My Sessions With Alonzo His Behavior example essay topic

Denzel Washington plays veteran L.A.P.D. Det. Sgt. Alonzo Harris. For thirteen years this highly decorated cop has been on the front lines in the war against narcotics. He's pledged to protect and serve the citizens of Los Angeles, but his optimism about police work has long since been chipped away by the reality of life on the streets.

He and the tight-knit group of officers that report to him have crossed the line between legality and corruption. They find themselves breaking the laws they " re supposed to enforce. Alonzo's ethics and his logic are in complete opposition to the 'book' which most cops must follow. 'It takes a thief to catch a thief,' Hoyt is a young naive cop that is given twenty-four hours to train with Harris. Before the day is done, the young cop is asked to take drugs, accept drug money as a payoff, invent evidence, and even commit murder.

Before he knows it, he's in so deep that there seems to be no way out. As Alonzo tells him 'There is no justice, no law. It all boils down to what you can and cannot prove. ' Alonzo's abusiveness and carelessness become a problem and the Police Chief orders him to see a Psychologist concerning his behavior.

During the first visit, the police department provided a copy of his personal information file, which reveals the typical schemata of a person with an antisocial personality disorder. He lacked a superego; he has little remorse for his abusive, impulse-driven and dangerous behavior. He also saw himself as almost being superior and smarter than everyone else; by planning the training day with Hoyt, he believed this made him superior. He hid behind his Los Angeles Police Department badge and broke the laws that he was supposed to enforce. Individuals with Anti-Social disorder think that when they are caught committing the crime-their problem is getting caught not committing the crime. The goal for the future is to become a better criminal, rather than obeying the law.

Throughout the movie his thought processes would include some of the following: 1. Rules are meant for others 2. Only fools follow all the rules 3. Rules are meant to be broken 4.

Look out for #15. My pleasure comes first 6. If others are hurt, offended, or inconvenienced by my behavior, that is their problem 7. Do it NOW! I will not allow myself to be frustrated 8. I will do whatever I must to get whatever I want 9.

I'm really smarter than most everybody else TREATMENT: My focus is to build on his pro-social skills in essence, creating or strengthen his superego. Because of his "no one tells me what to do" attitude I must remember to be gentle but firm and not accept his aggressive personality. Alonzo will need to accept his responsibility for his action and outcomes. By helping his accept responsibility will challenge his cognitive distortions.

Our goal is to also help him realize the dysfunctional nature of his actions. He will then hopefully begin to realize or see how his behavior, according to him are viewed as clever and complex, but in reality are transparent and childlike. RESISTANCES: The initial goal of therapy is the assessment of the problems and to select the appropriate treatment plan, with Alonzo there is a very high level of resistance. He became extremely anxious when his persona was threatened. The difficulty he had in changing was that he did not see his behavior as a mask but as the only way to behave.

I also have to take into account his involuntary status, he will have the feeling of being coerced into the helping process by a third party, his employer. I will continue to work on the patient and helper relationship by incorporating or focusing more so on the invitational and reflecting skills. THEORETIC ORIENTATION: The Psychoanalytic theory will best fit this scenario (of course with the permission of the client) because of the two therapeutic goals: 1. To make the unconscious content of the mind conscious 2. To strengthen the ego so that behavior is based more on reality and less on instinctual cravings.

The six basic techniques that were described in the class will be incorporated in our therapy sessions. During the first step, interpretation, I will point out, explain, and teach the client the meaning of behavior that is manifested in dreams, free association, resistances, and the therapeutic relationship itself. This will allow the ego to understand new material and to speed up the process of uncovering additional unconscious material. Uncovering unconscious material and giving the client insight into some areas of unresolved problems is an important procedure done through dream analysis; the second step. While sleeping our defenses are lowered, allowing our repressed feeling to surface.

This step will be very important while working with Alonzo because his defenses are very high. We mentioned early that the resistances are stacked against me. By preventing the resistance, my approach will take certain key aspects into consideration. I'll be client-oriented, by understand and studying his past and culture. Customize the treatment, it is obvious that he has had the upper hand in all aspects of his life and I don't want him to give the deer in the headlight reaction. I'll enlist family support; his relationship with his son and girlfriend is very limited.

Family counseling will definitely need to be discussed. I'll expect noncompliance and ensure that my reaction is not negative. Most importantly, I won't give up. As our bond increases stronger feelings surface as well when the client experiences a carryover of feelings from past relationships into the client / helper relationship this is known as transference. This allows the client to re-experience a variety of feelings that would otherwise be inaccessible.

During my sessions with Alonzo his behavior toward me is very shifty, careful, guarded, apprehensive, and distrustful. This causes me to become uneasy, withdrawn from the client and blaming the client for the tension between us. Counter transference is the reaction or a reflection of a past or present relationship of the therapist toward the client that could interfere with objectivity. Because Alonzo is so aggressive and forward with his angry behavior, I find myself fearing him and avoiding conflict. Since I am a new therapist, I will need ongoing supervision to monitor my reactions to the sessions.

The Psychoanalytic approach is very simplistic and client-oriented, which is very important to Alonzo's breakdown. I did not want to be too aggressive; I want him to establish his own goals and path to different lifestyle. When Alonzo is able to accept that he could get even more from holding the LAPD badge by becoming a part of the system, rather than trying to always fool the system, he (hopefully) begin to act more adaptively.