Psychology: Professional Limitation - Essay Example

Professional Limitations Professional limitations are very important to a psychologist and all psychologists should be very well aware of them, because their own, singular professional limitations determine to what extent they can take care of the client. Generally speaking, limitations must exist in all aspects in order for the individual to be able to help someone effectively. That is because it is not important just how much you know about a subject, but also how you can put whatever it is you know into practice.

Situation Situation A sixteen year-old girl, attending 10th grade, was referred for counseling by her teacher due to concerns regarding her well-being. The teacher wanted her to talk to a professional because she had noticed that the girl looked sad all the time, she did not participate in class activities, she did not do her home works, she was reserved and did not have many friends. As a result of all these, she had failed four major subjects and all her teachers became very concerned about her.

The teacher needed the consent of the student`s mother in order to do anything, which was obtained. Then the teacher invited the mother to a discussion with the psychologist. The mother came for the interview and was explained the limit of confidentiality. During the initial interview the mother stated that her daughter was always behaving as the teachers had said, and that she herself had reached the conclusion that her daughter was jus lazy. The mother added that the student used to spend most of the time in her room, that she hardly had any friends, that she did not communicate even with her own family and that she almost refused to do any house work.

The mother had come to the conclusion that the girl was trying to get attention to herself in order to be excused from doing any work at home and from studying for school. As the girl was always tired and seemed to have no energy she had been consulted by the doctor, who had found no serious medical issues. The psychologist obtained the consent of the student to interview her and explained to her the confidentiality limits. The student said that for a long time now she had been feeling very sad because of a reason she could not name, as she appeared not to be aware of it.

She was very upset because the family did not seem to understand or believe her. She could no longer find anything pleasant to enjoy in life, therefore she felt that life could offer her no satisfaction. She was always feeling tired, so everything she was asked to do seemed too hard at the time. She was over-emotional all the time and had difficulties in relaxing at all. Finally, the student revealed to the psychologist that two months ago she had tried to take her own life using many pain killers, but that she had failed to do so because the medicine made her feel really sick and she felt she had to throw up the pills.

The student added that she had not told anyone about this suicide attempt. Following the interview, the psychologist conducted Mental Statue Exam and Risk Assessment, plus K-10 and DASS-42 tests. The latter two tests revealed that the client was seriously depressed, while the Risk Assessment test revealed that the student had already made a plan to try again to commit suicide and that she had already chosen a way to do that. Alarmed by this finding, the psychologist felt that she must share this information with the student`s mother, so she had to ask for the consent of the student to do so.

Although reluctant at first, the girl finally agreed to that. Having obtained that agreement, the psychologist had another interview with the mother and the Case manager, to whom she explained that she felt that action was needed quickly, should there not occur something more serious in the meantime. With this purpose, the psychologist suggested that the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMH) be the institution to offer support to the student. The mother objected firmly and rejected the assumption that her daughter might have any mental health issues.

Both the psychologist and the Case manager presented their findings to her, in order to emphasize the urgent need for help of her daughter. Although reluctantly, the mother agreed that CAMH would be the best organization to help her daughter. With that consent and while the mother was still present in the room, the psychologist made the necessary referral and arranged the future meetings with CAMH personnel. Role of the provisional psychologist in that situation To notice signs of disorder and investigate as to the complete picture of the manifestations.

To inform the parents that their daughter might need help and to obtain consent from them. To properly interpret the information provided by the mother and view it in combination with other data regarding the student. To supervise the student`s behavior while at school and to extract relevant information from her teachers. To interview the student and try to figure out and clear out the issues troubling her. To try to help the student while at the same time respecting her privacy and confidentialities.

To try to prevent another suicide attempt from the student. Situation requirements that the psychologist was able to meet The psychologist had a very difficult job in this particular case, as the depressed student did not really attract attention onto herself except when she failed four important subjects at school, and even then there was little real information that could be used to help the student. The girl did not manifest herself violently, but instead she cut off her connections with the real world and even attempted to commit suicide once.

Considering these circumstances, it can be said that the psychologist did a very good job with most of the tasks she was supposed to undertake: notice the disorder, talk to the parties and obtain relevant information, put that information into a proper context and then try to comfort and help the student as much as possible. The only thing she could not really help with was actually not within her powers, namely to prevent the student from having another suicide attempt, but the psychologist did everything she possibly could to this goal: she talked to the girl and won her trust, she managed to communicate effectively with the mother and she told everybody she thought could help the fact that in her opinion the student was preparing for another suicide attempt, for which she had already chosen a method.

Situation requirements that were outside the provisional psychologist’s competence or expertise The psychologist could not control in any way the student`s future intentions and, as she was not a psychiatrist, she could not recommend medical treatment of any kind for the disturbed young woman. All she could and ought to do was to talk to several people about the case and try to figure out which institution was the most qualified to help the student. In order to prevent the student from repeating the attempted suicide the psychologist talked insistently with the mother, until she convinced her that her daughter`s case was indeed a very serious, life-threatening one.

How the situation and client needs were managed Both the situation and client`s needs were managed very well. The psychologist was able to understand the complexity of the situation and thus to come up with a solution: the disturbed student should seek help with the organization CAMH, especially created for disturbed young people like her. As the situation was not a public one, with violent manifestations, the impact on the school was very small, because the people had not even noticed that the girl was having difficulties, let alone be disturbed by them.

So the psychologist did not have to do much in order to Finally, the psychologist completed very well her tasks in talking to the student and convincing her that her life could improve for the better. This is, until the next crisis, when the psychologist could not guarantee the student`s safety. It was for this reason, mainly, that the psychologist felt that the student should get professional help. Awareness of personal and professional limitations that may affect work with similar clients or situations By being aware of one`s own limitations, one can improve his/her performance.

In this case, the next time the psychologist meets such a student, she will try, for example, to find out faster about possible suicides, in order to be able to prevent regrettable tragedies.