Analysis of Karen Carpenter Via Person Centered Theory

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Karen Carpenter I. Client conceptualization Karen Carpenter is a white 30 year old female who has been feeling incongruence between what she is experiencing, and her self concept. This incongruence results in behaviors of anorexia nervosa. She is known for her singing career which stemmed from her older brother. Born on March 2nd 1950, she started taking ballet, tap, and aerobic lessons at age four. Her congruence was most likely offset by the ballet, tap, and aerobics lessons because as advanced into grade school, she was known more as a “tomboy that liked to play ball games in the street and her front yard”. Karen’s motivating force to be all that she could be was being morphed into what her parents wanted her to become when they expressed their conditional regard to Karen. She was frequently teased as a child by her family for being overweight as family members referred to her weight as “baby fat”. While she was playing outside, her brother remained inside practicing the piano, and at times she would sometimes join him. The fact that she sometimes joined him with music at such an early age reflects that she was in the early stages of realizing the specific conditions of worth her family was giving her. At a young age Karen learned to act cheerful even though she was feeling down. She learned to act and behave in certain ways so that people around her would accept her “real self” (the person that she showed on the outside) Her teachers say that they remember her as being “ energetic, motivated and sincere” when she was most likely feeling alone, wondering about her worth, and confused about her identity. When she was 13, the family moved to California to

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