Scenarios

James - Scenario 2

James, 14 years old, has been coming to therapy for about 4 months.  He was initially diagnosed with having Major Depressive Disorder and Oppositional Defiance Disorder.  During the course of treatment he discloses that the reason why he doesn’t trust adults is because he witnessed his mother’s boyfriend beat his mother repeatedly.  She often talked about leaving her boyfriend but didn’t.  Six months ago the boyfriend went to jail for Aggravated Assault.  James is now discussing having nightmares about not being able to protect his mother from harm and he is being hyper-vigilant with other kids when out on playground during pick-up basketball games.