Hispanic Family
Names and Ages:

Mother — Martha, 48
Father — Rodrique, 54
Daughter — Ambra, 25
Son — Paul, 22
Daughter — Chrystal, 20

Presenting Problem:
Son is failing to launch from the family. He was briefly hospitalized after telling his psychiatrist that he had thoughts of self-harm. He was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.
Relevant Background Information:
Parents have been married for 27 years. The father is well educated and works as an engineer for a large corporation. His job requires extensive travel. The wife has been a stay-at-home mom with just a few part time jobs as a childcare teacher. The oldest daughter graduated college and lives in NY as a commercial designer. Youngest daughter is in her second year of college. The son dropped out of college after one semester. He tried online college, but again dropped out. He has held several menial jobs in landscaping and fast food, but is currently unemployed, having been fired from his last position for lack of enthusiasm and effort.
Parents are here because of their arguments over the mother’s “coddling” the son and preventing him from “growing up.” The marital relationship has been weakened by the husband’s travel and sexual relations with one another ended several years ago. Their culture requires that they maintain the integrity of the family and they have been “hanging on” for years. You have had several sessions with the family, but there has been little progress in therapy.
You receive a phone call from Rodrique. He informs you that he is having an affair with a woman and has seen her for the last 10 years. He wants to know if therapy can help his son because he wants to divorce wife, but feels guilty doing that with the son’s mental illness. You tell him you can’t keep secrets, per your initial disclosures. You invite him to disclose his “secret” in the session, agreeing to support his decision to come clean with his wife. You start the session by asking Rodrique if he had told Martha about your phone conversation after the last session.
please create a genogram as well using structural family therapy for each client create a subsystem