READING 1- PERSONAL AND SOCIAL WELLBEING CASE STUDY: BIBI
Bibi was 15 years old and had a very poor self-image. She hated the way she looked. As a result, she had a very low self-esteem that prevented her from participating in sports at school. Bibi’s mother was concerned about her daughter’s feelings and subsequent decline in academic performance, therefore had encouraged her to talk to her Life Orientation (LO) teacher, Mrs Khosa (affectionately known as Mrs K at school).
In the first session Mrs K focused on building rapport with Bibi and encouraged her to talk about her feelings. As Kate was an extremely shy and softly spoken person, Mrs K asked open-ended questions and then validated her as she responded. From this session Mrs K was able to obtain useful background information and began to build some rapport with Bibi.
Bibi had struggled with her weight in her childhood. She remembers back in primary school how she was nicknamed “fatty” by her peers and they would not want to play with her. She was often ostracized and spent break times alone. She even stopped playing her favourite sport, netball. The name-calling continued throughout high school although it became more subtle because her ‘baby fat’ was gradually shedding off. Bibi found it difficult to make friends and often found herself excluded from social events.
Although her mother was very supportive, the put downs continued at home. Bibi’s older sister would say things like “why don’t you go on a diet” or “what are you eating that for, it’s only going to make you fatter”. Her elder brother was embarrassed to be seen with her and to make things worse, he was quite athletic.
A few months back, things were starting to turn around for Bibi. She began a relationship with a boy, Mondi. She started exercising and lost about 10 kilograms. Slowly she started feeling better about herself, however the relationship didn’t last and consequently Bibi’s self-esteem declined to its lowest. She blamed herself for the break-up and believed that her boyfriend ended the relationship because she was fat. However, when questioned further about this, Bibi could not recall a time when Mondi had ever criticised her appearance, in fact he seemed to be very supportive.
At that moment, Bibi had such low self-esteem that she even found it very difficult to study. She thought that “I am not worthy of anything”. She also told Mrs K that her friends had stopped calling her because they said she was constantly harsh and criticising them. Bibi stayed at home all day on weekends and every time she looked in the mirror, she thought about how ugly she was. It is important to note that Bibi was within the healthy weight range for her age and height.
It was obvious to Mrs K that the foundations for Bibi’s low self-esteem were laid down early in life, however it was important for her recognise that she was in control of her self-image and had the power to change it. Therefore, at the beginning of the second session Mrs K discussed the issues of personal control and how it would benefit Bibi if she took responsibility for her self-esteem regardless of the influence that others may have had. Mrs K established Bibi’s commitment to improve her self-image and stressed that it was not constructive to “blame” others.
Mrs K then discussed with her the importance of setting her own standards and not listening to those people who told her what she “ought” to do or look like. Bibi’s sister was the most obvious culprit, however Mrs K stressed that social standards also have a big influence on young people, especially women today.
The ideal woman is portrayed in magazines and on television to be extremely thin and therefore the average girls who compare themselves to these models are going to feel overweight. Bibi revealed that she did not read a lot of popular magazines in her spare time because she often felt saddened afterwards.
Finally, Mrs K asked Bibi exactly what aspects of herself she would like to change in order to enhance her self-esteem. Bibi’s response was to lose weight, get more confidence so she could hang out with her friends more.
In the next session Mrs K began to introduce the principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in order to modify Bibi’s negative thinking. Mrs K explained how constantly telling herself that she was ugly and overweight was only reinforcing her negative body image and low self-esteem. Therefore, Bibi needed to recognise and combat inappropriate negative thinking in order to enhance her self-image. She therefore suggested that Bibi should use a strategy called Thought Stopping and explained to her how it works. Mrs K explained that, as an example, when Bibi looks in the mirror and thinks how ugly and overweight she was, she needed to identify this as a negative thought and get herself to stop. Mrs K described how even saying STOP out loud would help her become more aware of her negative thinking.
Mrs K then explained to Bibi how the use of positive affirmations would help her replace negative thoughts. For example, whenever a negative thought about her appearance popped into her mind, Bibi needed to replace it with affirmations such as “I’m a fit and healthy person” and/or ” I’m honest and friendly”. Mrs K explained further that it would help to get the focus off her physical appearance and affirm her personal qualities. Bibi agreed with Mrs K that she would try and implement these techniques.
At the beginning of the next session, Bibi reported that stopping negative thoughts is difficult as they keep on popping into her mind. Mrs K assured her that she had made some progress, however she should keep persevering as it will take some time. As Bibi had a lot of time on her hands to think, Mrs K thought it appropriate to recommend some sort of activity to keep her busy and her mind more occupied. They then discussed her interests and hobbies. Bibi revealed that she loved netball and baking. Mrs K advised her to join the school’s netball team and introduced her to the netball coach and captain. It was later revealed that she was a very good goal shooter and her teammates praised her for this. The team celebrated one another’s birthdays and Bibi baked the cakes for their birthdays. They often exclaimed about how delicious her cakes were. Her netball teammates became her additional friends. Her social skills and academic performance improved.
According to Erikson, Bibi is at the stage that requires her to
Have an unfragmented sense of self
Be acceptable to herself, peers and society.
Establish uniqueness and develop an identity.
All statements are correct
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According to Erikson, Bibi is at the stage that requires her to:
All statements are correct.
At this stage of development (which is typically associated with adolescence), individuals strive for a cohesive sense of self, seek acceptance from themselves and others, and work towards establishing their unique identity. Bibi's struggles and experiences reflect these key aspects of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development.
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