Dr. Gregory House: Unorthodox Diagnostician and Substance Abuse Treatment | English

Running head: English
English
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Case Summary and Presenting problems of Dr. Gregory House
Client History
The present case summary is about the fictional character Gregory House, from the
television show ‘House, M. D.’. Gregory House is the head of the diagnostic department at the
Princeton-Plainsboro Clinic. He always leads a team of diagnosticians, as he is the head of the
Diagnostic Medicine department in the ‘Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital’ at Princeton in
New Jersey.
Gregory House is annoyed with his routine work at the Princeton-Plainsboro as it entails
a string of simple diagnoses, and only another investigation can allay his boredom. He treats
people with a fair amount of cynicism, and amazes patients with his eccentric and witty manner
of communication. He is cynical towards his patients and is often harsh in his statements. He can
surprise anyone with a quick and accurate diagnosis of not only the disease of that person, but
can also the reveal the circumstances of the personal life of that person. Although House himself
is very self-contained, he likes to test people and observe their reactions. The patients and
colleagues of Dr. House also influence and shape the character of House. Dr. House is compelled
to walk with a cane after a surgery on the quadriceps muscle of his right thigh. He often uses it to
justify his behavior or his bad mood as well as his dependence on Vicodin that soothes his
chronic leg pains. In addition, House uses methadone and LSD. Judging by some signs, it can be
said that his pains are psychosomatic in nature. Before his leg injury, House played sports.
Gregory House is a polyglot. He demonstrates knowledge of Mandarin Chinese, Hindi and
Spanish. People around him are convinced that House can speak any language. He is a real music

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lover and plays not only the piano but guitar and the harmonica as well, and has great knowledge
about music.
The diagnostic approaches that are shown on the show ‘House, M. D.’ and the attitude of
Dr. Gregory House are both unorthodox in nature (Lapostolle et al., 2013). The character of Dr.
Gregory House has always garnered some positive reviews that have increased the popularity of
the show in various ways. Dr. House has been shown as a person who lacks sympathy for his
patients. House loves his mother but hates his father completely for some reason (Witzel, Koch
& Kaminski, 2017).
Presenting Problems
The client is seeking counseling in order to address and cure the problem of substance
abuse. House’s substance of choice is Vicodin, which is an opioid painkiller. Behavioral therapy
is suggested to address his problem (Carroll & Onken, 2005) and a cognitive and skill-training
approach will probably be more useful in this case. As House often uses drug recreationally and
the pain in his leg is only used as a justification, it is necessary to help him in developing skills
that will help House to foster abstinence and solve the recurring problems. The same approach
can be used to help him deal with his personal problems connected to relationships with other
people. In the following sections, a plethora of important issues regarding his life would be
discussed.