Case Study 1

1. Background Information:

Subject is 18 years old and a student at IIT Delhi. He has been a physically healthy teenager. He was born in a well-to-do family and has enjoyed their love and affection. He has never been a problematic child for his parents. Before IITD, he went to school regularly without fail, studied hard, got good marks at school consistently, and took part in various extra curricular activities also. He is a highly creative person, and can use creativity in emotions also effectively. He is a highly autotelic personality. Overall, he remains quite optimistic about his future.

2. Problem Faced & its Symptoms:

However he faces a problem i.e. his nagging character. After interacting with him, it was found that he became overenthusiastic in any activity, and became easily irritated when what he wanted was not given to him. He was good in making friends, however, they couldn’t stand him for his useless talk, and nagging character. When he finds a competitor in an activity, he puts all his (mainly verbal) energies in defeating him/them (as is said in Hindi, “Neecha Dikhana” ) and neglects everything else. When he cannot defeat them, he starts denying his loss, and finds excuses for explaining himself. He cannot take jokes made on him lightly and interprets them as a character attack. He behaves saintly only with his room-mate, for reasons unknown, and often treats others (mostly friends) as little more than timepass. He starts shouting (for no reason at all) in his daily conversation with friends, which often comes across as rude. He has a dominating and short-tempered character. And for some reason, he cannot seem to control himself.

3. Diagnosis:

· He has emotion-focused coping approach. This is evident from his character of denial and excuse making nature.

· It has also been observed, that his demographics (he hails from Chandigarh) also go against him, as that place is often scrutinized by his friend circle. They have made a general opinion about the people from that place being losers. Thus, his behavior is heavily affected by environmental factors also.

· Resilient Ability: When faced with a crisis, a negative resolution leads him to become pessimistic and even more irritated.

· It also seems that he lacks optimum emotional intelligence i.e. his ability to regulate emotions. Specific problem areas are emotional understanding and management.

Pehchaan kaun??