Written Assignment 1
Case Study: Jane
Don Bartschi
Rasmussen College

Author Note This paper is being submitted on October 11, 2014 for General Psychology - 2014 Fall Quarter.
Case Study: Jane

As a child Jane was beaten repeatedly by her father for being naughty. The case study does not describe the type of beating. We are left to assume that it was an abusive beating as opposed to a corrective type bottom spanking. I would also assume that Jane’s father was a single parent who had communication issues as well as anger management problems. Jane’s father was probably abused as a child and may only have a high school level education or lower. Parents who abuse were often children of abuse. He was unable to communicate his displeasure with Jane’s naughtiness through words. Instead he turned to his physical strength and beat her. Jane’s father thought he was teaching Jane discipline the same way he learned it. In reality he was teaching Jane the same thing he learned which was fear.

Jane learned to associate love with fear as a child and has carried that into her adult life. She has allowed her husband to beat her and has accepted his apology with the expectation of gifts. Without the proper counseling, Jane will be abused by her husband again and again. Jane has learned to accept this as a normal form of communication, as well as a means to get material things. Jane still has contact with her father. She should seek counseling to help her resolve her childhood issues along with her father. She also needs to immediately seek help with the abuse in her marriage before it escalates. By seeking counseling now, Jane may prevent passing these issues on to her child.

A psychologist may use these three types of research methods