COUNSELLING CASE_ Brett

Brett is a 36 year old man who works as an accountant for a small family business. The business is
failing and Brett will probably have to begin the process of "winding it up" in the near future. His
commitment to the business and his friends, the business owners, has intensified the level of stress he
is feeling as a result of the business collapse. He has taken a week off work on sick leave and feels
too "stressed" to return to work.

Background
Melinda, Brett's wife, contacted C because she was greatly concerned for her husband. She was
worried that Brett was depressed as he was refusing to go to work. She stated that he had agreed to
attend counselling if she organized an appointment, however he did not think it would help him.
Brett had worked as an accountant in small businesses for the last twelve years. About eight years ago
he was working with another business that required him to close it down. He described that
experience as extremely distressful. He felt that the process had involved a loss of loyalty from
organizations associated with the business and that he saw this as a "personal attack" against him. He
also felt he had been exposed to people who would do everything they could to get as much as
possible from a "crumbling company".
Brett reported the following symptoms: decreased motivation particularly in relation to his work,
unusual outbursts of anger, anxiety whenever he thinks about his work or attends his workplace, and
difficulty sleeping. He stated that these symptoms commenced when he realized that the business he
was working for might begin to fold and have increased to the point that he is finding it difficult to
complete his usual tasks and "doesn't want to do anything".

Session Details
In the first session, Brett reported that he felt he was "depressed" (using his own understanding of the
term). He stated that the depression began as the retail business he was working for started
deteriorating. He also described feeling depressed in the past on about 4 or 5 other occasions when he
had experienced significantly negative events in his life.
One of these events was that while he was working for a printing firm six years ago, it began to fold
and he was required to do the work to "wind it up". During that time he felt betrayed by people he had
trusted and he felt "conned" and tricked by many "colleagues", and as a result, he had felt like a
failure. He stated that he was now experiencing an extreme fear of having to go through the same
experience again.
Brett described working at least a sixty hour week every week and that his whole life revolved around
his work, in fact, he had not had a holiday for at least four years. He said that he measured his success
in life by the quality and quantity of his work rather than by any other measure, including the income
he earned. He talked about how his family of origin had in the past told him to work elsewhere, as he
would earn a lot more money. Brett knew that they were right, but he preferred to be involved in the
development of a small company, and money was not very important to him.
Brett reported that he felt "a bit silly" having such a big psychological reaction to something that he
thought should not affect him at all.