Overview
For the final exam, you are to make and upload a video that is between 15 - 20 minutes. You must find two others to participate and act as the couple you are counseling. The content of the video will be you providig couple's counseling to this acting couple. You must must fulfill the following areas in your counseling (video): 1. While you will be acting as if this is not your first meetig with the couple so you can be addressing the problem they present with with more depth, you must show understanding of how each individual cotributes differently to the problem (i.e, show understading of the 3 different formulations: one of the problem and one for each of the couple). Show this by having each person work on different factors to help build intimacy. In addition, show effort to keep them positive and motivated to work on the problem (e.g., keep them talking about positive experiences, noting positive effort in the other, etc). 2. Address intense emotions in the couple. teach them understanding of the emotional processes, identify the narrative or themes that influence the person's sensitivity and reactivity, and provide strategies to address them. 3. Address communication. In particular, teach them effective ways to validate the other. 4. Manage the difficult problem or gridlock problem with strategies discussed in class. Your couple has plenty of freedom to choose charactersitcs and behaviors during the session. However, they would be helpful to emphasize the emotional dysregulation and difficulty validating their partner's emotions. The particular issue that brings the couple to counseling must be selected from the following: A) The couple has a history of arguing and having unresolved conflicts, mostly around wife's OCD and hourding. He will get angry at the clutter in the house and she gets angry when he moves things to gain access to areas, such as the diningroom table. One day, when wife was out, husband threw away a cooking magazine that was over 20 years old. She came home and saw it in the trash, got really upset and started screaming at husband, got in his face, and he pushed her away. He says it was to protect himself, but when he pushed her, she fell back and hit her face on an object leaving a bruise on her face. She acknowledges it was push and she was not struck by him. Now they both stated they are abused by the other.
FOR EXAMPLE THISIS HOW YOU SUPPOSED TO DO THE SCRIT FOR ME AND I HAVE READ IT .:THERAPIST:
Alright. So to get us started, I want each of you to share, just briefly, what things have been like since we last spoke. Not the whole argument again—just how the relationship has felt this week. Maya, do you want to start?
MAYA: It’s been… okay. We’re not fighting every second but I still feel like he’s walking around annoyed. Like everything I do is wrong.
DAVID: I’m not annoyed all the time. But yeah, the mess gets to me. I’m trying to stay calm but the house stresses me out.
THERAPIST: Okay, so I’m hearing that both of you have been trying, but the tension is still there. Maya, you feel judged. David, you feel stressed by the environment. That sound right?
MAYA:
Pretty much.
DAVID:
Yeah.
THERAPIST: Alright. Let’s slow down and go into the big moment you two told me about—the magazine incident. The reason I want to revisit that is because moments like those tell us a lot about the bigger patterns in the relationship.
So Maya, can you tell David what that magazine meant to you, but in a calm way, not the way it came out in the moment?
MAYA: It wasn’t just a magazine. It was something I’ve had since college. I’ve used recipes from it, and it just… I don’t know, it felt like a piece of me. And when I saw it in the trash, it felt like like I didn’t matter.
THERAPIST: Okay. That makes sense. And David, can you repeat what you heard Maya say? Not agree or disagree
DAVID: Um… you’re saying it wasn’t just some old thing to you. It was important. And when I threw it out, it made you feel like you didn’t matter.
THERAPIST:
Good. Maya, did he get it right?
MAYA:
Yeah… that’s basically it.
THERAPIST: Okay. Now David, I want you to share your side too. Not in a defensive way, but in a way that helps Maya understand what happened for you that day.
DAVID: I was frustrated. The house was a mess. The dining table was covered again and I couldn’t even sit down. And I felt like I was the only one doing anything to fix it. And yeah… I made a bad call by throwing it out. I wasn’t trying to hurt you, though. I just felt overwhelmed.
THERAPIST: Maya, can you say back what you heard him say?
MAYA: You felt overwhelmed and the mess was too much. And you didn’t throw it out to hurt me.
THERAPIST: Exactly. This is the kind of thing I want you two to practice at home too. Not solving the issue right away—just showing you heard the other person.