Name: Adesokan d Temitope

Assignment: Adjustment Case Study

Course: Psychology 100

Lecturers Name: Paul Carrio

Date: November/27/2014

1) Summarize the two (2) articles you selected from the NPR Website

First article: Behind A Soldiers Suicidal Thoughts An Unknown Brain Injury

After Sargent Ryan sharp returned from serving two hours in Iraq with the army’s 3rd Infantry division, he didn’t remember any conversation after the horrible incident, he remembered that he was with his sister at the pool, he had his pistol to his temple and his finger on the trigger, he wanted to shoot himself so he ran into the wood. His father wished he had known more and his father has seen a complete change in his son. Ryan was suffering from a brain injury and he remembered when he met with his friend, they were both deployed at the same time. His friend told him about his own permanent disability through the V.A and also his T.B.I problem. Then Ryan remembered the explosion and his team leader grabbing him by his vest and was shaking him, this event happened 10years ago. He was angry and taught the issue was fixable that if he spend enough time psychoanalyzing himself that he would be better eventually. He felt he couldn’t get himself to work right he didn’t trust himself and doesn’t to an extent. But the things that are wrong with him are his injury and he can’t necessarily fix them but he can learn to deal with them. He finally got to forgive himself for so many things he made his family go through.

Second Story: Growing Up Broke Strengthened Daughters Bond With Working Mom

A mother talks to her daughter about how hard it was to make ends meet raising a child alone in the 90s through the good times and the bad. Sonia Vasquez raised her daughter Tina just outside New York city and when money was tight Sonia would take on multiple jobs to pay the bills. Her daughter remembered her mum coming home and narrating to her what happened while she was coming back from work. How she was so tried and fell asleep also didn’t realize till a car came behind. she was so stressed and over worked, She used to be very aggressive to her at times. Sonia also said when her daughter was about 3 or 4 while she was playing with her doll she shouted at Tina and after doing that she felt bad. She remembered her daughter telling her she doesn’t like the way she speaks to her and if she told her good things first and the bad thing later she would listen to her, and when she isn’t aware she tone out. Then her mum told her to always correct her if she does that again. From that point they became very close, every Friday night they go to this restaurant ‘Denny’s’ to eat and they share a meal. Sometime some servers who knew them and their situation gives them extra food. Tina adjusted her expectations by asking only for inexpensive gifts for holidays even when her friends had fancier things. She also said to her mum that she knows her mum doesn’t have a P.H.D or masters but her experience feels like it worth 10 times those things. She said her mum makes it sound like if she wanted to walk on the moon at the moment she could.

2) Describe the major adjustment issues discussed in each story

The major adjustment issues in the Sargent Ryan sharp life are: In Ryan sharp case one of the major adjustment issues is depression. People are sometimes affected by different cases and types of depression, they find it very hard to enjoy activities that were once pleasurable. In Ryan cases he had the thought of death he wanted to shoot himself and end his own life. He was angry at himself and also the thought of the explosion and his team leader grabbing his vest and shaking him made him feel depressed.

Also another adjustment issues is trauma. A traumatic event involves a situation that anyone might find scary or difficult to deal with such event in Ryan sharp case was that he was suffering from a brain injury and also his friends disability through the V.A and his friends T.B.I condition. Lack of trust in himself. He couldn’t get himself to work right because he couldn’t trust himself and still doesn’t do to some extend.

The major adjustment issues in Sonia Vasquez life are: Copying with stress: according to the human adjustment by John w. Santrock stress is the response of individuals to stressors and also stress is a sign of the times, Human beings think and reason, and they experience a myriad of social and environmental circumstances that threaten or put pressure on people. In Sonia’s case she had a serious issues of stress both at work and also in training her daughter, providing for the both of them and paying the bills. She over stress herself, she had series of jobs and she sometimes get very tired and doesn’t get a well deserving rest to the extent that fell asleep at the wheel and luckily for her it was at the red light.

Depression: this is a serious medical illness, it is not something that you have made up in your head, feeling of severe despondency and dejection .
Sonia’s depression can be said to be lack of sleep, feeling hopeless and irritable
Mood. Because of her depression issue she gets angry and shout at her daughter.

3) Examine at least three (3) evidence-based strategies from the selected articles that could help the individuals enhance their adjustment skills

Reference from the human adjustment text by Santrock. Recognize that feeling Exhausted, Worthless, helpless and hopeless are part of the depression: these feelings make some people want to give up, but it is important to realize that these negative feelings do not reflect actual circumstances. They fade as treatment begins to take effect.

See a therapist: most individuals with depression show substantial improvement through psychotherapy, drug therapy (antidepressant medications), or a combination of the two. Positive thinking will replace the negative thinking that is part of the depression and will disappear as your depression responds to treatment

Help the individual get competent diagnosis and treatment: the most important thing that anyone can do for depressed person is to help him or her get competent diagnosis and treatment. This may involve encouraging the individual to stay with treatment until symptoms begin to abate {several weeks} or to seek different treatment if no improvement occurs. On occasion, you may need to make an appointment and accompany the depressed person to the therapist.

4) Recommend the evidence-based strategy that is best suited for the people in the selected articles. Provide a rationale for your response. According to the World Health Organization, major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disability-adjusted life years worldwide. However, recent evidence suggests depression remains undertreated in primary care settings. Measurement-based care (MBC) is an evidence-based strategy that can feasibly assist primary care physicians in managing patients with MDD. Utilizing health information technology tools, such as computer decision support software, can improve adherence to evidence-based treatment guidelines and MBC at the point of care It's a bittersweet fact: Traumatic events such as the Sept. 11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have enabled researchers to learn a lot more about how best to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to The MacArthur Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health Coping strategies refer to the specific efforts, both behavioral and psychological, that people employ to master, tolerate, reduce, or minimize stressful events. Two general coping strategies have been distinguished: problem-solving strategies are efforts to do something active to alleviate stressful circumstances, whereas emotion-focused coping strategies involve efforts to regulate the emotional consequences of stressful or potentially stressful events. Research indicates that people use both types of strategies to combat most stressful events (Folk man & Lazarus, 1980). The predominance of one type of strategy over another is determined, in part, by personal style (e.g., some people cope more actively than others) and also by the type of stressful event; for example, people typically employ problem-focused coping to deal with potential controllable problems such as work-related problems and family-related problems, whereas stressors perceived as less controllable, such as certain kinds of physical health problems, prompt more emotion-focused coping.