Brief analysis of a case study

What is a case study? An effective method to investigate the levels of inducing and executing regulation, that is, the motivations and interests of the person, group or institution in question and the will, action and disposition to materialize change.

Psychologists, psycho-pedagogues, physicians, to cite just a few examples, use this method to identify and analyze potentialities and weaknesses. They do not limit their proposal to propose strategies for change, but to allow a clear vision of the reality and the client to create an action plan adaptable to the circumstances. You will delve into all areas of life but a little more in those that affect THE PROBLEM.

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Description.

Before beginning to analyze a case study, you must first of all ask for the client's confirmed consent, and permission to take any notes the coach deems appropriate.

The fictitious character of our study will be called Lorena. To fit a given context, she will be 27 years old, slim athletic build, of mixed race complexion and 1.70m tall. The question to be analyzed will be the expectation and emotion derived from HER PROBLEM.

Currently, Lorena lives with her mother and 8 year old daughter. Recently divorced and with a strong economic demand to face, product of the neglect and non-fulfillment of the child support by a father, right now, absent.

The problem.

Let's analyze the expectation: looking for a job. Is it a real expectation? Yes, anyone who sets his or her mind to it can get a job. Let's analyze further. She abandoned her studies at the age of 15 in order to devote herself body and soul to her newborn daughter. At that time she got her first and only job as a kitchen assistant.

Due to her lack of experience she was finally fired. Even so, the love of her life (now ex-husband) had promised that she would never lack anything and so she dedicated herself to be a better wife and to efficiently perform the tasks of a house. Personal improvement was limited to being a "housewife", without any intellectual incentive.

Reasoning.

What are the areas where the problem lies? Professional only? What is Lorena's limiting belief? Her bad experience in the past led her to adopt an avoidant and conformist style with the manifest inability to work. Her concept of work is negative. It implies doing something new, leaving aside her comfort zone and facing fear, so the personal area will be the main root from which to focus the solution to the problem. At this point we could ask you some questions to deepen: What is work for you? Do you feel that you have overcome yourself personally? How much did the relationship you had with your husband influence your self-confidence?

Let's work with your beliefs. You have never worked, so you have no experience. It's not your fault. Experience is what builds professional competencies. What are you good at?

She expresses to us that she feels frustrated, claims to possess no virtues and feels pressured with the insufficient support she receives. We now glimpse a different matrix of thinking; she feels pressured and powerless. We must encourage her power of analysis. We can see that the disappointment of believing what her ex-husband perjured: "they would never lack anything", attempts against the new level of perspective to be elaborated. She perceives her role as passive, not active in the job search, and that is what needs to be questioned. Why?

See the positive.

You are afraid of not being able to offer your daughter a future, and just imagining being laid off again would reconfirm that ingrained belief, but is it true that you are not good at anything? You dedicated your time and energy to be a better mother and a better daughter. What results did you get? To be a better mother and a better daughter.

At home you shine for the respect and attention you give to those two magical beings for you. In that time you read a book or did you do calculus on your own or, did you start studying an English course? No. What do you have experience in? In giving love, care, attention and knowing how to manage food to last a week. That's art! That's the experience you got!

The real problem.

To promote better results, make sure your questions are well constructed, in an eloquent and neutral tone.

Avoid closed questions: Aren't you good at any job?

Instead, ask: Why do you feel you are not good at any job? If the answer doesn't convince you, ask again politely, don't get defensive and say: "If you don't answer me, I'll never be able to help you". Instead, think that this is not the right time. Say I understand that you don't want to talk about it, so tell me when you are ready. If at some point you lost the thread of the conversation, do not worry, express what you are already clear about "I understand that it is difficult for you to start from scratch", and argue the expression with "But it is not clear to me why you say that you will never be happy". There are certain topics that will cause distance between you and your interlocutor. You will notice it by their discomfort, their silence, terse answers. In these cases you should encourage a more casual pace in the conversation, laugh, comment on something funny, watch the physical distance. Tell an anecdote that has to do with a moral according to the situation.