Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment of a Couple or Family

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Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment of a Couple or Family Gwendolyn E Simmons Capella University The Jones family is an African-American family consisting of Harold (42), Shirley (36), and their two children, Ben (13) and Tracy (9). Shirley has been deployed overseas for the past 18 months. During this time Harold's mother Barbara has been living with the family. Ben has become very withdrawn during his mother's absence; he is often truant from school and Harold suspects he is using drugs. Tracy is doing well in her school work, but has temper tantrums at home when things do not go her way. Harold was recently laid off from a job he held for over 10 years and is feeling very discouraged. His mother has loaned him money until he can find another job, but he worries about his ability to take care of his family. Shirley returned home from duty three weeks ago. She was initially very happy to see her family, but is having trouble adjusting to being back home. She does not get along with Harold's mother and the two women argue constantly. She has been having difficulty sleeping, feels like she is "in a daze" much of the time, refuses to go into town saying it is "too noisy and too crowded," and doesn't seem interested in connecting with her old friends. When the children want to spend time with her, Shirley becomes irritable and says she is too tired. Tracy has been crying frequently since her mother has returned, and Ben disappeared for two days without telling anyone where he was. Harold feels overwhelmed and does not know what to do. When he discovered some marijuana in Ben's room, he decided the family needed to see a therapist. Identify and evaluate specific methods you would use during the assessment and diagnosis phase with this couple or family. In the vignette, it was reported that, the Jones Family is
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