Case study
Client Case Study: Adriane Adriane is an attractive 18 year-old heterosexual, African American female, who presents to counseling at the request of her mother, who is concerned about her daughter’s uncharacteristically sad mood. Adriane recently moved away from home for the first time to attend a highly prestigious, private university on a full academic scholarship. In addition to being a straight “A” student and a double major in pre-medicine and law, Adriane in a member of the crew team and attends three hour-long practices on a daily basis. While she has always been known as a naturally happy, optimistic individual, she states that her mother became concerned when she started sounding “down” and “irritable” during phone conversations.
Adriane reports that she has been struggling with sleep difficulties, lack of concentration, depression, anxiety and severe feelings of loneliness since the beginning of the semester. During her third counseling session, she reveals that she feels as though she “doesn’t fit in or belong anywhere”- a feeling she attributes to being at least partially due to her race. Although the university is predominantly White and affluent, Adriane was approached by members of a Black sorority on campus and attended “rush week.” While she initially felt hopeful that she would find friends who shared a similar background, she perceived herself to be an “outsider” among the sorority sisters because they were clearly of higher socioeconomic status. In regard to her socioeconomic status, Adriane self-identifies as low-to-working class; her mother works as a produce clerk at a local grocery store and her father is an auto mechanic. She grew up in a poor, urban, and highly diverse immigrant neighborhood and was the only one of her friends or family to attend a four year college. In contrast, the majority of the students of color she has met on campus can afford tuition, laptops and designer clothes and have parents who are doctors or professors.
Adriane reports that she has been struggling with sleep difficulties, lack of concentration, depression, anxiety and severe feelings of loneliness since the beginning of the semester. During her third counseling session, she reveals that she feels as though she “doesn’t fit in or belong anywhere”- a feeling she attributes to being at least partially due to her race. Although the university is predominantly White and affluent, Adriane was approached by members of a Black sorority on campus and attended “rush week.” While she initially felt hopeful that she would find friends who shared a similar background, she perceived herself to be an “outsider” among the sorority sisters because they were clearly of higher socioeconomic status. In regard to her socioeconomic status, Adriane self-identifies as low-to-working class; her mother works as a produce clerk at a local grocery store and her father is an auto mechanic. She grew up in a poor, urban, and highly diverse immigrant neighborhood and was the only one of her friends or family to attend a four year college. In contrast, the majority of the students of color she has met on campus can afford tuition, laptops and designer clothes and have parents who are doctors or professors.