Social Advocacy & Community Service

Name: Muhammad Yasir

Reg# 1711130

Assignment #3

Class: BBA-6

Submitted to: Dr. Iffat Rasool

Date of Submission: 17 Apr, 2020

What are the factors that research suggests may be contributing to Eileen’s low mood?
What kind of intervention might a social worker make to alleviate her mental state?

According to research Eileen’s circumstances are making her depressed leading to low mood. A
single mother struggling to keep up with her job and raise her kids simultaneously is
complicated. Often it leads to the feeling of sadness, guilt, helplessness, anxiety and loss of
interest. These feeling are deeply imbedded in her mind and they are reinforced by her thinking.
More often than not depressed people are involved in thinking error. People with clinical
depression are often found to be involved in “labeling” which is a type of cognitive distortion.
Some example of such in her case could be:

o I am not a good mother.

o I disappoint everyone around me.
o No one cares about me.
o People at work hate me.
o I will never find a better job.
o My children will hate me for not taking good care of them.

This sort of negative self talk often takes place at subconscious level without the person knowing
and it has negative effect on the mood.

She is a single mother therefore she can either get a job or stay with children at home. If she is
provided social security by the government which is sufficient for paying rent as well as raising
her children this will resolve all her concerns. A social worker can play the role of an advocate
and file a request to the government to put her on social security. In a welfare state it should not
be a problem as they have provision for such people in law. Second, a social worker can also
provide her with counseling in order to make her capable enough to take up the task by herself.
The purpose of Psychotherapy is not only help people mental health condition but to make them
independent. Nothing is impossible; she can take up a job at a school as a teacher while her
children attend the same school. In this way she gets to be with her children even while at work.
All that is required is a sincere effort to solve the problem which can not be done if a person is
mentally ill.