Page 26 - March April 2017 FTM

Now, cellphones have entered the world of therapy, proving to be successful modes of delivering smoking cessation interventions to individuals wanting to quit smoking in a non traditional way (Grtiz et al., 2013). The following will outline the use of a cellphone as a brief therapeutic intervention tool for a client reluctant to add more things to
his day, as is common with most younger professionals today. I invited the client to pair quotes he had stated in session with his alarm clock settings. Additionally, I instructed him to take photos of some session notes used in session to assign them to his home and lock screens for motivation. Here, I will explain my thought process as I slowly devised these interventions, tailored to the needs of my client and his unique relationship with his cellphone. He said that he will never look at his cell phone the same way again. For the purposes of privacy, the name of this client has been changed.
Jason’s background
I met Jason in early 2016. He was in
his 30s and on his 90-day probationary period at a new job. Jason is a brilliant person; he holds multiple degrees at the college level and a master’s degree or two. He lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment, but speaks to his sister who lives in California quite often, “daily” he said. He moved to San Antonio a few years ago from Chicago to pursue one of his master’s degrees at a local university. He shared a brief account of his history. Then he said it. He looked at me from under his glasses and said, “I don’t know if you can tell, but I have depression.” Jason did indeed look like a person who was feeling “blue.” This later became the word of choice when differentiating depression-riddled days from great days.
He stated the worst symptoms would occur right before walking into work,
as he noticed the depressive symptoms creeping up on him again. In the past, he would take antidepressant medication, which he said helped him feel a little motivated to at least get up out of bed. He eventually went off his medication after he lost his insurance. He had exhausted all community health options or was placed on ridiculously long waiting lists. This answered my question of why he chose to come to therapy now. He sought out therapy as his only option
and he was no stranger to it, either. Jason had seen counselors, therapists and psychologists for decades and he was not shy when he explained how nothing really helped. “All the advice and help was the same; why don’t you try exercise or join a social media group.” He was disenchanted with therapeutic work and he made that clear. Jason had been battling depression for over 20 years. He was given this diagnosis in college and accepted it as a good fit. According to him, he felt some relief to have a name to put to the way he was feeling.
Working with Jason
Jason’s main concern was getting to work on time. He simply needed to make it to work and show he was capable
of his responsibilities so he could pass his probationary period. Jason did not have an issue waking up. He reported having trouble feeling like it was “worth it” to actually leave home and go to work. This thought process countered his reason for wanting treatment, to gain full employment and successfully complete his 90-day probation at his job. As mentioned, Jason used to rely solely on the use of medication to make him feel happy and motivated. So here I was, humbly accepting his request for help
of the non-medicinal kind. We spent two sessions teasing apart Jason’s world.
We discussed his strengths, weaknesses and failed attempts at overcoming his depression. He once noted he wished
he could just have someone yank him by the tie and take him to his car while yelling, “Just get over it!” This caught my attention. I thought I should write this down for later use, though I was not sure at the time for what. Another time, Jason mentioned he was at work losing focus when he said to himself out loud, “get it together, you got to get this done!” Again, I wrote this down. Jason provided me the last nugget towards the end of session two. He was telling me he was in a meeting and stumbling on a word. He said he was so embarrassed, it caused him to further butcher what he was trying to say. As a colleague chimed in, Jason told him, “Let me do it.” There it was. Jason, unbeknownst to him, had given me a trio of strength in his own words. Together, Jason and I discovered a division between Jason’s present self and his ideal self.
Will your cellphone be joining
us today?
By now, I had noticed some things
Jason would do in session that were particular to him; some quirks. First, I noticed Jason would place his travel mug down in front of him on the coffee table. When he was making a firm statement he would grab the mug sliding it to the right or left about an inch. He did this
at least 10 times each session. Second, Jason would grab his shirt collar, lift
it and let it fall back into place. He did
it frequently enough for me to take notice. The main action he would do
that stuck out the most was with his
cell phone. He would place it on his lap and press the home button every few minutes. It occurred so much the first and second session that I decided to ask him about it in our third session. “Jason, I hope that you know you are able to
use your phone or make a call at any time during our sessions. I do not mind at all.” Hesitantly, Jason said he was not expecting calls or texts really; he just had a bad habit of clicking his phone to see
if his sports and news apps popped up with any headlines. I told him if it was not a problem for him, it was not one for me. As our session progressed, I thought about what homework task I could suggest that a seemingly indifferent
24 FAMILY THERAPY MAGAZINE