Introduction

The chief purpose of this assignment is applying human behaviour theories to a case and thereby to understand a particular problem that exist in human behaviour and further develop across the life span of the client. The approach is to identify a case and then to elaborate the case. This will be further analysed by the theoretical approaches from the same field. The purpose is to bring in theoretical perspectives into the empirical aspects for an analytical persuasion.

In this paper the analysis has been forwarded regarding a client with alcohol dependence with the Bulimia Nervosa.  This is a case that will be analysed very critically in order to get the application of human behaviour theories for some solution to the same.  

A. The Problem

The problem that this paper is trying to investigate is related to a client, Mercy David. The whole family was born and brought up in a rural area that was once very renowned for mining operations. However in the present scenario that area is having high unemployment situation, due to the closure of the mine. Mercy is a married lady with an alcoholic husband. She was in her mid 30s and was having a child, 8 years old. As a matter of fact Mercy’s family also had alcoholism. Her mother was an alcoholic without any father. She was raised y her mother’s parents. During that period, she faced ongoing sexual abuse from an uncle from an age of 8 to 13. In spite of such a childhood, Mercy excelled in school and gained associates’ degree. Her mental structure has been so mould that she hardly can hold her head up; which actually allows her hair fall in front of her face. She is very prone to the act of mumbling, though in a very timid voice. The basic problem in her is getting mis-directed in a conversation that actually can address an emotional touch to her.

Mercy was alcohol dependence and was also suffering from Bulemia Nervosa disorder. As declared by ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ Bulimia nervosa has been recognized as an eating disorder that gets characterized by the act of recurrent binge eating. This eventually gets followed by compensatory behaviours. In this state the most common form of trouble is the defensive vomiting, or the purging. This leads to the tendency of fasting and the use of enemas, laxatives and diuretics (Harper, 2001). As declared by Fairburn (1995) ‘bulimia’ is a word derived from Latin, ‘būlīmia, meaning ‘a compound of ‘bous’, that is Ox, and ‘līmos’ that is hunger. As for Nervosa, it represents disorder in human behaviour.

B. Impact at Various Stages

The impact of Bulemia Nervosa in Mercy had a great impact over the people she was living with. On individual as well as family grounds, Mercy faced lots of trouble. For personal sufferance, Mercy was always troubled from the age of 13. It was like a part of her day to day life. During these Mercy faced rapid as well as a state of out-of-control eating. She could only stop eating when her bulimic gets interrupted someone else. Initially it was her grandmother, who tried to make her realise that she is having more than she actually can. Actually due to sexual abuses from her uncle, Mercy often used to get into depression and eating became the solution to get out of it. She used to eat till her stomach hurts due to overextension. Eventually she needs to self-induce vomiting. When she was into severe depression this cycle got repeated several times in a week; leading to several times per day as she grew up.

It was after marriage that she started having the cycles several times a day and thus visited the physiologist. There she came to know that she has been affected by many other problems. She was having chronic gastric reflux just after eating and that gets added by dehydration as well as hypokalemia due to frequent vomiting. There are possibilities that she might have electrolyte imbalance that can further lead to cardiac arrest, cardiac arrhythmia and even death. Added to all these she was already suffering from obesity and was having tough time during her pregnancy.

However the most pathetic part is the sufferance that her 8 years old child was facing, whom she was unable to concentrate due to regular troubles. As a matter of fact she even lost interest on her child and the child was subsequently ignored. Her child initially tried to have the company of her parents, but slowly start getting involved in her own self. There is a kind of loneliness in her that might to some difficult situations in the future.