Review the client (BEN) case study and write a 500+ paper on prompts provided.

Review the client (BEN) case study and write a 500+ paper on prompts provided.

CASE HISTORY

Ben was born and raised in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. His father, who died when Ben was 18, was a janitor at a local department store. His mother was a homemaker. Neither of his parents finished high school, and Ben was born when they were only 17 years old. Ben is 52 years old and has been working as a driver for a postal company for the past 22 years. He reports that he likes his job and enjoys interacting with people.

Ben was an only child, and he explains that he got a lot of attention. He says that that he loved his parents very much, “but they were kinda weird.” He adds that “They were like me. Just different, ya know?” Ben said that his aunt, his father’s sister, has been institutionalized on several occasions.

Ben has been unmarried his entire life. He reports “I liked the girls OK and all that” but he never developed permanent relationships. Ben reports that he has always been “nervous with the girls and such” and he avoids making any significant social overtures with women. He meets his sexual needs matter of factly by visiting a prostitute on a regular basis. He reports that their sexual encounters are highly regimented. He refuses to elaborate on this point, stating that his mother taught him to “never talk about dirty things”.
Ben reports that he also directed a lot of his energy into long walks. Every evening, he would go for a walk, sometimes lasting up to 5 hours. His neighbors were often concerned seeing him walking alone late at night and the police have been called on several occasions. Recently, however, Ben has lost interest in the walks, explaining that the streets are too dangerous. Ben has attended church on a regular basis throughout his life. He has been involved in a number of community activities; people seem to appreciate his involvement, though they find him a bit odd.

During the past two years, coworkers have noticed a gradual change in Ben. While he always seemed a bit unusual, during the past few years, his social interactions seem confused and inappropriate. He sometimes smiles when he is angry, and often seems distressed and agitated when everyone else is laughing. A coworker who befriended him reports that Ben may be using hallucinogenic drugs. Ben denies this, however.

Although coworkers have described a gradual decline, one dramatic event seems to have exacerbated his condition. Ben was scheduled to make a routine delivery, but instead of taking the box into the store, he handed it to a pedestrian who happened to be on the street. As he handed it to her, he explained “This is a gift from Jesus — please keep it with you always.” The puzzled pedestrian reported the incident to Ben’s supervisor. The following day, Ben was unable to clearly recall the incident, and had no explanation for it.
Although his actions were highly unusual, it was an isolated incident and his supervisors let him off with a warning. Unfortunately, the error became known around the station, and coworkers teased him for several weeks. Ben explains that this error weakened his low self image, and undercut his confidence in his ability to perform his job. Ever since this event, Ben has become very careful to avoid making mistakes. He routinely double-checks all of his deliveries, sometimes running back into stores to confirm that he has delivered the correct box. He admitted that he sometimes hears celebrity voices telling him that he is making an error.

Ben spends his spare time in solitary behaviors including watching television (he watches a lot of Court TV and builds plastic military models). During the past six months, Ben also admits to carefully checking all of the locks on his house at night. Although Ben lives in a comfortable neighborhood, he points out that all of the young people in the area dislike him and they may be planning to break into his house. He also disconnects his phone at night to avoid potential threatening phone calls.

Finally, Ben has recently begun insisting that he is suffering from cirrhosis of the liver. Although medical tests have proven negative, he insists that he can feel the organ rotting inside of him. This thought seems to have developed after he watched a television program on the side effects of alcoholism.

At the urging of his supervisor, Ben has voluntarily sought help from his employer’s human resources department.

Q: Ben, what happened on the day when you made a mistake and delivered the package to a person on the street?
A: I don’t remember it so good. It’s like it was another time. Anyway, I know I was doing my regular work, running from place to place. I remember that I was really tired; I did my thing with Betsy real late the night before, and I was really tired. So I was working when one of the boxes started talking to me. They do that, sometimes. All of the drivers know it. Anyway, it was one of those television ministers, Pat Robertson I think. And just like on TV, he starts telling me stuff. Like, we need to share the love of god with everyone.
I like watching TV. Sometimes it’s the only person I have to talk to. It’s the only person who isn’t judging me.

Q: Ben, you used to enjoy taking walks. Why did you stop doing this?
A: I think it is too dangerous. This neighborhood ain’t what it used to be. Even the shopping mall. The kids that sit there are dangerous. And they especially don’t like people like me. They know about me, and they don’t like it. Maybe they are just jealous. They know I am older than them, and that they have to listen to what I say. So they don’t like me and they try to think of ways that they can hurt me. Once, when I came out of the grocery store, a bunch of kids had pushed a shopping cart into my car. I’m just lucky I wasn’t around when they did it.

Q: Do you drink much alcohol?
A: Yeah, but not that much. That stuff rots your guts. I can already feel it doing that to me. I used to drink. Like I’d go out with Betsy afterward. Betsy, she’s my regular. I’d take her out for a beer afterward. It was part of the price. Anyway, she’d drink a lot. But I only have one beer a week. It’s my limit.
But now, I’m stopping even that. Man, I can just feel my liver rotting. It is the strangest damn thing. Its like I can see into my body, and it is so ugly. The doctors can’t see it with their machines. But I can. I know what’s going on inside of my body.

Q: Ben, when did you learn about sex?
A: This is kinda embarrasin’, but what the heck. I was prob’ly ten or eleven years old, and there was this girl in the neighborhood. She was a big girl, ya know. She was prob’ly five years older’n me. Anyway, she really liked touchin’ people. Privately. She was the one who taught me how to jack off. I mean, it was like school. She showed me exactly how to do it, and she’d hit me if I didn’t do it right. It was pretty excitin’, even when I think about it now. Sometimes with Betsy I…well. You know.
I don’t want to talk about it no more.

Q: What is your favorite television program?
A: I really like watchin’ the animal shows. Man, I think it is really somethin’ the way them animals get around and do things. I could never do that many things cause I’m too busy. I mean once, I ran all the way to the store to buy some bread and the store was closed. They shouldn’t close on weekends so damn early. So I took a bath.

Q: Please tell me about your childhood?
A: I grew up mostly normal, I think. I was their only kid, and Momma and Daddy was real nice; they never pushed me to do anything. They tell me I was in diaper till I was more’n four years old, but they didn’t worry about it none.
We was poor, and we usually didn’t eat real good. But when daddy was workin, things was good. Daddy had problems keepin’ a job. People didn’t like him. Like I told you, my parents were kinda funny, like me. They didn’t have no friends, really, and Daddy had trouble with his bosses. Most nights we’d just sit at home, sorta talkin’ or watchin’ TV. Daddy and Momma, they got along pretty good. The only times they’d fight was when Daddy went away on them business trips. He’d be away for two, three days. A week sometimes. That was the only time I ever saw them fight, when he come back from his trips.

Q: Ben, do you think you have a problem?
A: I don’t know. I talked with Betsy about it. She told me that she didn’t wanta visit me in no mental hospital, and so I told her she didn’t have to. I mean, there ain’t no reason why she should drive her car so much. Man, cars is really expensive and Betsy don’t have a lot of money. I know that money shouldn’t be all that important, but it really is. If you don’t have money, you don’t have shit.

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