulthood starts at 18 years (Scales et al., 2016).

Cognition stabilizes during young adulthood and peaks when an individual is about 35 years old. Young adulthood is a period of relativistic thinking in which an individual begins to become aware of more than views that are simplistic such as right versus wrongs. In this stage, an individual starts to look at concepts and ideas from multiple perspectives and understands that questions can have more than one right or wrong answer (National Research Council, 2015). The need for an individual to specialize leads to pragmatic thinking applying logic to provide solutions to real-life problems while accepting imperfection, contradiction, and other issues. Finally, a young adult develops some expertise in either career or education, which improves problem-solving skills and capacity for creativity further.

Regarding relationships, they have been found to contribute to well-being. Most young adults in the United States identify themselves through the relationships they have with spouses, parents, and children. It has been found that having stable relationships that are intimate in adulthood contributes to well-being. When an individual lacks meaningful and positive relationships as a young adult, it can lead to crisis or Intimacy versus isolation as posited by Erikson in his psychosocial development theory. In young adulthood, specifically, the 20s and early 30s, individuals are inclined to be concerned with forming meaningful relationships (Crain, 2016). Young adults are often lonely if they cannot build relationships that are meaningful with community, friends, or family.

Young adulthood, like middle adulthood, comes with challenges. These challenges are often referred to as quarter-life crises. A quarter-life crisis usually occurs when an individual is between the age of 25 and 30. Quarter-life crises often revolve around the challenges that stem from a young adult feeling overwhelmed and living life on their own with new responsibilities. A quarter-life crisis can also be experienced when an individual has graduated from college and cannot get employed in a field they choose. In this stage, a young adult may worry about their future, wonder if the choices they have made are poor and what life might hold for them in the present.

Young adults have significant transitional issues because the delicate personal development process gets tested afresh during young adulthood. Many young adults in both developed and developing countries, even those who receive strong structural support and internal resources in high and middle school years, often change their relationships with most of their systems of socializing. They usually move out of the town or house, many miles away for work or further education. Others move for exploration or romantic relationships. They typically change socializing networks and peer groups, including community organizations. These changes affect young adults in different ways.

Clinical Implications/Treatment Plan

Developmental counseling and therapy (DCT), is an approach for counseling that was developed to understand and help people. DCT is based on theories of human growth and development, individual uniqueness, environmental and family systems, multicultural awareness, wellness, change, and counseling and therapy. DCT incorporates other theories with other approaches to counseling systematically. As a result, it provides counselors with ways of assessing their clients accurately and choosing interventions that are most likely to guarantee successful and effective counseling outcomes. DCT integrates clinical evaluation, intervention, and treatment planning. When used with other theories, DCT can help clients assess and find meaning in their early memories while identifying rules for living that are personal to them and define their lifestyles. DCT is also crucial to counselors as it helps in choosing interventions that are critical in establishing rapport and assisting clients in dealing with their presenting issues fast. That being said, DCT allows a counselor to have a thoughtful approach to the four emotional and cognitive styles and will enable them to prioritize interventions.

Since Kimberly is extremely self-aware, she may benefit from talk therapy. Besides talk therapy, sensory experience may help Kimberly. Sensorimotor functioning is underpinned by sensory experience. What an individual sees, feels, and hears is essential, and when individuals have experiences, they also have feelings and feelings are based on senses. Therefore, the sensory experience will help Kimberly to process her unprocessed emotions. This can be done through exercise, bodywork, focusing on emotions in the here and now, relaxing training, and Gestalt interventions. Further, Kimberly expresses that she is socially isolating herself and has never had a significant other. This shows late cognitive stage and in the stage of Intimacy Vs. Isolation. As such, sensorimotor experiencing can help in integrating development critical for her to further explore her current developmental task.

The death of Kimberly’s mother may have also led to a sense of mistrust. In Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, an individual experiences a crisis which could positively or negatively affect their personality development. According to Erikson’s theory, when an individual completes these stages successfully, it leads to a healthy personality, and the individual acquires essential virtues. On the other hand, failure to complete these stages successfully can reduce the ability of an individual to complete further stages, which results in an unhealthy personality and sense of self. However, these stages can be successfully resolved later in life.

The sense of mistrust in Kimberly may have developed when her mother died. Therefore, it would be appropriate for Kimberly to process past events in her life. This way, she would be able to shift behaviors and make new choices. Finally, Kimberly has never had primary support in her life, and to enable her to make changes in her life, she will need primary support in the future. Primary support could be her siblings and her own home and family in the future. This will enable her to fight the mistrust that she has of the people around her.

In summation, DCT enables a therapist to take an approach that is more holistic as it integrates other theories into treatment. One benefit of an integrative counseling model is that it brings together interventions, many theoretical approaches, and assessments. DCT is unique in the sense that it is structured. This structure of the model allows for almost all counseling methods and theories to be integrated purposefully. This way, a therapist can use assessment results to choose interventions that have a high likelihood of being successful with a specific individual in response to a particular presenting issue.

References

Crain, W. (2016). Theories of Development: Concepts and Applications: Concepts and Applications. New York: Routledge.

National Research Council. (2015). Investing in the Health and Well-Being of Young Adults. New York: National Academies Press.

Scales, P. C., Benson, P. L., Oesterle, S., Hill, K. G., Hawkins, D., & Pashak, T. J. (2016). The dimensions of successful young adult development: A conceptual and measurement framework. Applied Developmental Science, 150-174.