PC6006 Case Study: Analyzing Veronica's Psychosocial Development

This case study delves into the complex psychosocial issues affecting Veronica, a 17-year-old grappling with the aftermath of her mother's death and her father's emotional absence. The analysis explores her negative body image, eating disorder, and relationship problems through the lens of Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, highlighting identity versus confusion. Predisposing factors such as childhood trauma, repressed emotions, and observational learning from her parents' relationship are examined. The study identifies presenting problems including low self-esteem, social isolation, and dysmorphia, ultimately connecting these issues to potential treatment and counselling options. The impact of her friends' negative comments on her self-esteem is also discussed, emphasizing the need for ethical support.

Running head: CASE STUDY
CASE STUDY
Name of Student
Name of University
Author note

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Case study A
Introduction
It is to be understood that the various types of psychological and sociological issues
determines the health of a human mind and it is critical to consider the various types of life
situations that not affect the life experiences of the person but also the way one starts to see
and perceive life afterwards (Brownle et al., 2017). Repressed emotions and the experiences
of trauma in childhood are repressed in the unconscious in such a manner that the level of
understanding of the person and the overall behavior and personality of the person that makes
the totality of cognition – is altered in a subtle manner (Balantekin, Birch & Savage, 2017).
As the brain grows and the limbic system is shaped by experiences – the emotional outbursts
are chaperoned in a very subtle way and the various types of the learning that the human
brain goes through at every walk and moment of life, changes the understanding and
realization of the things and the memory has a major role to play in the shaping of learning
and developed of more different and effective behaviors (Grilo, 2017). The behaviors of the
human beings are very much proportion to the way one has been conditioned by the nature
and the environment around and this form of behavior, both disruptive or constructive is very
much dependent on the fact that the brain is capable of learning at a faster rate (Berg et al.,
2019) and the neuropsychological functions of the brain are altered accordingly, in
accordance to wiring and rewiring of the neurological connections of the brain, a
phenomenon which is known as neuroplasticity (McElroy, 2017). Psychosocial experiences
are the experiences that occur in a social scenario that leave deep and meaningful impact on
the person’s memory (Nwulia et al., 2017). The childhood experiences in a social and a
family scenario are shaped by trauma and the various types of the detachment in the social
context such as social isolation play an important role in the future experiences of the
individual as well (Berg, Rostila & Hjern, 2016). The early memories imparts a certain kind

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of subconscious and also an unconscious bias on the human mind and this is important that it
be analyzed by the therapist in a very pertinent manner (Olguin et al., 2017).. In this case
study, veronica who is just 17 years old has a history of trauma that is the death of her sick
mother and this traumatic, depressing event occurred when she was just 12 years old and this
incident has been embedded in her memory and repressed into the unconscious, which
continued to play a role in shaping her future behaviors towards the action taken on the
account of her own well-being and on her perception and perspective about the world as a
whole. It is to be understood that Veronica is 17 years old and this stage, according to Erik
Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, is the stage where the identity versus
confusion are the major cognitive parameters that work towards the development of virtue
called fidelity (Schulte, Grilo and Gearhardt, 2016) and this conflict within the individual
affects the individual from a period of 13 years to 21 years approximately. In case of
veronica, as she is a teen ager, she is also suffering from the major identity issue and she has
negative body image issues as well (McLaughlin et al., 2018). Dysmorphia and other
psychosomatic disorder has affected her severely and the friends and the well-wishers who
forms her immediate social surrounding play a very critical role in the building of her
psychological condition where she is unsure of her appearance, of her sex appeal and
completely in a state of under-confidence and low self –esteem (Wikman, et al., 2018). The
main problem is that the causation of her death, that is the expiry of her mother that happened
about 5 years ago due to terminal illness and it is considered very imperatively here that
veronica has observed and experience the sufferings of her mother when she was a child and
as because her father always stayed away without caring for her and her mother, even when
she was ill – affected her cognitively, emotionally as well as socially and psychosocially in a
very wrong manner that is in a very adverse manner (Yee et al., 2019). She did not cope with
her the death of her mother well as because she was too young and the detachment was never

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very conditioned for her and the loss of her mother, played a vey traumatic role in her life,
thus aiding her to cope very negatively and as she lacked any kind of significant social and
family at that time – the burden of loss took a very huge tool on her. It is to be understood
very imperative the psychosocial condition that she was subjected too was very negative and
as she was negatively coping – she binged on excessive eating and this caused the overweight
issue to manifest in Veronica. The various types of the problems that affected her appearance
and biological growth was the very overeating and the binge eating issue that caused her
menarche process to disrupt, in a way. But as a result, although she is complex with the size
of her breasts and she is so suffering from low esteem due to her perception about the size of
her breasts and connecting her appearance of being overweight and having small breasts to
the feeling that she cannot be loved or accepted by the society and by the persons, she wants
to be with – is delusional. This is a clear case of identity issue that has resulted from a fast
shifting self-image issue and the self-concept issue. She is confused in terms of her identity as
a lover, as a friend, as a daughter and as a person that she is for herself as well and all these
has attributed to her feelings of Dysmorphia and low confidence as well of of autonomy,
integrity, self-respect as well the feelings of social isolation and unworthiness, hopelessness
has affected her deeply (Bright & Thompson, 2018). Another very important perspective that
is required to be analyzed is the fact that veronica served her mother till her last days and her
father who is ought to be a very important person in veronica’s life has never played a
significant paternal part in her life and veronica, in her childhood has been alienated with the
feelings of isolation and detachment, as far as the relation between her and her father is
concerned. It is to be understood very pertinently that not only the death of her mother but the
going away or parting of her father, gave her ideas of detachment which till later, in her
adolescent to near adulthood life, has reflected in her relationships as well (Vågerö &
Rajaleid, 2017). She lost trust in relationships observing how her own father left her and her

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mother, even though she was suffering from a terminal disorder, in loneliness and left them
both in state of hopeless sufferings. This incident was very traumatic for Veronica and she
continued to have relationship issues with her father who was never there for her and this of
course, played a great role in the shaping of her life through the development of inferiority
complex, psychosocial issue, eating disorder as a negative coping mechanism and
subsequent detachment from the society (Drislane et al., 2019) and huge problems with
maintain herself as human being in a state of sanity as she continued to go through state of
relationship problems with her boyfriend and friends. Her father demonstrated poor
relationship skills, poor emotional management skills and guardianship attributes as well that
later on lead to the development of same in her as well. The point here, is that, the children
and their experiences are greatly experiences, almost unconsciously and even consciously
plus subconsciously by the factors determining observational learning and this has lot to do
which how an individual enacts out in situations of life and how the bias of previous
experience has been created. Thus, it is to be noted very pertinently that as Veronica learned
observationally from her father, the behavior and the relationship skills he exhibited as a
romantic partner to her mother, wired her cognition adversely, thus diffusing the areas of
right and wrong and this is one of the prime reasons that negatively coped with the situation
and became overweight.
Presenting Problem
The problems that are presented in this case are negative body image issues,
detachment issues, social isolation, repetitive behaviors (looking multiple times in the
mirror), low self-esteem, loss and grieving followed by depression and negative coping
mechanisms, relationship issues, binge eating and over exercise, eating disorders, dysmorphia
that has led to more complex psychosocial complexes, thus affecting the development and
presentations of her issues in a more subtle manner. Veronica has developed eating disorder

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post the death of her mother and the detachment from the only person from her life, to whom
she was very much attached resulted in the shift of her eating habits and she took on binge
eating and she put on more weight in a very complex manner. The shifting of self-image and
the self-concept is important that they are studied and considered well why analyzing this
case of Veronica. As because, she lacked the support from her anybody else after the demise
of her mother such as her relatives, neighbors or friends who would guide her and support her
through her neuropsychological development at the time of puberty and the negative coping
while she was depressed with the death of her mother led to negative coping and more eating
disorder. This caused the negative body image to grow more vibrantly as she was getting
overweight day by day and this together with the pubertal changes (Cooper, 2018) – left her
in an uncontrollable psychosocial situation. Moreover, it is to be considered that she
developed in her puberty and the more the fact that she was putting on weight due to binge
eating caused by the death and non – supportive attitude of her father who never understood
or at least attempted to understand her problems caused her a lot of deep seated emotional
issues and emotional detachment as well. While she had relationship issues with the persons
she thought to a romantic connection with – also failed due to reason which was not only due
to her physical appearance (as the fact was glorified by her friends thus affecting her self-
esteem in a more negative manner) but due to her confidence instability as well, due to low
self-esteem and lack of dignity for own self that caused the very situations to arise. Not only
the negative self-image and the overweight issues caused a lot of low dignity, low confidence
and low self-esteem issues in Veronica but also led to the development of a shifting self-
image and a dire self-conflict of whether or not to stay with a person caused a lot of
relationship issues in her life. The problems in her present life and present condition,
although seems very new and acute but the development of the same was predisposed by
various types of predisposing factors that pertains to her childhood trauma and the repression

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emotions being bought to surface by the series of concurrent events of her present life.
Moreover, last but not at all the least, the friends who reasoned her body shape and the sizes
of her parts being the reason she is not accepted by her lover, is not ethically correct and
instead of helping to reconcile her emotions and confidence that is lacking very much, they
made her feel guilty for the state of her being and this disrupted her confidence even further
and this along with the aforementioned reasons has [played a really important role in the
current state of life with her low confidence and body image issues that are very much
disturbing as well. The different triggering factors and the various types of the precipitating
factors that led to the causation of these negative body image issues in Veronica that she is
overweight and she has small breasts and this depressed her even more, when her ex
elucidated on the fact that she should have breast implants if she has to marry her. Not only
this, Veronica is also concerned about the condition of her skin and that she has
disproportionate ears as well.
PREDISPOSING FACTORS – AETIOLOGY
The predisposing factors that has led and made way to the present problems of
seventeen year old Veronica, are many and multi-faceted as well. Firstly as mentioned above
as well, she cared for her mother alone during her terminal illness stage and the fact that her
father was not there with them and abandoned them in such severe situations left a deep
trauma and isolation as well. Then she was at the age of 12 years, she experienced the death
of her mother when she was still at a very tender age and this shock, although she has seen
her mother suffering through the stages of terminal illness but still for a 12 year old daughter,
the death of a very close person, her mother, whom she was connected and attached too, self
her in trauma as well. This predisposed to feelings of loss and detachment that caused the
various types of the relation problems in the future as well. It is important to be understood
that the various kinds of feelings that she went through as a teen and a child, in her

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developmental years, caused and added to more self-conflict between the attainment of
identity or confusion and it can be said, after having analyzed that the case in details, that the
ongoing conflict in her that made the confusion to overpower her identity and she put on
more weight day by day that apparently made her breasts look small, that again triggered her
in an adverse way and manner. The other problem was that her father was not with them her
mother was advancing through the stages of terminal illness and this abandonment done by
her father, made her feel detachment from relationships as well. When after the demise of her
mother, when she was overeating and going through pubertal changes that distorts the body
image drastically – her father was not there to listen to her issues or attend to her issues and
life condition in a very fatherly and protective way and this made her lose faith in
relationships and paved the way to future relationship disruptions.
PRECIPITANTS
The triggers are many and this has added to the negative body image issues in
Veronica, more adversely. Firstly, the most important trigger was what Veronica mentioned
for herself that her ex-partner with whom she was in a romantic relationship with - said that
she must get a breast implant if she wants to be with him and if she actually wants to marry
him and this comment from her partner whom she would have believed so much for desiring
her for the person she is – triggered her the body image perception in a very negative manner.
Not only this, her self-concept was distorted as well. Next was the incident where veronica
said that she started to feel self-conscious regarding the breasts size as Veronica described in
a situation, that the breasts were very resembling to that of the aliens and this was the second
trigger, as mentioned in the case study, as Veronica started to feel, ever more, that her body
and especially her breasts are not normal and the fact that she is overweight, she feels very
adversely and negatively about her body image and in the process, she has grown negative
feelings for herself. She feels isolated and feelings of loneliness have taken over her, as she

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associated the reaction and response rather the behaviour of her partner with that of her father
who was never there for her and never cared for her as well.
PERPETUATING FACTORS
The factors are that are likely to maintain and then worsen the main problems that
Veronica is suffering are many-faceted. Firstly, if she continues to go on eating, that is binge
eating and keeps maintain her low self-esteem as well as negative body image without doing
anything to change it - would add to the issues as well. The other fact is that if she is not
being able to transform her negative thoughts into positive thought, that is alter the cognition
patterns – that would again lead to more problems psychosocially and more so, the same
would serve as perpetuating factors that would maintain her low self-esteem as well as
negative body image. The main issue is binge eating and somewhere and somehow, the
eating disorder that begin initially as a negative coping mechanism as a reaction to her
mother’s death – was embedded in her mind and integrated with her cognitive pattern that is
till perpetuating her present problems in the present situation (Rajaleid & Vågerö, 2019).
PROTECTIVE FACTORS
Other than all the above mentioned adversities that has already analyzed, there are
certain protective factors that is acting strengths both individually and support system.
Another protective factor is that she herself has the desire to feel healthy and fit by losing
weight and then undergo the plastic surgery only. Then as she has visited the general
practitioner, that means she is willing to change her and herself in a more positive manner
and the medical resource that she is touch with, in the current condition – is also a protective
factor. This is important to be considered that in order to improve her willingness towards a
more confident and positive life – the protective factors must be taken into practice.
TREATMENT INTERVENTION

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The treatment and the intervention are important that they are delivered properly to
the Veronica. At first, her binge eating has to be controlled at first and then, the general
practitioner can collaborate with a nutritionist in order to improve the diet and plan the diet
intake of Veronica, in a therapeutic manner. She must exercise on a regular basis but in a
proper way, without burnout and without over exercising which is problem with her and here,
a collaboration with the physical therapist is important as well. Lastly, she has repetitive
behaviours (with looking at herself in the mirror) that need to be desensitized as well, through
cognitive behavioural therapy and desensitization therapy, where a psychotherapist can be
collaborated with.
Conclusion
The freedom of thinking and psychological counterpart of the same phenomenon is
cognitive flexibility but it is to be understood that the age, as according to the Erik Erikson’s
stages of psychosocial development, the development of the human mind is shaped greatly by
the various psychosocial experiences. Hence, it can be concluded saying that in Veronica, the
various types of disruptions occurs due to trauma resulting from loss of mother and
subsequent ill relationship experiences with her father and then with her boyfriend that
resulted in negative coping but with the right awareness, desire and intervention, the same
can be addressed as well.

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