Assignment 1: Assessing the Value of an Integrated Approach

Mental health clinicians can work from a single theoretical orientation perspective or may integrate theories such as family systems or techniques such as Gestalt's empty chair into their clinical practices. Your required readings for this module describe several of these integrated approaches, which are listed in the table below.

Tasks:

In a minimum of 200 words, post to the Discussion Area your responses to the following:

• Select two of the integrated approaches listed in the table.
• Citing the required readings and supplemental research literature, explain why you think the integrated approaches that you selected are superior or inferior to utilizing a single theoretical approach or an eclectic approach.
• Provide a brief summary of the main elements of each of the two integrated approaches that you selected.
• Describe the advantages and the disadvantages of each of the two integrated approaches in working with the client in the fictional case study below.

Support your rationales and analyses by using at least two resources from professional literature in your responses. Professional literature may include the Argosy University online library resources; relevant textbooks; peer-reviewed journal articles; and websites created by professional organizations, agencies, or institutions (websites ending in .edu or .gov).

Your discussion posts and all written assignments should reflect graduate-level writing skills and appropriate use of APA style, including in-text citations and references.

Submission Details:

• case study
• The Case of Laurie The following case study is adapted from Pearson’s MyCounselingLab for Counseling Theories (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014). Laurie presents as an intelligent young woman who attends the local college as a computer science major and is one month from graduation. She reports feeling overwhelmed, being uncertain about the future, and experiencing grief about the impending loss of her college friends and her social network. Historically, Laurie experiences bouts of anxiety and depression around periods of significant transition and has been diagnosed as having an adjustment disorder. The first time this occurred was soon after her best friend in high school was killed in a car accident. At the time, Laurie was unable to ride in cars and refused to attend school for fear she would be killed as well. Her academic performance was impacted, and she almost failed out of school.   Another time Laurie had difficulty adjusting was when she went away to college for the first time. She became extremely depressed and was told by other freshmen she had the worst case of homesickness they’d ever seen. Laurie was able to manage her symptoms by socializing in the evening, focusing on her studies during the day, and relaxing on the weekends by reading famous novels. Laurie demonstrated her ability to compartmentalize her problems and focus on short-term goals in order to regain a feeling of control over her life.   Reference: Seligman, L., & Reichenberg, L. W. (2014). MyCounselingLab for Counseling Theories. (eText ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. ISBN-13: 978-0-13-3390803.