Summary: The Case Of Amanda Berry

The Case of Amanda Berry
Amanda Berry was born April 22, 1986. She was one day short of turning seventeen when she was abducted from her Cleveland home town and was held as a captive for ten years before breaking free. While in captivity she endured intense trauma along with two other girls. She also gave birth to a baby girl that was fathered by her captor. She finally escaped the hands of Ariel Castro and now lives back home with her father, after finding her mother grieved herself to death while Amanda was gone. The client is seeking to move past her trauma but feels like she has no choice in the matter (Biography, 2014).
Theoretical Model The theory being used is the gestalt therapy. As the therapist, I would function as a guide and a
She complains of having difficulty wanting to get out of bed, be in social settings or even get a job. She states it’s her past that haunts her and she feels paralyzed most days. She says it feels like her life is over and that everyone is judging her.
Maladaptive Behavior Before Amanda was taken, she was outgoing, personable, popular and full of life. She enjoyed things like most sixteen-year-old girls (fashion, music and boys). She also worked at a local burger joint and had dreams of going to college (Jordan & Sullivan, 2015). Now she finds herself frozen at the thought of being in a public setting like the burger place. She finds herself having panic attacks when she doesn’t hear people around but rejects them being there all the same. She doesn’t look at fashion the same or enjoy any of the things she used to.
Presenting Problems Amanda’s first problem is being able to accept what has happened to her. She is stuck in processing and hasn’t been moving forward. Her second problem is her coping skills which haven’t been in play since she was found. Her third problem is her ability to feel at
This is found in the internal dialogue exercise. The second goal will be for the client to be able to cope with what has happened using an experiment that allows her to stay with the feeling until it passes. The third goal would be for her to have peace regardless of the situation which will be done using a technique called the empty chair technique (Corey, 2017).
Questions
Since it’s important to have a trusting relationship with Amanda, I would focus on building that trust through asking for her resistance up front so we can move through it together. Once trust is gained I would discuss the importance of exercises and experiments and let her know we are both going to gain clarity through this process. Questions will not be used as much as non-directive observations. I will pay close attention to her verbal and non-verbal cues. I will focus on the here and now with the purpose of guiding Amanda through her fears, ultimately coping and gaining peace.