In this case, you need to counsel your patient, about what he suspects he is experiencing. Henok is a 55-year-old male. He was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia but has lived in the American South for the last 30 years. He has had a successful life as an industrial engineer, and has made a very lucrative living. Henok got married when he was 45 years old and had twin boys when he was 47.
He loves his wife and twin boys, but he is starting to feel restless and anxious and isn’t sure why. He signed up for a skydiving trip with his friends two weeks ago and loved it. Now he wants to buy a motorcycle. He has come to you because he is experiencing chest pains. His EKG is normal, and all his bloodwork is normal. Everything points to him being physically healthy.
You ask a few questions and find out the following information: He hasn’t been sleeping well. He thinks he is a failure. He recently had his black hair bleached blonde, He bought a beach house and hasn’t told his wife yet. He got the phone number of a female coworker to meet for drinks, but he felt guilty and threw it in the trashcan right away.He has found himself missing his late father.
Your job: Tell Henok what you think is going on Tell Henok
how you think he can best overcome these feelings Make a referral for Henok Provide some encouragement for Henok (this is your conclusion)
How did you reach these conclusions?
What research helped you arrive at the decisions that you did?
Answer:
Firstly, I would like to discuss about the issue being faced by you. After reviewing your case history, the major area of concern observed is midlife crisis that can upstretched due to growing age and its associated disruptive thoughts (Paliwal (2018),). Midlife crisis is the normal phenomenon of life, when people move towards to older adult (Backer & Jacobs, 2016). Since you have been into your middle age, sudden feeling of restlessness and anxiety is the impact of midlife crisis. It is seen in the research that it makes the person feels life as unpleasant, even though everything goes in correct direction. The negative thoughts and sense lead to anxiety, restlessness, sleeping disorder or feeling of failure (Tekin, 2017). Therefore, since such signs have been noticed which indicate that you are experiencing midlife crisis. This could happen to the person who go through life on autopilot and unexpectedly realize their growing age, passing time and low accomplishment. Research also reflect that during midlife crisis, people tends to adopt young interests which symbolizes success and youth (Liebert & Golby, 2017). From your case history, it is analysed that you are also having interest in skydiving with friends, hair colouring and willing to purchase a motorcycle. Thus, it reflects that you are at the mild stage of midlife crisis which has started to affect to your neurological and cognitive functioning. Therefore, by critically reviewing your case history and interview taken, I think that you are having mental illness associated with midlife crisis. If you leave it untreated it could have adverse effect on your psychological state. Hence, there is the need to overcome such eruptive feeling to lead to happy life with your life.
Next, I would to discuss different ways by which you can overcome these feeling. Research suggest that midlife crisis can be addressed by recognizing personal sign and symptoms (Commons, Shah & Keffer, 2019). Thus, I think, you need to self-realise the signs and change in the behaviour for adoption of better coping strategies. Midlife crisis can be overcome the feeling by taking appropriate steps (Can, 2018). You need to acknowledge the crisis and changes that are happening in your life as it can benefit you to search for the way to improve ill thoughts. You need to think twice before taking any steps like buying a car/bike or going for adventurous strip. You can easily overcome such feeling by communicating with your wife and another family member about the midlife crisis. I would like to say that the midlife crisis is not an integrally immoral issue; therefore, the thoughts and feeling ascending in you can be used positively. You have to take careful consideration and handle the attitude in a better way focus to improve your mental issues like anxiety and restlessness. You can also try new activities and travel with your family. Further, I would suggest to engage in physical activities and adopt a healthy eating habit. It can also help you to move out of a midlife crisis and overcoming the feelings.
For adoption of such method, I will like to refer you to the psychotherapist. They can assist you adopt such changes when you are unable to notice any improvement even after going through suggested intervention. Psychotherapist helps to make the change in the behaviour in a positive way by encouraging and motivating the person (Schmidt, 2018). They will help you to lead your life towards success and overcome the mental issue of anxiety, restlessness, feeling like failure and sleeping disorder (Meichenbaum, 2017).
In accompany with it, there is also the requirement to provide you some encouragement for better life. Since, you have been leading a healthy life with your twin children and loving wife. You are the only person who can take care of your family efficiently. Hence, there is the need to handle your issue of midlife crisis for the wellbeing of your family and yourself. You have a positive attitude and good confidence skill; however, the midlife crisis has made you feel like a failure. You have been doing well in your career as an industrial engineer and had a lucrative living which suggests that you are a successful person. Moreover, I think you can overcome such disruptive easily, and the only thing that needs to be done is thinking before taking any action.
I have reached a conclusion by studying your case study, collecting information from the interview, and discussing with evidence-based literature. The research from the journal articles on midlife crisis and mental issues helped me to arrive at the decision which I have made for you.
References
Backer, C. L., & Jacobs, M. L. (2016). Fontan at 40: Midlife crisis? The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, 151(3), 621-622. Retrieved from https://www.jtcvs.org/article/S0022-5223(15)01826-7/pdf
Can, S. S., Çayköylü, A., Karakaya, Ö., & Turan, G. (2018). Mid-life crisis with obsessive and psychotic features. Klinik Psikofarmakoloji Bulteni, 28, 236-236. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/openview/60278eb42244c7837cac070bc3b6a359/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=28708
Commons, M. L., Shah, M. J., & Keffer, M. H. (2019). Using Matching “Smarts” and Interest to Successfully Address Depression Caused by Existential Crisis. In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. IntechOpen. Retrieved from DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.84337
Liebert, H., & Golby, J. (2017). Midlife crisis? The all-volunteer force at 40. Armed Forces & Society, 43(1), 115-138. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0095327X16641430
Lin, C. H., Cheng, H. M., Chuang, S. Y., & Chen, C. H. (2017). Vascular aging and cognitive dysfunction: silent midlife crisis in the brain. Pulse, 5(1-4), 127-132. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1159/000481734
Meichenbaum, D. (2017). Changing conceptions of cognitive behavior modification: Retrospect and prospect. In The Evolution of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (pp. 32-38). Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315748931/chapters/10.4324/9781315748931-10
Paliwal, S. (2018). Midlife Crisis: A Myth or Reality. Asian Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 8(6), 153-159. Retrieved from https://dx.doi.org/10.5958/2249-7315.2018.00097.7
Schmidt, S. A. (2018). The midlife crisis, gender, and social science in the United States, 1970-2000 (Doctoral dissertation, University of Cambridge). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.20995
Tekin, B. G. (2017). Ageing men and therapeutic pints in Roddy Doyle’s Two Pints. Estudios Irlandeses, (12), 129-139. Retrieved from https://www.estudiosirlandeses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Art%C3%ADculo-11-Tekin-1.pdf
