The case of June

¶ … therapy have been developed in order to fully extend psychological assistance to those who need it most. From cognitive behavioral talk therapy, to more specialized forms of therapy, like Feminist therapy, these have all come into formation in order to bring full satisfaction to whom ever needs it at the time. These different aspects of therapy come into affect in June's case. June has had plenty to deal with her entire life. From being emerged into a different culture at such a young age, and not following her cultural instincts as a Chinese/Asian-American, she has almost reached her breaking point. She has gotten to the point where in order to be able to function properly she needs some therapeutic assistance.

Reality therapists do not like to hear about all the complaining and blaming that a person has to do. Instead, they focus on what can be done about the situation and how to handle it best. Reality therapy focuses on choice therapy where the therapist emphasizes that everyone has a choice to feel the way they do. It refocuses the notion of responsibility to choice. Reality therapy focuses on what is going on now and tends not to go too much into the past or past events unless it is significantly altering how they feel now, so it is really only discussed if the client feels that in order to get through the "now," the past needs to be revisited.

In June's case, a Reality Therapist would work with June in a variety of ways. First and foremost, the therapist will definitely tell June that she needs to let go of the past and refocus on what it is that she wants to accomplish now. June needs to let go of her upbringing and realize that she is the one making the decisions now and she shouldn't let anything get in her way. The Reality Therapist would want to know what it is that June has planned for herself in the future and where it is that she sees her life heading. A Reality Therapist would work with June by telling her to let go of her feelings and not to let them get in the way. Her long issues with her family may have to be put aside, in order to focus on the now. She has to realize that in order to avoid being counterproductive, she needs to deal with the present issues and on how to resolve them, instead of dwelling on them. The therapist would tell June to look inside herself and really pinpoint what it is that she wants to do with her life, and for June to realize herself, how destructive her feelings and actions at work are to her career.

A Reality Therapist would understand June's symptoms as being a result of June's own thinking. The therapist knows that June has the ability to let go of those negative thoughts, and just refocus her energy on something that she could do something about. She would understand June's actions at work, such as her feelings of inadequacy and incompetence as being something that June could take control of, and view things differently. With a Reality Therapist, June will have to realize that her actions now are affecting her future. When June started to withdraw from her colleagues, she set herself up for failure. Not only is she not really speaking up to anyone or letting anyone know her opinions, she is neglecting her work and not being able to fulfill her responsibilities at her job, which in the end, will only bring more destruction. The fact that it is not only her employment suffering, but her relationships with her family and significant others that are going down the drain, makes this issue an even more impacting one. A Reality Therapist would want to formulate a plan with June in order to not only pinpoint what could have caused the problem, but also make June come up with a plan that will help her out. The main objective is getting her to commit to this plan, to commit to bettering her circumstances, so that she could start to feel and act better.

If June were to decide to go to a Feminist Therapist as well, other things in her life would be the focus of the therapy session. Feminist Therapy focuses on how females are affected as a whole, with the statement, "the personal is political." To Feminist Therapists, women are all affected by the same issues and it is this that they center their whole therapeutic perspective on. In order to assist one woman, a social change needs to be made so that all women can be helped. They focus on the gender roles that each society has within a specific culture, and stem their therapy sessions from that.

With this in mind, June would benefit immensely from seeing a Feminist Therapist. June has grown up her entire life being told certain things about her gender role and witnessing an obviously different treatment toward her brother. She resents her brother for being treated differently and having different rules and getting away with a lot more than she ever did, just because he was a male. A huge reason why her mother and her were always fighting was because her mother saw her as being too "hyper" and not really acting like she was supposed to, being a female and all. She was not the stereotypical Asian female that she was expected to become, and therefore felt that her entire life, she was judged by her mother as being the "wrong" type of girl. It is this same insecurity that has manifested in her relationships with other men. She tends to not last long in a relationship as she sees the man eventually running it and taking charge, something that she will never agree to, so instead she chooses flaky, short-term relationships that allows her room to be herself. A Feminist Therapist would want to explore all of those aspects in her life.

"The personal is political" applies a lot to June's case because that has been what her life has been about thus far. For years females have been marginalized and oppressed and made out to be less than their male counterparts. This is what this whole concept is about. A Feminist Therapist would tell June that her whole life has revolved around the notion of her being a female and her trying to fulfill these gender roles that have been preset for years. When it came to her job, June also submitted to what everyone thought of her. Her whole life she was told that she shouldn't speak up or that speaking up made her too obnoxious and it was this that made her feel inadequate enough to make her withdraw from her colleagues and from speaking up at meetings.

A Feminist psychologist will help empower June by allowing her to be herself. A Feminist psychologist would help her realize that the limitations that she has experienced her whole life have been just that, limitations, and not a reflection of who she really is. The psychologist would make June realize that her being a female does define her, and she just has to learn how to deal with things according to her gender, but not letting it limit her.