Application of Clinical Psychology Paper
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the selected case study of Betty Ford. We will also discuss the biological, psychological, and social factors involved in this case study. Using this case study we will explain psychotherapy as an appropriate intervention in the field of clinical psychology.
The Betty Ford Case Overview
Growing up in Michigan, Betty Warren looked up to her mother as a role model as her father was absent from the home quite a bit. She realized that alcoholism was a family issue as her brother and her father were both alcoholics. Understanding the threat of alcoholism in her family, Betty became rather prudish when it came to drinking. It was not until she was 18 years old that she even took her first drink of alcohol, outside the teaspoon of bourbon that her mom would put in her tea to help with ailments. This was the turning point in Betty’s life as she became a socializer; enjoying late night dancing and carousing with her friends. After a quick stint in New York trying to become a dancer, where her drinking had become heavier, Betty returned to Grand Rapids at her mother’s request. Upon her return, Betty met and married her first husband, a man she had known since childhood, only to be divorced five years later. Betty then met a man named Gerald, who was at the forefront of his political career, and in 1948 they were wed. In the years to come, Betty mothered four children and Gerald was elected to Congress.
Betty developed her first of many physical issues in 1964, a pinched nerve, which was treated with opioid analgesics. A year later she was exhibiting warning signals that she was suffering from substance abuse, taking her medication with alcohol. In the years to come, Betty had developed pancreatitis, which the physician explained could have been caused by the alcohol use with the drug use. In 1974 Gerald Ford became the acting President as Richard Nixon resigned...