Case Study
Patient Demographic: Client Age: 35 Sex: Male Gender: Male Sexuality: Heterosexual Ethnicity: Hispanic Relationship Status: Divorced Counseling Setting: Private Practice Clinic Type of Counseling: Individual Counseling Presenting Problem: Anxiety; Depressed Mood, Difficulty with Changing Relationship Roles Diagnosis: Adjustment Disorder with Mixed Anxiety and Depressed Mood (F43.23)
Mental Status Exam: Mental Status Exam: The client presents as oriented to person, place, time, and situation. The client appears anxious because he avoids eye contact often and expresses that he has never been in counseling and is ner
Presenting Problem: You are a licensed counselor in Texas in a private practice. A 35-year-old male client comes to counseling for support during a recent divorce. The client says that he and his wife separated a year ago and had to wait a year for divorce per state law; therefore, they finalized the divorce recently. The client says that his wife decided she married him because she was lonely and that, after 8 years of being married, she wanted to find someone she loved. The client states that he still loves his ex-wife and that he has a hard time with his new relationship with her because he shares custody of his children and still has to communicate with her regularly. He continues saying that his wife often calls him for emotional support and he does not know how to respond when this happens because he loves her and wants to support her, but this is confusing for him. The client says that he knows he “shouldn’t be with someone who doesn’t want to be with him and that things won’t go back to how they were.” The client identifies that anxious and depressive symptoms are present and that they affect his ability to engage socially, engage with his children, and perform at work. The client wants to work on navigating his new relationship with his ex-wife, his relationship with his children, and being single again.
Other Contexts: The client talks about when he went to see his daughter at a dance recital and how, afterward when he went to say hello to her, she ignored him. He called his ex-wife later that day, and she denied knowing what was wrong, but when he talked to his son, the boy said, “Mommy told us you didn’t want to live with us anymore and that is why you left.” The client expresses frustration and anger with his ex-wife because she chose to leave him, and he thinks that it is not fair that she is telling the children a lie and also that it is affecting his relationship with them. The client states that he wanted to talk to you before he confronted his wife about this. You and the client discuss conflict resolution skills

Question: All of the following are appropriate conflict resolution strategies for the client and his ex-wife EXCEPT:
(A): Focusing on supporting your client in expressing himself effectively as the priority because he was the party that was hurt
(B): Identifying and establishing the co-parenting goals that benefit the children and parents most
(C): Identifying and establishing ground rules for conflict resolution
(D): Supporting the client in empathizing with his ex-wife for deeper understanding of how the situation occurred

Correct Answer: Focusing on supporting your client in expressing himself effectively as the priority because he was the party that was hurt
Explanation: With the focus of this session being conflict resolution, focusing only on one party would not be the most beneficial approach. The client does need to express himself effectively, but the individuals should take turns expressing themselves regarding the situation. Empathy toward his ex-wife would help the client understand what led her to talk with their children about the divorce in the manner that she did. The parents share custody of the children; therefore, they will need to work out what coparenting looks like and what their goals are as parents. Ground rules can add a framework for tough conversations and help the conversations stay on track toward resolution. Therefore, the correct answer is (C)
Competency: counseling skills and interventions