Nelson is a 27 year old unemployed individual, and he has struggled with low self-esteem and depression. Nelson was born into a low socioeconomic status family and so lived in a disadvantaged suburb. During infancy Nelson’s mother was often inconsistent with his needs; such as, touching, affection, and crying. Often his mother did not respond immediately to his emotional needs and just responded to his physical needs; such as, feeding, changing, and bathing. Nelson experienced this parenting style until he was seven years old as his parents were both employed and always busy. In addition, Nelson is an only child so the lack of communication between himself and his parents impacted on his needs for self-expression and the development of his sense of self. Often when Nelson went out he was afraid of talking to others due to his family environment.
Things went downhill for Nelson when during high school as he would always see how comfortable his peers were expressing themselves, this made him feel inferior and different. In addition, when his school organized parent-child activities he saw how other people’s parents were energetic and supportive, but his parents did not appear to enjoy themselves. Further, other people would often ridicule and tease him stating that he had no friends and his family were poor. Finally, even when Nelson tried really hard at school and received good grades his parents would never take the time to notice or congratulate him on his hard work.
During adulthood Nelson developed depression and lost his job on the basis that he was not a team player or very out-going. Socially, he has no activities that he would regularly engage in and he does not have any friends. Often when Nelson is alone he feels sad, anxious and hopeless; therefore, his depression impacts his thoughts, feelings, behaviour and overall sense of well-being.