Patrick Father Case Study

Introduction
Patrick was born in the mid-1970`s to an Irish-American upper middleclass family. His mother was a nurse and his father was an attorney. As is customary in families with working parents the older sibling, a brother, helped to raise him when his parents were busy with work. Patrick had a normal social life and at times entertained friends for extended periods when their families were experiencing economic difficulties, or on one occasion, when a friend did not want to disrupt his schooling during his senior year. Of the many people in his life Patrick was most influenced by his father and lived his life in a similar manner to the way his dad lived his life. His dad was an alcoholic for a short time and Patrick became an alcoholic
Patrick`s family was successful and educated, but they were not living happily, due to the poor management of overwhelming stress that his father experienced at work. Patrick’s father experienced the same pressure all professionals experience when they are trying to excel in their professions. Many people who have jobs with much responsibilities experience sleep loss and Patrick’s dad was no exception. His sleep deprivation was coupled with absences from home, alcoholism, and ultimately the physical and emotional abuse of his family. Alcoholism led Patrick’s dad to become a bully not only to his family but to strangers in bars. The reader cringes when reading about his father challenging strangers in bars, but we know that traditional intelligence is not the only form of intelligence we use when dealing with the public so since there is no evidence of him getting hurt during his drunken condition the reader surmised that he even when drunk exercised a form of emotional
Though his father dealt with the issues of emotional, physical, and substance abuse, he was successful in teaching his son how to set and accomplish goals. The influence of Patrick’s father shaped Patrick’s emotional and career development and played a significant role in how Patrick would deal with his falling grades in college and his choice of career. Patrick resorted to self-help to cease alcoholism unlike his father who chose professional help. One might attribute this to a difference in their personalities; both men showed resilient personalities but Patrick was more emotionally stable; no outbursts nor emotional/physical abuse of strangers or family members. So, in summation one’s personality and culture largely influence how he/she deals with life’s difficulties. If we are expected to fail then often we live up to that expectation. Similarly, if our culture demands that we always do our best we become people for whom the only alternative is to give our best. When culture, be it home or communal, expect the best from us, we develop personalities that always give our best