Theory Application on Veronica Mars

Luna Flynn

Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California

EDCO 541: Theories in Counseling Psychology

Dr. Tiffany Fuller

5 August 2022
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Theory Application on Veronica Mars

Introduction

Veronica Mars is from the TV Show Veronica Mars. For the purpose of this paper, I will

be working with her while she is still in high school, although the show follows her to college

and adulthood. Veronica Mars is the daughter of a former Sheriff who is now a private

investigator following the murder of her best friend, Lily Kane. Her dad, Keith Mars, believed

that the father of the victim, Jake Kane, was the murderer and this ruined Keith’s reputation and

led to him being removed from the position of Sheriff. According to Veronica, her mother left

shortly after due to her inability to cope with the loss of reputation and salary and became an

alcoholic. Veronica assists her father with his business and works as an amateur private

investigator and helps solve problems that her high school peers bring up. Veronica only started

this occupation after the death of Lily Kane when her life was turned upside down. Because of

her father’s position on this case, Veronica did not only suffer from the poor reputation and lack

of popularity, but also lost her boyfriend, Duncan Kane (sister of the deceased) and all her

friends. After she lost her relationship, Veronica went to a party and was drugged and raped. It

took her many years to figure out what happened and many other connected events had occurred

since the night of the party. Veronica was reluctant to visit a school counselor because she is

incredibly intelligent and does not believe that we would have anything of value to share with

her.

Presenting Issues & Challenges

Veronica puts on a brave face, micromanages all of her friendships and relationships, and

rarely has time for herself. She lacks healthy boundaries because she is always willing to help

someone, even at the risk of her own life. She is highly impulsive, sometimes acts irrationally,
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and has an overall sassy, holier-than-thou attitude and can come across as very controlling. Her

teachers report that she has difficulty interacting with students and only socializes when it’s for

work. Veronica has two very close friends, but tends to use their friendship to help her with her

cases. I would like to work with Veronica to help her get in touch with what she may truly want

in life and help her learn to form healthier relationships that do not depend on quid-pro-quo. I

plan on using Existential Psychotherapy to help Veronica discover what gives her meaning in life

and Choice Theory/Reality Therapy to help Veronica learn to make safer choices and set up

healthy boundaries.

Theory Rationale

Existential Psychotherapy

Existential theory is based on a philosophical approach toward human suffering and “asks

deep questions about the nature of the human being and the nature of anxiety, despair, grief,

loneliness, isolation, and anomie” (Corey, 2017, ch.6). Because Existential Theory focuses on

themes of “responsibility and freedom” (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 1999), it can

help Veronica learn what she can and cannot control and find freedom in her life as she discovers

what is meaningful to her. In utilizing Existential Psychotherapy, Veronica can begin to realize

that “[she is] primarily responsible for [her] own recovery” which can “increase the likelihood

[she] will see beyond the limits of a therapy session and view recovery as a therapeutic process”

(GoodTherapy, 2019). Veronica obviously has a lot of trauma to work through and feelings that

she has suppressed. In time, we can use existential theory to work through what she has

experienced and help her come to terms with these challenges.

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Choice Theory and Reality Therapy

Choice Theory challenges classical behavioral and cognitive theories as it is largely

intrinsic in nature as “humans are internally motivated” (Sommers-Flanagan &

Sommers-Flanagan, 2015) by five basic needs, “survival, or self-preservation; love and

belonging, power, or inner control; freedom, or independence; and fun, or enjoyment” (Corey,

2017, ch.11) Glassed posits that love and belonging is “the primary need because we need people

to satisfy the other needs”. In Veronica’s case, she rarely focuses on meeting her own needs and

always agrees to helping others. Part of why she does this is to feel like she belongs and is

wanted. After her father and herself were ostrasized after Lily Kane’s murder, she lost her

best-friend, her boyfriend, and all of her other friends because she was no longer allowed to

associate with the ‘popular’ kids. I would like for Veronica to seriously consider what choices

she makes and why and how it relates to her own freedom and independence and what her

quality world might look like and how it can be attained. Reality therapy furthers these notions

by emphasizing choice and responsibility, keeps therapy in the present, avoids focusing on

symptoms, and rejects transference (Corey, 2017, ch.11). It can help Veronica analyze her

choices and lead her to “implement specific procedures that lead to changes in [her] behavior”

and evaluate how effectively she can get what she wants (Corey, 2017, ch.11).

Technique Application

Technique 1

As stated in Corey (2017, ch.6), I would like to walk Veronica through the several

Propositions mentioned which include “(1) the capacity for self-awareness; (2) freedom and

responsibility; (3) creating one’s identity and establishing meaningful relationships with others;

(4) the search for meaning, purpose, values, and goals; (5) anxiety as a condition of living; and
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(6) awareness of death and nonbeing”. Each of these Propositions can help Veronica as she

works through her underlying trauma and begins to acknowledge her own desires and what can

truly give her meaning. Working on Proposition 3 specifically will help her learn how to create

and sustain healthier relationships with significant others, peers, and in the workplace. I would

like to challenge Veronica to “examine what [she] gets from [her] relationships, how [she] avoids

intimate contact, how [she] prevents [herself] from having equal relationships, and how [she]

might create therapeutic, healthy, and mature human relationships” (Corey, 2017, ch.6). Because

Veronica is so involved with solving crimes and has experienced the death of important people in

her life, she may be unconsciously struggling with the reality of death and may avoid thinking

about it. With Existential Psychotherapy, fear of death is considered a source of inherent anxiety

and confronting death “should not be considered a threat” but rather a “source of zest for life and

creativity” (Corey, 2017, ch.6). Because Veronica has witnessed death several times, she does not

appear to be phased by it, but it may be imperative to talk to her about how she actually feels and

help her learn how to balance her acceptance of death, but also her desire to live. Veronica tends

to act impulsively without concern for her own well-being at times, and perhaps balancing how

she feels about the existential nature of death can help her learn to be more cautious. In this way,

I would like for Veronica to be able to discover what she finds meaningful in life, how she can

better her relationships with others, and help her learn how to take responsibility for her

decisions.

The “WDEP” System

This acronym helps explore the key questions at the core of reality therapy: What do you

want? (Wants) What are you doing? (Doing) Is it working? (Evaluation) Should you make a new

plan? (Planning)” (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2015) . These seemingly simple

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questions can help Veronica assess what she is doing in the present and reveal to her if she feels

fulfilled or not. In this way, she can learn to make adjustments in her life to protect herself and

can use these questions to continue to inform her progress. This process will include Veronica

identifying what her quality world would be, like a “personal Shangri-la…based on our wants

and needs…[which] consists of specific images of people, activities, events, beliefs, possessions,

and situations that fulfill our needs” (Corey, 2017, ch.11). In order to put this technique into

action, it is helpful to establish “short and long-term goals as a focus for therapy,” and to use

additional techniques such as “teaching, positiveness, humor, confrontation, questioning,

role-playing, and feedback” to perpetuate a “cycle of counseling” that can be more effective and

easily implemented as therapy progresses (Bradley, 2014).

Possible Limitations

While Extrinsic Psychotherapy focuses on internal drive and desire, and Reality Therapy

focuses on actions, both of these theories delve into present feelings and actions. These therapies

do not dive into the past very often, and may neglect to work through the severity of the trauma

Veronica has experienced. As the primary goal of her school counseling visit is to better her

relationships at school, discussing the past may be necessary as it has directly affected her social

life. However, the therapies selected are designed to encourage self-reflection and promote

responsible decision making in the present and future, thus hopefully restoring some of her

relationships with her peers and allowing her to feel more self-confident and assured as she looks

ahead.

Conclusion

In Veronica's case, we will use Existential Psychotherapy to help her determine what is

meaningful in her life and come to terms with the trauma she has experienced, and use Reality
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Therapy to help her make changes to her behavior in the present. In this way, she can discover

what she truly wants, and what she needs in order to work toward achieving her desires. Both of

these therapies place a lot of importance on responsibility and will challenge Veronica to

consider her own well-being before jumping into scenarios she does not want to participate in.

Together, Extrinsic Therapy will help Veronica assess what she wants internally, and Reality

Therapy will help her convert her wants into actions. Perhaps these therapies can help her create

boundaries for herself and motivate her to make decisions that are in her best interest and can

improve her overall well-being.

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References

Bradley, E. (2014). International Journal of Choice Theory and Reality Therapy: An On-Line

Journal Vol. XXXIV, No. 1, Fall, 2014. wglasserinternational.org. Retrieved August 5,

2022, from

https://www.wglasserinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/IJCTRT_XX

XVIII_no1_250.pdf

Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Brief Interventions and Brief Therapies for Substance

Abuse. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

(US); 1999. (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 34.) Chapter 6 --Brief

Humanistic and Existential Therapies. Available from:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64939/

Corey, G. (2017). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy (10th ed.). Belmont,

CA: Brooks/Cole.

GoodTherapy. (2019, November 18). Existential psychotherapy. GoodTherapy. Retrieved August

5, 2022, from

https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/existential-psychotherapy

Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2015). Counseling and psychotherapy theories

in context and practice: Skills, strategies, and techniques (2nd ed.).

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