One of the themes in the book, “Solutions and other problems” by Brosh, is depression. The author, who is a character in the story, explains how it feels to be depressed. The book is humorous and captures the interest of the reader. The author uses words and imagery to express the feeling and situation when depressed (Brosh, 2020). The depressed character loses her sister and gets divorced at the same time. The sister undergoes a scary medical procedure and finally dies. Life situations expose individuals to a stressful situation that becomes unbearable, resulting in depression. The author opens up about her mental health status explaining the struggle involved to contain and survive in different aspects of life. In the book, she explores the treatment struggles and concerns as she receives medication, creating trauma.
Another theme in the book is grief. The author undergoes tragedy that leaves her lonely and powerless. The sister’s death was tragic as she witnessed a tragic medical scary situation that was unsuccessful in losing the patient. The character expresses the powerlessness over the situations that lead to grief and loss of touch with reality. Brosh further experience pain when her husband decides to divorce her (Brosh, 2020). The separation creates trauma and loneliness for the separating parties, especially when one has no one to share the grievances and struggles of life. The oppressive situations that happen in life create traumas, as the author explains in the book drawing the dark moments and covering her way of management. The main character in the book uses the comic expression as a way to relieve the grief and stresses she faces in her life.
The themes are connected to the course’s concepts since they are social issues. People undergo different societal challenges that social work practitioners intend to offer the solution to in various ways. Depression is a mental issue affecting most people in society caused by different concerns in the individual’s life. The concepts of codes of ethics in social work create the standards to ensure quality care for the client (Canadian Association of Social Workers, 2005). Some people who are depressed prefer to use distractions and other methods of care in fear of visiting the social work organization for fear of exposure and denial of the required help.
The course concepts guide social workers to ensure they provide help rather than scare patients away. Depression is a major societal issue as people face difficulties from childhood trauma to adulthood experiences. The ethical codes enlighten the social worker on handling such clients based the personal experience and willingness to share (Canadian Association of Social Workers, 2005). The privacy and confidentiality provided are high quality enhancing the care. A holistic approach to helping clients entails a spiritual, psychological, and emotional approach to the concept. The issues affecting the client require complete sorting and approach to capture the area weakness that requires help and ensure the client’s satisfaction.
Also, the course concepts reveal the social work of children and youth. The book’s author becomes the protagonist who suffers as she explains the memories of experiences in her life. The social work of children and youth creates a conceptual approach. The traumatic experience in youth is associated with attachment theory and injury (Mullally, 2018). The theory aspect of attachments is about the beliefs instilled in an individual at an early age which, when bruised in their life exploration and situations, results in attachment injury. Children are denied visitation of the sick at the hospital for fear of reaction due to attachment. However, in this case, the author is exposed to visiting the sister who undergoes scary medical procedures and finally dies. The social work concepts emphasize protection to avoid damage caused by attachment injury cases.
Moreover, the themes are connected to the social work concepts in the social work theories. The ability to relate the issues affecting a person is a powerful tool. The issues of concern in people’s lives determine the theory applicable to serving the client. Depression and grief create struggles in an individual and require a different approach depending on the client’s vulnerability (Canadian Association of Social Workers, 2005). Changes in the situation could lead to changes in life as a coping mechanism, which could be positive or negative. Brosh approaches the matter on a personal measure that encourages readers to practice theories and approaches that favor the nature of social injustices. Divorce, in some cases, creates coping challenges for partners.
The relevance of the themes to the structural approach to social work is that social injustices are worked upon. Themes of depression due to divorce could be associated with gender-based violence that causes trauma to the victim (Gerdes, 2011). Ageism is another issue that could be associated with the theme of grief. The author may have an attachment injury that occurred when the sister was hospitalized. In this case, the structural approach to social work is applicable to attain social justice. The themes in the book lead to the mental illness of the author. The anti-oppressive approach of social workers helps prevent burnout over the stressful situation one is involved in. the social workers at this level promote self-care for the victims to become responsive to the supporting staff.
The themes are also relevant to the structural approach to social work on the aspect of self-reflection in a way that the person responsible is to identify their contribution to the social injustices (Freyer, 2017). For instance, the author contributed to the marriage breakdown since the partners contributed to the relationship. Individuals can review their perception and belief towards particular ideas that developed as they grew up to adulthood that contribute to the unfair treatment in different social concerns. The structural approach enhances the interpretation of people’s behavior regarding ethnicity, race, and gender. The self-reflection enables analysis of the different results from the good values and ideologies that adversely affect the relationship with others with whom interaction occurs.
Additionally, the relevance of themes to the structural approach is self-care for social workers. Social workers need to safeguard their well-being in practice to solve social concerns. Dealing with stress involves dealing constructively with the consequences of stress to ensure safety and care (Mullally, 2018). The constructive use of anger is another approach that helps to handle the structural approach of the social work that becomes stressful and anti-privilege assessment. The social workers under the anti-oppressive approach section work toward the unfair situations attached to social injustices in different aspects. The anger represents the rage due to social injustice, which they should maintain but use wisely to avoid messing up the professional aspect.
The themes are relative on a personal and professional level. Issues of depression are common in society due to injustices. Self-reflection indicates the challenges associated with life that drive one to stress that affects mental health. Issues arise, limiting social interactions and causing anxiety (Freyer, 2017). Depression affects the normal functioning of the body and mind. The social injustice that prevails in society causes difficulties in survival for the victims. Powerlessness promotes the unfair treatment of one of the parties involved in the situation, which creates denial and anger. Extreme anger could cause further damage and social injustices as a defense mechanism. For instance, gender-based violence involves emotional, psychological, or physical hurt to the person. The themes show the urge to fight for social justice.
Professionally, the themes portray the impacts of social injustices on the clients. The ethical codes of conduct in social work act as a guide on how to handle such clients. Empathy is important in ensuring that the client receives quality care for self-care purposes and to help the clients (Gerdes, 2011). As a social worker, empathy will help ensure effectiveness in serving the clients and developing abilities to create a healthy relationship with the client that will result in overcoming the client. The usual burnout observed in the profession will likely become minimal with applying empathy toward the patient. Therefore the social injustices in society require an operational social work team with skills and adherence to codes of ethics in the profession.
References
Brosh, A. (2020) Solutions and Other Problems. New York: Gallery Books
Canadian Association of Social Workers. (2005). Code of ethics: Core social work values and principles
Mullally, U. (Ed.). (2018). Repeal the 8th. Unbound Publishing.
Gerdes, K. E., & Segal, E. (2011). Importance of empathy for social work practice: Integrating new science. Social work, 56(2), 141-148.
Freyer, M. (2017). Trauma-Informed Social Work Practice with Women with Disabilities: Working with Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence Michelle S. Ballan.
write