Case Study: Utilizing Person Centered Therapy

Janice Cabrillo has made great strides since she first began coming in for therapy several months ago. Janice expressed she wanted to marry her fiancé, Joe, however, she was having difficulty with planning for the wedding date. Utilizing Person Centered Therapy, Janice and I were able to create a strong foundation of trust. Janice was able to share her pain from the past and revealed her unresolved grief. After Janice had been coming for a few months, I was able to use Gestalt therapy for Janice regarding the grief of the loss of her baby, a child she lost through a miscarriage, after her first husband, Robert left her. Janice was able to connect the dots that she lost her daughter, after she had put so much planning into her daughter’s
(Corey, 2017, p. 294) I tell Janice I’d like her to tell me what she is most anxious about doing next regarding the planning of her wedding. “Getting a dress, which seems ridiculous, because I love to shop, especially for clothes! The thought of a wedding dress though, it just freaks me out. Even having it in my home waiting there, just doesn’t feel right.” I encourage Janice that I believe she has what it takes to face this. “I hear you say that you love to shop, so let’s stay on that for a bit. Maybe it would even help to see your words, ‘I love to shop, especially for clothes!’” I have a white board in my office and ask Janice if she could write her words down on the white board? Janice smiles, takes the dry erase marker from my hand and writes down – I love to shop- especially for clothes! I ask Janice if a wedding dress falls under the category of clothing? “Yes, of course,” Janice says as she fidgets with the cap of the dry erase pen. I then ask Janice if she wouldn’t mine writing down that truth on the board too, that a wedding dress is clothing. Janice writes down this truth on the board – a wedding
I ask Janice how she is feeling? “Like reality is in front of me. I love to shop, especially for clothes. A wedding dress is clothing.” Janice gives me a look for the corner of her eyes, that seemed to let me know she was ready for more, so I asked her if she had purchased any bridal magazine, knowing that they will be chock full of wedding dress photos. “No, no I haven’t,” Janice gave me the look like she knew what was coming next. I ask Janice if she is open to doing some homework and she let me know that she was, with a nod. I tell Janice that I would like her to purchase at least one bridal magazine, and each day before our next session, I would like her either rip out three photos of dresses that she likes, I ask her if she thinks she can do that. “Yes, but then what should I do with the pictures once I rip them out?” I encouraged her to buy a special folder for the wedding dress pictures, and tell her I would just like her to rip out the photos, 3 a day, and place them inside.” I have other plans for Janice after this, but I want to see how she does with just this first tier of homework. I invite Janice to think about what she’d like the folder that she places in the wedding dress pictures in, to look like. I encourage her that she may want