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Sunny’s Case – Anger

Sunny’s Case – Anger

Do you find similarities between yourself and Sunny?

Sunny is 32 years old and has a few friends at his workplace. He has had 2 relationships in the past but both of them ended due to his anger issues. Both of them were initiated and ended by the girls. He lacks confidence when it comes to relationships but also claims that they would argue a lot in both the relationships. He is close to his sister’s children but has issues with her as well. He had a volatile relationship with her over the past 4 years.

In his relationships he recounted patterns of jealousy and anger. He constantly thinks that his exes cheated on him and hence, left him. He claims to love nobody because nobody loves him.

Previously Sunny tried to seek help from his family doctor concerning recurrent feelings of anger but wasn’t taken seriously. The anger is sometimes directed at his partner or random strangers. He says it could be stemming from the relationship issues between his mother and father. In addition, there have been prolonged period of rumination concerning his appearance in front of other people. He says, “I can’t control my anger. People don’t like me.” A similar theme appeared at his workplace where he pushed a colleague when he brought up a sensitive topic regarding his mother. This was an instance when Sunny acted on his anger at work. His other memories recounted of verbal anger instead. He admitted to frequently feeling like smashing someone when they annoy him. He believes that people’s actions are usually designed to provoke him so they could talk about him later behind his back. He constantly feels that people are talking about him. He harbours negative feelings towards his mother since he was a teenager. At the age of 16 he told her that he ‘hates’ her. He is often disturbed by this memory. He hasn’t been able to distract himself successfully and ends up screaming and shouting or punching walls. He feels unable to handle distress. He wonders if there are hormonal imbalances which makes him so angry.

Sunny is seeking anger management which usually lasts for 12 weeks. He seems motivated to engage with therapy. His sister’s children are a major factor towards working on his mental health as he would like to have his own kids someday. He tries to be reflective and insightful to new psychological approaches which gets him out of his comfort zone. If you found similarities between your case and Sunny’s, our team would be able to help you.

Personal details have been changed to preserve confidentiality.

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Mohammad’s Case – Nervousness

Mohammad’s Case – Nervousness

Do you find similarities between yourself and Mohammad?

Mohammad is an 18 year old student who has limited displayed emotions. He spoke about severe physical, verbal and emotional abuse by his brother growing up. He remembers feeling neglected by his parents from early childhood. Both of them are always working. His brother has an alcohol problem. He finds this extremely disturbing since its forbidden by his religion. He described reacting to his brother’s abuse with passivity and by trying to avoid him. He also described being an easy target at school who is bullied by everyone. He says, “They bully me because I am quiet.” He has been skipping school leading to achieving bad grades in exams.

He spoke about his home life as ‘terrible’. His experiences include frequently being woken up and irritated in the middle of the night by his brother who is also suffering from insomnia. His father is also a passive man who ‘goes with the flow’ when his mother expresses distress regarding work and colleagues. He constantly thinks about suicide. He blames his father for not defending him against his brother. He feels alone in his own house and feels scared to take part in activities at school. He reported occasional nightmares. Mohammad disclosed that his mother’s father committed suicide by drinking poison. He sees similarities between his grandfather and himself. “Both of us, no friends”, he says. He didn’t recall sharing too many memories growing up with him.

At school his major problem is performance anxiety. He feels nervous in front of people and starts to stammer when he is asked to talk in front of people. He doesn’t feel good at school and lacks motivation to do his assignments. However, he enjoys biking and forgets all his problems when he is outside.

Mohammad has been referred by the school counsellor. He arranges hourly sessions whenever he has a difficult time at home or school. His therapeutic journey includes biking, therapy and trying to constructively talk to his family and classmates. If you found similarities between yourself and Mohammad, our team would be able to help you too.

Personal details have been changed to preserve confidentiality.

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Pranav’s Case – Detachment

Do you find similarities between yourself and Pranav?

Pranav is a 30 year old Indian man who has a medium paying job at an English speaking firm. His job currently requires him to learn Arabic to enhance his communication skills. He doesn’t think it would be possible as its extremely hard in every manner. He attended a few Arabic classes before coming for therapy. In Muscat he feels extremely lonely and yearns for physical and emotional intimacy. He feels if he had someone to support him, he would be able to do better in life. Nonetheless, he is too afraid of rejection. He changes the topic every time someone tries to make him meet someone new. He also says that he would hurt his ex girlfriend more than everything. He maintains a platonic friendship with her. She finds it hard to completely let go of the possibility of them resuming their relationship in the future as he appears to be consistent and stable, and represents safety, familiarity and “no risk”. She is currently in Muscat.

He has been considering moving back to India. He is certain he would be able to find a less demanding job there. He hopes that the cultural and language similarities could also make it much easier to meet someone new. However, he worries about starting over and making a new life for himself there.  Another thought that distresses him is that it would be quite disappointing and lonely if he moved but didn’t meet anyone.

Pranav has been terrified by the reality of passing time, especially during the time of corona virus pandemic. This has brought up feelings of dying without achieving anything meaningful in life. He feels emotionally paralysed and caught between what he calls “death anxiety” and “life anxiety”.

Pranav is currently undergoing existential therapy.  He has been to therapy before but ends up withdrawing when he feels disappointed and that the therapy is not living up to his expectations. He decided to start the 8 weeks therapeutic journey to try and resolve his issues of detachment. If you found similarities between yourself and Pranav, our team would be able to help you too.

Personal details have been changed to preserve confidentiality.

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Sarah’s Case – Existential

Sarah’s Case – Existential

Do you find similarities between yourself and Sarah?

Sarah is a 49 year old American woman who lived in the Czech Republic for 14 years. She originally moved to Muscat because of her relationship with an Indian man, but they divorced 2 years ago. They had no children and the relationship was very unsatisfactory in terms of meeting Sarah’s needs for intimacy, affection and emotional connection. Her ex husband was an overly rational, emotionally reserved person and She (previously diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder) is very emotionally labile and intense. Despite the divorce, Sarah remained in Muscat. She has a few close friends and no family here. Both her parents died within 2 months of each other last year. She has 3 siblings who still live in the US. She doesn’t feel close to any of them. They are all significantly older than her and extremely “rational”. She often feels patronised by them.

She is extremely intelligent and has a well-paid job which she does very well. However, it brings her no joy and she has no strong interest. Her passion and talent is theatre. She used to take actin and improvisation classes but lost motivation for these a long time ago. Her dream is to travel around the world using theatre and educate people about social injustices and how they can be addressed. She feels prevented from trying to follow her dreams. She says, “It is unfortunate but I am too old now to make a change.” She constantly has feelings of helplessness because she would have to sacrifice financial security.

Sarah is under the care of a therapist who uses acceptance and commitment therapy. She writes and directs small plays to deal with her existential issues. If you found similarities between yourself and Sarah, our team would be able to help you.

Personal details have been changed to preserve confidentiality.

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Paul’s Case – Depression

Paul’s Case – Depression

Do you find similarities between yourself and Paul?

Paul is a 25 year old man who was diagnosed with depression eight months ago. He was referred by his key worker for psychological input relating to low mood, anger, anxiety and social isolation. He has 2 children under the age of 3 who live with his partner in her parents’ house. Paul’s referral was preceded by a seven week therapeutic journey. A row in his relationship led to a temporary break up. He had threatened his wife several times and their fights would end up being physical. This made him start therapy again.

He initially appeared somewhat nervous and reported no previous psychological input. Nevertheless, he seemed keen to discuss his difficulties and stated that he would like to ‘get some help’ for how he has been feeling. He described persistent low mood and anxiety, and identified his perceived difficulty managing feelings of intense anger as his main priority. His current problems had escalated to the extent that for the last few months he had been avoiding leaving the house because of the feelings of anger triggered in him by ‘totally irrelevant things’. These factors have led to a considerable restriction of Paul’s current life. He described never having been able to hold down a job, due to feeling victimised and criticised by employers. Although he thought the anti-depressant medication he has been taking had been helpful, he still says, “I’m in a bad mood all the time”. He also described a persistent feeling that people don’t like him.

Paul is under the care of a therapist who uses psychoanalytic therapy. He visits his therapist on a weekly basis. He still has depressive feelings but is more aware of them when he has a setback. He reminds himself to be resilient everyday. If you found similarities between yourself and Paul, our team would be able to help you.

Personal details have been changed to preserve confidentiality.

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Anna’s Case – Health Anxiety

Anna’s Case – Health Anxiety

Do you find similarities between yourself and Anna?

Anna is a 33 year old Russian woman who has been living and working in Bangalore for 5 years. She originally came to therapy with signs of health anxiety and preoccupation with physical symptoms, which seem to have been triggered by her boyfriend of four years deciding to go to Amsterdam for a year and a consequent fear of losing the relationship. It seemed in the initial session that Anna was focusing and worrying about her physical health instead of having to deal with her feelings about her boyfriend leaving. However, when the therapist asked whether this might be possible, she denied this and was in the process of undergoing repeated medical tests and scans to identify a cause for her physical symptoms. It was discussed that therapy would only be helpful for Anna when she saw at least some of her problems as being linked to psychological factors.

Six months later Anna contacted the therapist again and arranged another consultation. She was now under the care of a psychiatrist, who had started her on antidepressants and suggested she try therapy again. Anna’s boyfriend had gone to Amsterdam and the relationship had ended. She felt abandoned and empty and deeply missed the friendship. Although she felt that the relationship had probably not been right for a long time, she had stayed in it so long because she was afraid of being alone. She realized she had been dependent on her boyfriend for validation, attention and acceptance, and was struggling to adjust to being single. She noted a pattern in all relationships (with both family and past partners) of being dependent on others (for advice, looking after, self-esteem, etc.) and described herself as an “egoist” who tries to manipulate others to get what she wants and never being happy with what she gets. She had no strong hobbies, interests or passions. She had a small but good circle of friends in Prague and often spent time socializing with them. She also had regular contact with her family in Russia.

Although, Anna wanted to learn to be comfortable being alone, within a few weeks she had started flirting with colleagues in whom she had never been interested previously, in order to distract herself and get attention. Despite being insecure about her appearance, she also placed a lot of value on it and used it as her main way of interacting with males. Se described multiple instances of binge drinking, sometimes to the point of vomiting and memory loss.

Anna is under the care of a person-centered therapist. She is doing better now compared to when she started therapy. If you found similarities between your case and Anna’s, our team would be able to help you.

Personal details have been changed to preserve confidentiality.