Major Assignment 1500 words Due Date: 11.

59 pm 15/10/2021
COU 3105/0108 On and off campus students
Applying psychodynamic concepts to a case example
Initial Presentation and Symptoms
Jackson is 27 years old, he graduated with a Bachelor of Business degree eighteen months
ago, currently working in the marketing department of an IT company – owned by a family
friend. He has made the appointment to see a counsellor at the insistence of his girlfriend,
Lara. At the session, Jackson sits at the very edge of the single sofa in the counsellor’s room.
The counsellor Anne takes note, his uneasiness was plain to see. Anne notices a strong urge
to reach across – to gently touch his shoulder and sooth him, “there, there. It’s going to be
alright”. She sits a little deeper into her chair. Jackson shuffles at the edge of the seat and
after a few moments, blurts out he is here because he is overwhelmed by anxiety – not
sleeping at night, always tired and stressed all the time, about everything: work,
relationships, exercise regime. “It’s all too much” he said. He adds: “ Lara, my girlfriend
thinks my drinking is out of control, I spend too much time online”, pausing for a moment
“she thinks the drinking is impacting on my desire for sex, we are like an old couple, fighting
more and having sex less.”
Anne also observes that Jackson had not offered any eye contact with her. She notices
herself feeling tentative and a little nervous, she asks “how can I best help you?” There is a
long pause, Jackson slumps forward with his head in his hands – still sitting on the edge of
the seat, his eyes start to well up with tears “I am sorry, I don’t know… what… I need help… I
am sorry”. Anne reassures him “Perhaps we can work out together how I can help you
best”. Anne is surprised by her own statement as it comes through her mouth – unusual for
her, she takes a mental note. Jackson nods his head and settle a little further back into the
chair. After a few moments, Jackson divulges that he feels like he lets everyone down – all
the time. He is supposed to come up with a tagline and broadcasting strategies for a new
online gaming platform that is due tomorrow and he hasn’t; he believes that he will get the
sack when the manager realizes that he got in ‘through the back door’, that he is actually
incompetent. “I find myself desperately waiting for the evenings so I can have a drink – it
helps me to unwind and I go and hang out with my ships and planes – I collect them”
He adds, “Now Lara wants a baby, so she has stopped drinking and want me to do the same,
I know logically that it’s a good idea…” At this point, he lifts his head up, he stares intently
into the distance, interlinks his fingers and presses his thumbs very hard together, Anne
notices the tension in his neck. “She has also organized a personal trainer for me three
times a week, but I was so stressed that I cancelled the last two weeks, and only went once
the week before…” He sighs “I just keep letting everyone down”. “She is so pissed off with
me, she has decided that the spare room will be the baby’s room…that’s my study! Where I
store all my collectibles, I find online”. He further expresses that there is tension between
his mother and Lara because his parents own the flat, they live in and Lara wants to do
major renovations for the ‘baby’s room’. “We fight so much there is no time for sex.” He
laughs “Sex for a baby isn’t very exciting”. His face falls, “Even thinking about cleaning that
room up is stressing me out – where do I start?” There is a long silence and Jackson blurts
out “I have been going on online chat rooms – talking to strangers, other women. I don’t
meet up with them or anything”. He drops his head low, slumps forward with his elbows on
his legs. He continues “I feel so guilty, I want to stop, but I can’t help myself, I can’t stop….”
Anne notices herself feeling tired, at the same time frustrated and mildly confused, she sits
up and takes a deep breath.
Personal History
Jackson is the youngest of three children. He has two older sister, Emily and Joanne.
Joanne is the younger of the two, she is 9 years older than Jackson. Jackson spoke of her
with genuine fondness and felt very close to her. They used to speak at least once a week
on the phone, but since she had her baby, which was around the same time as when
Jackson got together with Lara – they are not as close. Jackson laments that Joanne was his
“protector and comfort”, he felt a real loss when she moved out of home when he was 10
years old. He describes his childhood as lonely. When asked about his parents, Jackson
reveals that they fought all the time. They finally broke up when he was 19. “I guess they
stayed together because of me, well…” He shakes his head.
There was always tension in the house, he used to lock himself in the room when they were
“raging on for days”. Sometimes, it got so overwhelming he would run away to the park or
out the back and up a tree if Joanne wasn’t home. When he was the only one living at
home, he would ring her sometimes in tears because it was too much. “She had a job and
was at uni though, what could she do?” He remembers: “I used to watch for dad when I
woke up in the night, to see if he was also in the bed – I’d fall asleep in mum’s bed, but he
used to sleep on the couch a lot.” There was a long pause when Jackson was asked to say
more about that experience, “Mum used to read to me in her bed, when I start to fall
asleep, she would pull me closer into her bo… to her, stroking my back.” He puts his right
thumb at the edge of his lips, he appeared to be sucking his thumb gently. He catches
himself, pulls it away sharply and looks down with hunched shoulders, turning beet red.
Upon further inquiry, Jackson reveals that his father Jack was often very busy, at work a lot.
He was kind to Jackson, showing Jackson how to build model ships and aeroplanes when
they spent parts of the weekend together – he relished those days, “I felt close to him” he
remembers fondly, “… he was always busy though”. His mother Sarah was a stay at home
mom “They all were in those days” he adds. She took exceptional care of Jackson – was
very involved in his choices of friends “She was best friends with the mom of whomever my
best friend was at any given time!” He quips, Anne notices his face going red and the vein
pulsing in his neck. When his parents weren’t fighting, Jackson remembers being seen as
funny and silly, making them laugh – together – from time to time.
Jackson was quite brilliant at school, He won a scholarship to study History when he turned
19, he decided to go to university in Melbourne, but came back to Perth after a year,
transferred to Curtin for the rest of his degree, then deferred for two years before returning
to start a Bachelor of Business degree, “it’s more useful, mum said”. He found living in
Melbourne overwhelming and anxiety provoking, found it hard to connect with anyone and
make friends “I was always self-conscious.” He continues “It was one of my many ‘failure to
launch’ moments”. Pausing, he laughs. At the end of the 50-minute hour, Anne asked
Jackson how he felt the session went “Good, I wasn’t expecting to say this much.” It was
one of the few times when he actually held eye contact with Anne – she noted. It was
agreed that Jackson would come back and they would discuss how to move forward.