Client Case Study

Client is a 25 year old Caucasian heterosexual woman who lives with a Caucasian male partner of 3 years who is the father of client’s 1 year old daughter.
Client presents to therapy with depression, frustration and anxiety. Client reports that she feels stuck in her current relationship and that she would like to leave her partner but feels that she can’t because she does not want to lose custody of her daughter. Client reports that recently she has no desire to do anything around the house during the day and doesn’t want to spend time with her partner when he gets home from work. Client reports that she adores her child and feels her child is the “only reason she gets up in the morning”. The client reports that her inability to keep the house
Client was the youngest of four children, with an 11 year age difference between her and the next youngest child. Client reports being close with her father but also feeling responsible for taking care of him as he was immobile due to an injury to his legs resulting from a car accident that happened when the client was 5 years old. Client reports a tenuous relationship with her mother as she felt her mother was distant and “done with parenting” by the time she had the client. Client reports being left with her father for extended periods of time while her mother would go out shopping or socializing. Client reports these times in which see was responsible for cooking, cleaning and taking care of her father caused her to resent her mother for most of her childhood. When the client was 16 her mother divorced her biological father and put him in a nursing home. Client reports that this made her very mad and she hated that she was forced to move in with her mother and her mother’s new boyfriend. Client reports her mother was remarried a year later and despite initially being very critical of her mother for moving on so quickly, she grew too really like her step-father. At 17 years old, the client left home to move in with a man she was dating. Client reports that very soon after she moved her biological father died. Client reports that she wishes she had gone to see her father more before he passed