For this forum, I want you to click on your assignment section and find the "Case of Stan" waiting for you. You are requested to analyze Stan according to the approaches we already learned in this class as you identify his disorder. You will receive points if you explain the disorder and its main symptoms. Your post must include its prevalence, etiology (causes), and symptoms. You must support your post by examples from Stan's case as it relates to the specific disorder(S) so if you state that he suffers from schizophrenia, you have to show me where he is hearing voices...

Limit your response to around 350 words.

"Case Of Stan"

The setting is a community mental-health agency, where both individual and group counseling by a qualified staff are available. Stan is coming to counseling because of a court order as a stipulation of his probation. He was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol. Although he does not think he has a serious drinking problem, the judge determined that he needed professional help. Stan arrives for an intake interview and provides the counselor with this information: !

At 25 years old I'm working in construction. I like building houses, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to stay in construction for the rest of my life. When it comes to my personal life, I've always had a rough time getting along with people. I suppose you could call me a "loner". I like having people in my life, but I just don't seem to know how to go about making friends or getting close to people. Probably the reason I sometimes drink a bit too much is because I'm so scared when it comes to mixing with people. Even though I hate to admit it, when I've been drinking, things deem quite overwhelming. When I look at others, they seem to know the right things to say. Next to them I feel so dumb. I'm afraid that people will be bored with me and that if they really knew me, they wouldn't want anything to do with me. Sure, I'd like to turn my life around, and I'm trying, but sometimes I just don't know where to begin. That's why I went back to school. Besides my work in construction I'm also a part-time college student majoring in psychology. I want to better myself. In one of my classes, Psychology of Personal Adjustment, we talked about ourselves and how we wanted to change, and we also had to write an autobiographical paper. Should I bring it in?

That is the essence of Stan's introduction. The counselor says that she very much wants to read his autobiography. He hopes it will give her a better understanding of where he has been, where he is now, where he would like to go, and what he wants for himself. It reads as follows:

Where I am currently in my life? At 25, I feel that I've wasted most of my life. By now I should be finished with college and into a good job, but instead I'm only a junior. I can't afford to really commit myself to pursuing college full time, because I need to work to support myself. Even though construction work is hard, I like the satisfaction I get when I look at what I helped build.

Although I'd like to build things as a hobby, I want to get into some profession where I could work with people, if I can ever get over my fears of what people think of me. Someday, I'm hoping to get a master's degree in counseling or in social work and eventually work as a counselor with kids who are in trouble. I feel I was helped by someone who cared about me, and I would like to have a similar influence on young people.

At this time I live alone, have very few friends, and feel scared with people my own age or older. I feel good when I'm with kids, because they're so honest. But I worry

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a lot whether I'm smart enough to get through all the studies I'll need to do before I can become a counselor.

One of my problems is that I drink heavily and frequently get drunk. This happens mostly when I feel alone and scared that I'll always feel as lonely and isolated as I do now. At first drinking makes me feel better, but later on I really feel rotten. I used to do drugs heavily, and once in a while I still get loaded. People really scare me, and I feel overwhelmed when I'm around strong and attractive women. I feel all cold, sweaty, and terribly uptight when I'm with a woman. Maybe I think they're judging me, and I know they'll find out that I'm not much of a man. I'm afraid I won't measure up to being a man---always having to be strong, tough, and perfect. I'm not any of those, so I often wonder if I'm adequate as a man. I really have trouble seeing myself as sexually adequate. When I do have sex, I get uptight and worry that I won't be able to perform, and then I really feel terrible.

I feel anxiety much of the time, particularly at night. Sometimes I get so scared that I feel like running, but I just can't move. It's awful, because I often feel as if I'm dying at times like this. And then I fantasize about committing suicide and wonder who would care. Sometimes I see my family coming to my funeral feeling very sorry that they didn't treat me better. I even made a weak attempt to do myself in a couple of years ago. Much of the time I feel guilty and I haven't worked up to my potential, that I've been a failure, that I've wasted much of my time, and that I let people down a lot. I can really get down on myself and wallow in my guilt, and I feel very depressed. At times like this I think about how rotten I am, how I'll never to able to change, and how I'd be better off dead. Then I wouldn't have to hurt anymore, and I wouldn't want anything either. It's very difficult for me to get close to anyone. I can't say that I've ever loved a person, and I know that I've never felt fully loved or wanted.

Everything is not bleak, because I did have enough guts to leave a lot of my shady past behind me, and I did get into college. I like my determinationI want to change. I'm tired of feeling like a loser, and I know that nobody is going to change my life for me. It's up to me to get what I want. Even though I feel scared a lot, I like it that I can feel my feelings and that I'm willing to take risks. I hate being a quitter.

What was my past like? What are some significant events and turning points in my life? A major turning point was the confidence my supervisor had in me at the youth camp where I worked the past few summers. He helped me get my job, and he also encourage me to go to college. He said he saw a lot of potential in me for being able to work well with young people. That was hard for me to really believe, but his faith inspired me to begin to believe in myself. Another turning point was my marriage and divorce. This "relationship" didn't last long before my wife left me. Wow, that really made me wonder about what kind of man I was! She was a strong and dominant woman who was always telling me how worthless I was and how she couldn't stand to get near me. We met in a gambling casino in Las Vegas, and we tied the knot shortly after that. We had sex only a few times, and most of the time I was impotent. That was hard to takea real downer! I'm so afraid to get close to a woman. I'm afraid she'll swallow me up. My parents never got a divorce, but I wish they had. They fought most of the time. I should

say, my mother did most of the fighting. She was dominant and continually bitching at my father, whom I always saw as weak, passive, and mousy next to her. He would never stand up to her. There were four of us kids, at home. My folks always compared me unfavorably with my older sister (Judy) and older brother (Frank). They were "perfect" children, successful honor students. My younger brother (Karl) and I fought a lot, and he was the one who was spoiled rotten by them. I really don't know what happened to me and how I turned out to be the failure of the bunch.

In high school I got involved with the wrong crowd and took a lot of drugs. I was thrown into a youth rehabilitation facility for stealing. Later I was expelled from regular school for fighting, and I landed in a continuation high school, where I would go to school in the mornings and have afternoons for on-the-job training. I got into auto mechanics and fairly successful and even managed to keep myself employed for three years as a mechanic.

Back to my parents. I remember my father telling me: "You're really dumb. Why can't you be like your sister and brother? You'll never amount to a hill of beans! Why can't you ever do anything right? " And my mother treated me much the way she treated my father. She would say: " Why do you do so many things to hurt me? Why can't you grow up and be a man? You were a mistakeI wish I hadn't had you! Things are so much better around here when you're gone." I recall crying myself to sleep many nights, feeling so terribly alone and filled with anger and hate. And feeling so disgusted with myself. There was no talk of religion in my house, nor was there any talk about sex. In fact, I always find it hard to imagine my folks ever having sex.

Where would I like to be five years from now? What kind of person do I want to become, and what changes do I most want in my life? Most of all, I would just like to start feeling better about myself. I would really like to be able to stop drinking altogether and still feel good. I have an inferiority complex, and I know how to put myself down. I want to like myself much more than I do now. I hope I can learn to love at least a few other people, most of all, women. I want to lose my fear that women can destroy me. I would like to feel equal with others and not always have to feel apologetic for my existence. I don't want to suffer from this anxiety and guilt. And I hope that I can begin to think of myself as an OK person. I really want to become a good counselor with kids, and to do this I know I'm going to have to change. I'm not certain how I'll change or even what all the changes are I hope for. I do know that I want to get free of my self- destructive tendencies and learn to trust people more. Maybe when I begin to like myself more, I'll be able to trust that others might find something about me that is worth liking.