Solution Focused Narrative Therapy by Linda Metcalf PhD LPC-S LMFT-S

Author:Linda Metcalf, PhD, LPC-S, LMFT-S
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Publishing Company, Inc.
Published: 2017-03-29T00:00:00+00:00

THERE’S A MONSTER IN MY HEAD

Olive, age 10, came to counseling with her mother, who was concerned that Olive had developed numerous rituals at home that seemed odd and bothersome to both Olive and her family. For instance, Olive would go to each door in the house every morning and evening, open the door, make a hand gesture over it, and close it twice. She could not drink from a water fountain at school before looking at the ceiling. She would comb her hair at least 15 times each morning and night and brush her teeth five times per day for exactly 4 minutes. She insisted on doing all of the laundry in the home and folding the laundry to make sure all the labels were lined up and looked “perfect.” When friends came over—which was not often, as Olive thought they were too messy—she followed them around to straighten up things that they might have touched or moved. According to her mother, Olive had always been a neat child, and at age 2, she would straighten her dolls constantly as she played with them, lining them up in a perfect row. In school, Olive said that she made all As and was constantly erasing her papers so that things she wrote down were, in her words, “perfect.” She said when she read a book, if she missed a word while reading out loud, she would have to start completely over from the beginning of the book.

Olive and her mother were concerned about these behaviors, and how they were affecting Olive’s home and school life. Troubled by the “rituals” that her mom described, Olive appeared overwhelmed and overburdened by the constant need to do tasks that interfered with enjoying her life as a 10-year-old. Although we never discussed OCD, Olive certainly exhibited many symptoms. I listened closely to both of them and then moved forward in the session with the following question, to gain traction toward creating a preferred future. I asked them both: “So, what are your best hopes for our time?”

Mom:

“Olive told me last week that she felt like she had a monster in her head and wanted it to stop. She said she was so tired of the monster because it kept her from having any fun, doing more crafts, and she couldn’t do the activities she wanted to do. She couldn’t watch a favorite show on television without making sure things were perfect before she sat down. She was tired of it constantly making her do things. She found her actions annoying to herself, as they were to all of us, but she just couldn’t stop.”

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