
Barbara is a 70-year-old woman whose husband of 45 years is fighting both cancer and diabetes. She is resentful since she is aware that he has been unfaithful to her for the past 14 years. Therapist explored ct.’s family dynamics using the genogram that helped therapist identify family patterns and relationships. Barbara had a good marriage where she was a stay-at-home mom and grandma her entire married life. All the years Barbra’s husband’s devotion to his family was evident in his refusal to have his wife work outside the home since he did not want to compromise the stability of the family. Barbara was happy in her marriage, and she never suspected infidelity.
Barbara’s therapist explored the history of her husband’s infidelity that Barbara believes began six years ago and provided her with psychoeducation regarding trauma and dissociation. Addiction is dissociation since a person is unable to deal with his/her issues and he/she needs to escape reality. Her husband is facing his mortality that is difficult to face, therefore he needs to escape reality. Sex addiction is dissociation that would explain her husband’s change in behavior. However, Barbara was not able to accept this explanation since her husband has been ill for the past six years, yet he lost interest in her fourteen years ago. The matter needed further exploration upon which client further explained that her husband became obese and when they had intercourse he was breathing heavily, and she was afraid for his life. Therefore, she told him that they should not have marital relations until he loses weight, and he is safely out of harm’s way. Further inquiries indicated that her husband gained an excessive amount of weight after relinquishing smoking, another addiction. Barbara’s clinician provided her with additional psychoeducation regarding addiction, addiction includes eating disorders such as compulsive eating that allows the individual to dissociate. Her husband never addressed the underlying problem that caused him to smoke, the initial addiction that client used to dissociate.
The clinician further explored with Barbara the means her husband used to help him overcome his addiction. Her husband’s health issues forced him to relinquish smoking without any assistance. He substituted food in exchange for smoking that caused him to become obese. He received Ozempic medication for his diagnosis of diabetes that regulated his blood sugars and suppressed his appetite. This helped him lose weight without the assistance of support groups and again failed to help him find coping strategies for anxiety. This clarification explained Barbara’s husband’s behavior, he overcame his initial addiction of smoking without the necessary support needed to help him deal with difficult emotions that are the underlying causes of dissociation.
Overcoming addiction is insufficient in securing healthy lifestyles. Support groups and learning coping strategies that help the individual deal with anxiety alleviates the need for escape. This case illustrates the necessity for social supports and coping strategies to overcome the need for any addiction. In the absence of these supports a person is in danger of substituting one addiction for another.
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