A Client with Depressive Behaviour
Melody has come for counselling to deal with the death of her husband. You have been counselling her for four weeks and in that time Melody has reported that she feels “depressed”. In addition, she complains of being constantly tired and lacking motivation to do simple tasks such as showering and cooking for herself.
As you have no formal qualifications or training to diagnose or treat psychological disorders such as depression, you encourage Melody to visit a GP to have her symptoms assessed. In the next session, Melody reported that her GP had not given her a diagnosis; however he had prescribed an eight week course of anti-depressant medication.
Given this outcome, would you continue to counsel Melody?
February 19th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Given that Melody’s GP did not give her any diagnosis, but prescribed an anti-depressant, I would ring the GP with Melody’s consent to discover his thoughts on her symptoms and also to check the expected/possible effects of the particular medication prescribed.
I would also ask Melody to describe what she had told the GP as he may not have been made aware of the complete scenario.
If Melody wished to continue with counselling we would need to consider whether her feelings of “depression” were in fact related to the early stage of the grief process. The shock stage, which can last for weeks or even months, can lead to feelings of tiredness and lack of motivation.
I would explain that grief is a process which would help Melody to understand the various stages through which a bereaved person needs to pass in order to deal with their grief.
People experiencing grief often get a lot of well-meaning, if sometimes inappropriate, advice from friends and relations. Therefore the chance to work with an empathic grief counsellor could be extremely beneficial for Melody. An explanation of what the counselling process might entail would help her decide whether or not to continue.
It would also be important for Melody to understand any emotional or physical effects that the anti-depressant medication may have. I would refer her back to her GP for this type of information, if she had not been informed on her previous visit.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:12 am
I would have an initial session with Melody after her visit to the G.P. to ascertain what she wanted to do.
If she decided to go through with an eight week course of medication only, then I would accept her decision. However, if she wanted to continue Counselling, I would explain to her about the stages of grief and loss and their effects, and see if she was interested in exploring these various stages, because I feel grief and loss is a major factor for Melody.
However, my concern is that because she is on anti-depressants these may prevent her from fully experiencing her feelings as she moves through the various stages of grief & loss in order to heal.
Nevertheless, the decision must rest with Melody, and if she wishes to explore her grief and loss issues, then it could be appropriate to start the process while still on medication and see how she copes. If progress is being made, then we could continue for as long as Melody feels she is being helped.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:28 am
rather than using antidepressive drugs,we can continue counselling with melody.we can ask her to remember all those happy moments which she enjoyed with her husband.we can ask her to realise her responsibilities in case if she has children,ask her to be happy for her children.ask her to continue meeting her old friends and work for her livelihood.afterall,time is the best remedy for such happenings.to take care of his parents if they were dependent on her husband.