Eric Beck Essay

" At the time of his presentation to the outpatient clinic of a psychiatric hospital, Eric Beck was a 32-year-old single Caucasian man who lived with his parents. Although he had worked as a stockbroker after college and had also been trained as a paralegal, Eric had been underemployed over the preceding several years. Currently, Eric was working part-time as a night watchman for a large professional building in the city. Although he had a few close heterosexual relationships during college, Eric had not been in a steady relationship for more than 8 years.
Eric had a long history of emotional difficulties dating back to his high school years. He had been hospitalized on three occasions when his symptoms had become severe. The most recent of these hospitalizations, occurring a year before his initial visit to the outpatient clinic, had lasted 2 months. Over the past 13 years, Eric had continually taken some form of medication for his symptoms.
During his initial visit to the clinic, Eric stated that the primary reason for seeking treatment was for help with his persistent symptoms of concentration difficulties and chronic worry and anxiety. Eric reported that he worried about everything, including his inability to hold a job to be self-supporting, losing support from his family or being too much of a burden on them, the possibility of his car breaking down, acci- dentally insulting people, and his lack of a girlfriend. He claimed that he was having considerable difficulty controlling these worries to put them out of his mind and con- centrate on something else. Because his worries hindered his ability to concentrate, Eric routinely repeated information in his head in an attempt not to forget things that he felt might be important later (e.g., the name of a company to which he might apply for a job at some point in the future).
Eric’s inability to sustain a career