Demographics

Name: NZ

Age: 26

Gender: Female

Education: Masters

Siblings: 1

Birth order: 1st born

Marital Status: Married

Occupation: Student

Informant: Self

Test date: June 9th, 2021

History of present illness:

Client was referred for the assessment of Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) for the
complaints of problems in coping with daily life activities, excessive stress, thoughts of
ending her life and loss of appetite. Client also complained about struggling to maintain focus
in daily tasks and studies. Panic attacks and anxiety were also a part of presenting complaints.
Client reported that the problem started in the end of last year when her family decided for to
get married. The client struggled to maintain good relationships with people around, had
difficulty focusing on studies and daily tasks and maintaining good social circle which
brought the fear that she might not be doing things in life the way she was supposed to. These
thoughts induced anxiety and panic in her.

Interview & Behavioural Observation:

Client was a young female and appeared quiet, defensive, intelligent. She understood
instructions easily and cooperated well throughout the assessment. She sat across the
therapist in a composed manner. She had flat expression and seemed low on energy. With
every card presented to her she thought carefully and then was very cautious of every word
she put in to complete her story. Her pace was slightly fast during narration of the story and
was very expressive during the narration.

Test:

Write the general facts and complete name of TAT here.

Administration:

The test was administered on the client on June 9th, 2021. The room was well lit and quite.
Client was sitting face to face with the therapist and was given instructions thoroughly. The
distractions were kept minimal to the best of their ability. Five cards were administered that
consisted of three neutral cards including card 1, card 2 and card 4. Two female cards were
administered as including card 7GF and card 12F. She took 35 minutes to complete the test.

Interpretation:

The client’s stories appear to be fine with some issues related to personal life that revolves
around intimate relations and close family members. Her hero, an adult girl is full of life who
wants to experience the world on her own and be independent however her family imposes
various restrictions on her that bound her to be what she is not. She also struggles with her
intimate life where she feels guilty and submissive in front of her partner even when she is
not on mistake. However, she wants to be an independent individual and achieve something
big and accepted for who she is. She want to be in charge of her own decisions but she feels
helpless when it comes to taking stand for herself. Despite these struggles the hero cares a lot
about her loved ones and family and tries to engage in actions that aim to reduce the tensions
between her and the family members and make their lives better by working hard. She is
optimistic, driven by her emotions and focused to fulfill her dreams so she can be successful.
Her thought content, feelings and actions are adequate as per her age and maturity and she is
hopeful that one day she will be able to change the circumstances around her.

Hero:

The hero in client’s story is observed to be a girl. An adult girl struggling with life and
relations.
The cards depict that the hero has problems with the relationships, societal and family
expectations. She wants to be assertive but feels that she is bound to comply what others
decisions for her. However, the hero is optimistic and determined to resolve her conflicts and
problems in the future.

Needs:

The stories narrated by the client reveals the pattern of needs for assertiveness and autonomy.
It was consistent in client’s stories that internally she had a desire for assertiveness and
autonomy as she feels that she cannot stand up for herself and has to comply with what others
decide for her, she feels conflicted between her own desires and her family’s expectations
from her. She expressed the need for freedom and assertiveness in her life and self.

Goal:

Client depicted the goal of committing to actions to keep close ties to loved ones and to
achieve her dreams to live a fulfilling life for herself.
In the stories she explains how she encounters problems with mother figure, partner and
family and aims to resolve those conflicts by working hard towards them. She also narrated
factors (future) such as working hard and achieving her goals to be able to live the life she
wants for herself as well as living happily with loved ones in her stories which exhibit that
the client aims to perform actions that would keep both her family and her drive for
achievement satisfied.

Internal Conflict:

A persistent pattern of need to satisfy others and follow her own path is commonly seen in
the client’s story.
In the stories, client expressed that she feels guilty upon upsetting close relations, does not
want family to be upset with her and is fearful of losing close relations. These remarks
suggest that internally client feels bound to please the people she loves and it causes
hindrance in the way of her autonomy and boosted self-esteem.

External Conflict:

As reported through the stories, the hero lives in uncongenial environment and has familial
pressures that block her success.
Within the stories, it is observed that the hero finds barriers by the relations, partner and
immediate family members in pursuing her choices. She cannot go after the things she wants
from life because environmental pressures wouldn’t let her and expectations from the family
to do as they say and the unhappiness that persists within her is hindering her growth.

Defence mechanism:

The client’s stories suggest that the commonly used defence mechanisms are
compartmentalization and rationalization. It is evident from the stories that the client
rationalizes that what is happening around her is not what she wants but is in her best interest
because her family has decided this for her and if she will comply then it will make them
happy and she wants to see her family pleased. She tends to keep herself busy and blocks off
the thoughts which gives her anxiety and realization that things around her not as she wants
and invests in studies and other activities.

Coping mechanism:
It is evident from client’s stories that the hero utilizes solution focused coping strategy and
takes practical steps to resolve the conflict.
The hero in the stories focuses on finding the solutions for keeping both her family and her
needs satisfied. She expressed multiple times in her stories that the hero accepts the decisions
of her family but in future follows her dream by working hard so that no one feels hurt and
disappointed, she also expressed escapism as coping mechanism and it was evident in her
stories as she narrated multiple times the need to indulge in work in present and future to
avoid conflicts.