PSY FPX 6015 Assessment 4 Adult Development Case and Intervention Analysis

Student Name

Capella University

PSY FPX 6015 Lifespan Development

Prof. Name

Date

Adult Development Case and Intervention Analysis

As a person transitions from adolescence to adulthood, they encounter various developmental milestones and challenges. Adults have many responsibilities as they may pursue high education, marry, or have children. Moreover, they will have to pay bills and rent or own a home. Many adults have to care for their aging parents or other family members. Illness and financial difficulties also present challenges in adulthood. Lifespan development theories give one idea of what development one should see in adulthood, including the role of hereditary and the environment (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015). Utilizing these theories can help identify developmental delays or changes in an adult.

Katrina’s Case

Katrina is a 45-year-old Mexican American woman. She has two children, one son, and one newly born daughter. She lives in a small apartment with her two children and her grandmother. Unfortunately, her mother suffered a heart attack and passed away two months ago. This was devastating for Katrina, as she would visit her mother multiple times weekly to check on her. The heart attack happened one day while Katrina was at work. She found difficulty in financing her mother’s funeral. Katrina’s newly born child, Jocelyn, was born a few months before her mother’s passing. Katrina was not yet married as they considered each other already married. Her boyfriend left her after their second child was born. Katrina has not tried to date since her boyfriend left.

Additionally, shortly after her mother’s death, Katrina became less able to produce at work due to mental health issues. She was later laid off due to her productivity levels dropping. She is now concerned about providing for her family as well and has also stopped communicating with her friends. Katrina was having symptoms of depression and attempted suicide. Her friend walked in during the occurrence when checking in on Katrina. Katrina’s son is concerned for her wellbeing. Recently, she has had a desire to begin dating again. However, she has been easily distracted by other things such as raising her children, working, and caring for her grandmother. Now she feels that she only has a limited time left to pursue some of her desires.

Primary Challenges

Several challenges occur within one’s life that can impact the developmental stages of an individual. In Katrina’s case, her current challenges include the recent death of her mother, her attempted suicide, her recently born son, and living and taking care of her grandmother. She has recently been laid off from her job due to her incompetence related to her mental health. Katrina’s social life has also been affected due to having the sole responsibility of raising her two children as she works. Katrina did not give herself much time to socialize with others to engage in conversations about her daily struggles. She never talked about her life struggles after her boyfriend left her after her second child was born.

The death of Katrina’s mother has been her biggest struggle as she has a hectic life and has not taken the proper time to grieve the loss of her beloved mother. The loss of a parent is a transition for an adult by way of figuration of roles and responsibilities, as well as a change in one’s identity, which can lead to a psychological burden on an adult (Leopold & Lechner, 2015). Katrina was very close to her mother, and her mother was a source of emotional support. Her mother was a positive and loving being who taught her many life lessons (Leopold & Lechner, 2015). Reductions in an individual’s subjective well-being can result from the death of a parent.

Cultural Factors

A person’s culture can define an individual’s development (De France & Hollenstein, 2019). One’s developmental potential comes from mastering the challenges of regulation motivational processes. People can also acquire social scripts, which involve articulating cultural norms, values, and practices. Acquiring a cultural script leads to a better understanding of a life span trajectory or ability or domain of functioning, such as a physical, cognitive, and or social-emotional functioning process (De France & Hollenstein, 2019).

Cultural scripts affect one’s knowledge and perspective of the world around them. Moreover, assessing the competency of oneself and the competencies of others is shown to develop as a child moves from kindergarten to elementary school. Evidence has also pointed to adults evaluating their level of functioning, and hopeful beliefs of one’s development may reflect a lower accuracy of beliefs about typical development due to self-worth protective biases (De France & Hollenstein, 2019). Katrina has shown some self-reflecting about her development in wanting to try dating after realizing that she has put others before herself.

Lifespan Development Theories

There are many lifespan development theories concerning the adult lifespan as so many areas of life are changing rapidly at this age. Daniel Levison was one theorist who discussed life structures as his main focus. He believed adults have a life structure that involves a person’s career, social interaction, and relationships (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015). Changes in an individual’s life structure affect a person’s life. Levinson’s theory comprised seven stages, in which adults commit to new tasks and change their life structure (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015).

For Katrina, these changes involve caring for her newborn son and her grandmother, adjusting to her new life without her mother, and being laid off at work indefinitely. Additionally, she expressed an interest in dating, but recent events and life struggles have made this desire a lesser priority. Another theorist that noted developmental changes in adulthood was Schaie, who discussed a series of stages in adult life that require the development of different ways to utilize one’s intellectual resources (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015).

Schaie stated that these changes relate to changes in familial roles and other challenges that one may face as one ages. Katrina is currently in the responsible stage of Schaie’s theory as she must adapt to changes in the needs of her children and the loss of her mother. Katrina’s dedication to her family stems from her Mexican cultural values. Morel and Sanchez (2014) describe this as Familismo, in which the value of the family is greater than the individual needs (Morel and Sanchez, 2014). This concept was also seen in Katrina having her daughter, newborn son, and grandmother live with her. She also worked overtime at her job to ensure the family was financially stable. Katrina has put her children’s needs before her own. Lastly, Erik Erikson theorized that people undergo psychological developments as they age (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015).

Among Erikson’s stages of development, his generativity versus stagnation stage is most relevant to this case study. This stage refers to an individual’s interest in guiding the next generation and is essential to one’s career or purpose (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015). Katrina has dedicated most of her life to raising her children and working a full-time job. She continues to guide her children throughout their developmental stages through emotional support and helping them financially when they are in need. She also had a remarkable career as a programmer at a large company. However, she was laid off due to distractions and life’s hardships that caused her to be less productive at work. Katrina does not know when she will find another job. A career change can affect an individual’s identity (Infurna et al., 2020). Katrina’s desire to care for her family has affected her identity and mood. She does

not

feel like she is contributing to her familial needs or society, which could have led to her attempted suicide.

Interventions for Katrina’s Case Study

Lee et al. (2019) state that loneliness has been an ongoing global health epidemic with profound health implications. The reduction in lifespan associated with loneliness is similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes daily and is more significant than obesity. The researchers examined loneliness and found it was associated with three key time points: young adulthood, middle age, and old-old-age. Loneliness was associated with poor mental health and negative psychological traits. Therefore, loneliness could be improved by increasing an individual’s wisdom, which includes the ability to regulate emotions, self-reflect, be compassionate, tolerate opposing viewpoints, and be decisive. They suggest that building a wiser society to deal with these issues will build a more connected, less lonely, and happier society. Katrina’s suicide attempt is cause for concern.

The various stress factors currently in her life are affecting her psychologically. Her lack of social support can further influence her suicidal tendencies. A community-based multi-modal intervention may be beneficial in the prevention of further suicide attempts. This intervention focuses on reinforcing social support and relationships within a community and access to health-related resources. Education and awareness are implemented to help improve recognition of risk factors and suicidal behaviors (Ono et al., 2008).

Furthermore, social support is established with those who have tendencies to foster an environment in which individuals can discuss challenges and struggles in life, as well as problem-solving strategies to help alleviate these challenges (Ono et al., 2008). Ono et al. (2008) found that incidences of suicide decreased in this intervention and was most effective for older adults and the elderly. According to Dotson et al. (2020), depression has negatively impacted neurocognitive functions, particularly those controlled by the frontal-subcortical networks, such as executive functions.

PSY FPX 6015 Assessment 4 Adult Development Case and Intervention Analysis

This meta-analysis focused on cognitive control, which centers on goal-oriented behavior. Goal-oriented behaviors include goal selection, response selection, and performance monitoring. The researchers found a significant relationship between depression and cognitive control studies. Both clinical depression and subthreshold depression were associated with cognitive control deficits. This study highlights the importance of clinicians screening for cognitive control dysfunction in patients with depression, particularly in the latter stages of adulthood.

Interventions in Psychedelic Therapy for Katrina’s Case Study

The most common theme throughout the psilocybin for depression research is that after the administration of psilocybin, many patients reduce depressive symptoms. Davis et al. (2021), whose goal was to find the effects of psilocybin on major depressive disorder, came to this conclusion. Other studies that reported the same finding were Carhart-Harris et al. (2017) and Carhart-Harris et al. (2021) after administering psilocybin to patients with treatment-resistant depression and a comparative study of psilocybin and escitalopram. Davis et al. (2021) and Carhart-Harris et al. (2021) also found that psilocybin had an immediate and sustained antidepressant effect.

These studies have decreased depressive, anxious, and suicidal symptoms. Another approach is the theme of connectedness throughout psychedelic studies. For example, Forstmann et al. (2020) hypothesized that transformative experience and social connectedness mediate the mood-enhancing effects of psilocybin and other psychedelics in a naturalistic setting. This study was significant because it shows that using psilocybin and other psychedelics in a naturalistic setting is associated with experiences of personal transformation, increased feelings of social connectedness, and increased positive mood. Using psilocybin as an intervention for Katrina’s feelings of depression and low levels of connectedness would be concerning my specialization. Psilocybin is a powerful tool to be used along with therapy for effective and long-lasting outcomes for a patient.

Conclusion

Katrina is a hard-working 45-year-old woman who has had several recent events that have led to a change in her behavior and eventual suicide attempt. Her Mexican cultural values of Familismo drive many of her choices, as she always places her family’s needs over hers. Implementing social support interventions, such as the community-based multimodal intervention, or potential psychedelic therapy, will help Katrina gain the support needed to mourn the loss of her mother and not feel alone in carrying her family. She will have a place to air her concerns and worries and be able to problem-solve solutions with the social support group on how to overcome her challenges.

References

Broderick, P. C., & Blewitt, P. (2020). The Life Span: Human Development for Helping Professionals. Pearson Education, Inc.

Carhart-Harris, R. L., Roseman, L., Bolstridge, M., Demetriou, L., Pannekoek, J. N., Wall, M. B., Tanner, M., Kaelen, M., McGonigle, J., Murphy, K., Leech, R., Curran, H. V., & Nutt, D. J. (2017). Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: FMRI-measured brain mechanisms. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 13187-11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-13282-7

De France, K., & Hollenstein, T. (2019). Emotion regulation and relations to well-being across the lifespan. Developmental Psychology, 55(8), 1768–1774. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000744

Davis, A. K., Barrett, F. S., May, D. G., Cosimano, M. P., Sepeda, N. D., Johnson, M. W., Finan, P. H., & Griffiths, R. R. (2021). Effects of psilocybin-assisted therapy on major depressive disorder: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry (Chicago, Ill.), 78(5), 481-489. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.3285

PSY FPX 6015 Assessment 4 Adult Development Case and Intervention Analysis

Dotson, V. M., McClintock, S. M., Verhaeghen, P., Kim, J. U., Draheim, A. A., Syzmkowicz, S. M., Gradone, A. M., Bogoian, H. R., & Wit, L. D. (2020). Depression and Cognitive Control across the Lifespan: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Neuropsychology Review, 30(4), 461-476. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-020-09436-6

Infurna, F. J., Gerstorf, D., & Lachman, M. E. (2020). Midlife in the 2020s: Opportunities and challenges. American Psychologist, 75(4), 470–485. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000591

Lee, E. E., Depp, C., Palmer, B. W., Glorioso, D., Daly, R., Liu, J., Tu, X. M., Ho-Cheol, K., Tarr, P., Yamada,

Y., & Jeste, D. V. (2019). High prevalence and adverse health effects of loneliness in community-dwelling adults across the lifespan: role of wisdom as a protective factor. International Psychogeriatrics, 31(10), 1447-1462. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610218002120

Leopold, T., & Lechner, C. M. (2015). Parents’ death and adult well-being: Gender, age, and adaptation to filial bereavement. Journal of Marriage and Family, 77(3), 747–760. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12186

Morel, G. M., & Sanchez, O. (2014). Latinos, perceived discrimination, and depression: The moderating effects of Familismo. PsycEXTRA Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/e540652014-001