Bryant, Godinez, Ling 1

Ada Ling

Evan Bryant

Kristina Godinez

5 March 2018

Case Study #2

Mr. Larson, a counselor employed by a community health

clinic, recently received a new patient, Ms. Irma Busse. Before

conducting an initial session, Mr. Larson reviewed medical

information he obtained from a physician in which enclosed

information about previous incidents from Irma’s history. No

listed health or psychiatric problems other than a broken arm

six months ago. The husband always accompanied her during

hospital appointments and answered all of the questions the

physician asked. Mr. Larson noticed physical and social signs

that may indicate abuse. Even though Irma was vocal of a happy

relationship, Mr. Larson labeled her a victim of spousal abuse.

After doing so, he changes the focus of his counseling sessions

and begins to convince her to leave her husband. He later speaks

to family members of Irma and concludes she was not a “battered

wife.”; Irma was only a dependent person according to the

family.

One solution is that Mr. Larson is not educated well enough

to assess the situation by himself. Since he is only a general

counselor at the community health clinic, he does not have the

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right tools to diagnosis the situation accurately. Mr. Larson

can refer Ms. Busse to a psychologist to confirm his suspicions

before trying to separate her from her husband. He assumed that

Ms. Busse was a “battered wife” by the way she communicated with

Mr. Larson; she was using poor eye contact, hiding marks with a

high neck collar, and delegating her medical answers to her

husband. The second solution is, Mr. Larson can talk to Ms.

Busse’s family members to see if her living conditions indicate

abuse before recommending separation. Checking the home is

important to confirm Irma’s statements. Mr. Larson viewed his

case from what he can only see and not what Ms. Busse’s living

condition.

The best approach is referring Ms. Busse to a psychologist.

Mr. Larson is not educated enough to assume that Ms. Busse is

being abused. Using the heuristics or biases approach, Mr.

Larson can generate what the next step in assessing Ms. Busse’s

problem is. After reviewing Ms. Busse’s chart prior to her first

appointment, he was only aware of her broken arm and an

assumption of abuse, but no further information was given. He

did learn however, how important her marriage meant to her and

how difficult it was to do things on her own. According to

Borowski, the intuitive technique Mr. Larson should follow is

the anchoring and adjustment bias approach. Using what Mr.

Larson knows as the anchor, he cannot conclude the solution to

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the problem based of the adjustment. Instead, he must use what

he knows as the anchor and consider the “proposed” solution

(Borowski, 295). Not concluding that he knows the solution to

Ms. Busse’s reasoning for attending counseling, all he can

conclude is the idea it has to do with relationship

complications, thus referring her to a psychologist to allow Ms.

Busse to speak freely as an individual, to bring to surface the

real issue’s Ms. Busse is encountering.

Assuming that Ms. Busse was not telling the truth about her

treatment, Ms. Busse can be correctly assessed by the attending

physician and referred to a psychologist. Since time has passed,

it is best to refer her as soon as possible to prevent

continuing abuse. Borkowski describes diagnosis in her rational

approach as the [physician] digging below the surface to analyze

the cause of the problem which can generate additional data

(292). When referring Ms. Busse to a specialist, act with

caution to avoid resistance to care. The health clinic can help

schedule the appointment and guide her to the care she needs.

Ms. Busse may not have the money to afford a specialist which

would prevent her from receiving proper treatment.

Work Cited

Borkowski, Nancy. Organizational behavior, theory, and design in

health care. Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2016.