Charles Eisenstein Disruption

Her anxiety and depression interfere with her academic and interpersonal functions. She struggles to motivate herself to attend her classes. She is not coping well with her internal struggles. She is

Alice enters my office wanting to work on her anxiety and mood changes. There were some general goals aligned with her assessing a desire to be less anxious and to control sudden mood changes. She also stated she would like to turn her life around, but has no idea where to start. Alice notes she is not bleak. She has enough guts to leave a lot of her shady past behind and enrolled into college.

For the past few months Jessica has felt unusually tiered and found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on her school work. Her coworkers have noticed that she is often irritable and withdrawn, which is quite different from her typically friendly disposition. She has called in sick on several

Interpersonally, she had withdrawn from others and socially isolated. She reported having difficulties in forming meaningful relationships with her parents and peers at the college. Her behaviors were inactive causing inability to work or live independently. The hallucinations, delusions, and cognitions she is currently suffering from severely limits her self-care functioning. Her coping methods of avoidant behaviors increase in the negative symptoms to deal with stress that in turn causes increased anxiety, negative cognitions, and psychotic

One day she came to school and we noticed slash marks on her neck and she told us she had attempted suicide. We abruptly told her parents and they signed her up for therapy. Through the combination of antidepressants and psychotherapy, she slowly recovered and now is free of any traces of depression. She was diagnosed with major depressive disorder which according to the National Institute of Mental Health, “ . . . is characterized by a combination of symptoms that interfere with a person's ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy once-pleasurable activities” (“Types of Depression”). Looking back, even she does not know how her condition deteriorated so quickly, which shows how powerful depression is and how easily it can completely change the mind of the person experiencing it.

During the first week of school, I saw Michelle walking down hallways, sitting on benches during off blocks, and eating lunch by the vending machines all by herself. I went up to her and tried to start

Gianna’s parents report that she has a hard time adjusting to living in two separate households because of the two different expectations set by her mother and father. When asked about her mother’s and father’s relationship, she rarely expresses how she feels. At school, Gianna isolates herself from the class, pouts, and cries when she feels hurt or left out from her peers. When she gets into conflicts with her peers, Gianna has a difficulty expressing her feelings and resolving those conflicts effectively. When upset, Gianna will usually sit quietly in class with a frown on her face. Moreover, she has a hard time verbalizing her concerns and engages in avoidance behaviors, such as staring, when she does not understand academic concepts. It is recommended that Gianna learns coping strategies and problem-solving skills to assist her socially and

Her moral development has changed from when she was in her adolescence. Although she feels most of the things she is doing is wrong she states that her life is so complex that at this moment it is about needs. As an adult, there should be more flexibility in her thought patterns, and rational approaches to her issues or problems. Observation shows that there is a lack of psychological development, she has chronic stress resulting from economic hardships, childhood issues not resolved, and seeking fulfillment from others instead of

A challenge arises when attempting to meet Marta’s needs and student needs. Making sure that when focusing on the student, it does not distract the attention or alter the learning environment of the classroom. We need to see the cause of the student’s hyperactive levels so we can prevent the effects of them. Mentioned earlier, attention deficit disorder may be common in hyperactive students as the clearest thing to see is their attention being directed elsewhere besides school work. Since this is not a known fact, we focus on other potential causes such as the difficulty of given assignment, clear directions (which often times is the case), stress, or even if the student is in need of certain materials for the assignment to be completed. All of these factors are potential takes and can be easily addressed. Once Mary, the Speech Language Pathologist, can see improvement on her speech and reading comprehension, there will be a difference in how she reacts to her peers and will demonstrate a connection being made to her peers. Mary focuses on her disadvantages to turn them into blessings so that when next year comes, improvement will be shown and the parent is satisfied that the team is putting effort into helping the child grow. Now Marta will beg to go to school since she will be on par with her peers not in a matter of days or

What they have picked up on though was that she has shown little interest in things she used to do, like reading or participating in arts and crafts. What her parents haven’t noticed was that she has had difficulties falling asleep at night. On one occasion she slept over the house of her best friend in which the friend noticed her insomnia resulted in the constant tossing and turning for hours after they’d laid down. Amber lets all of her emotion out when talking to this friend which include very periodic tearful phone conversations with her closest friend, which have the friend concerned. Although suicide has not been considered as an option, Amber has felt increasingly dissatisfied with her life. She’s been having frequent thoughts of wishing she was dead. She gets discouraged with life because she feels like she has every reason to be happy, yet can’t seem to shake the feeling that things will never get

Alex is a 17-year-old Caucasian female. She is being raised by both parents and has one older brother and one older sister. Alex was diagnosed with Down syndrome at birth and had also had a hole in her heart. Despite Alex’s health concerns, her family history shows no sign of any major health problems. Alex attends a special education program at her school and enjoys participating in swimming, art, and solving puzzles. Two years ago Alex’s sister, whom she was very close to, moved out of the house. Her brother had already been gone for quite some time now and Alex took her sister moving out very hard. Around this same time, Alex became very sick and was hospitalized for quite some time. Ultimately,

Amy is a ten-year-old Caucasian female who lives with her parents and seventeen-year-old college student sister, Jen. No previous physical or mental health problems were noted. Her mother is a homeworker and father is an industrial flooring contractor who often works away from home. She has not been going to the school for two years and could be extremely resistant to anything relevant to school. Even though she is homeschooled, she does not study without displaying tantrum. Her mother has a difficulty in managing Amy’s resistant behavior and tantrums; therefore, they often engage in home chores instead of studying

Last week, my friend, Maliah and I had an anatomy exam. A week prior to the exam we decided that we would start studying and were going to meet up over the weekend in the classroom located in the Los Cerritos dorm building in Hillside College. At 11 am. I got to the classroom and saw Maliah already studying with her headphones in, laptop out, and flashcards around her. I asked Maliah what she was listening to and she told me, “I’m listening to classical piano music”. She said listening to this helps her not get distracted, allowing her to study more efficiently and effectively. However, after a few hours of studying Maliah’s phone died and she had no way of charging her phone because she let her roommate,

As i have discussed above, Kari’s illness has had a substantial impact on her high school years. It has impacted her but not defined her. She has persevered and pushed herself to go to school when she does not feel well, but makes sure to put on a pleasant demeanor so no one is aware of how uncomfortable she is. If you talk to her teachers you will find this to be the case. Many teachers are not aware she is sick till we have a 504 meeting or they are provided notice about her illness. Kari has learned to deal with adversity and persevere.

Jessica is sixteen years old, and is sent to the school counselor following concerns from her year level coordinator. Jessica is finding it difficult to concentrate in class, is continuously late to school, and often arrives to school disheveled and unkempt. The coordinator is concerned about what may be happening at home with Jessica, and that she may be getting involved in a notoriously bad circle of friends in the area known for drug taking and other delinquent activities. Although reluctant during the first few sessions to disclose anything much, Jessica begins to trust the counselor and opens up about her frequent drug use. She says she used to only smoke marijuana, but that now this had increased to weekly