--Original published at Hope's PSY105 Blog

“Miguel has been struggling with his coursework lately. He has felt very tired in recent weeks and has found it difficult to focus on his studies. Even though he is always tired, he has trouble falling asleep at night, is irritable during the day, and picks fights with his roommates. He is a bit of a perfectionist and gets mad at himself when he makes even tiny mistakes. It’s gotten to the point where he doubts his ability to do anything right.”

From a psychodynamic perspective, Miguel seems to be struggling with an internal conflict.  If you were to ask Freud to do a psychoanalysis, he would say there was some unconscious desire that Miguel was unaware of in his conscious mind.  Freud might also suggest for Miguel to use therapy to help alleviate these wants and desires.

A behaviorist would look at Miguel’s habits outside of his studies.  They would observe things like where Miguel tries to study and how he does.  They would also observe when he studies to see if that has anything to do with him being tired.

The humanistic approach would look at Miguel’s freedom to choose.  They would focus on current environmental factors rather than previous factors.

When looking at it from a cognitive perspective, they would look at how Miguel processes the information he receives.  They would observe his self doubt as well.

Neuroscience would look at Miguel’s behavioral genetics and why he gets so upset when he makes small mistakes.  It would also look at why he is so irritable throughout the day.

Cultural psychology would look at his background and where he comes from.  There could be an underlying stress coming from his cultural background that is weighing on him.  This could contribute to the lack of sleep, the irritability during the day, the fights with his roommates, and the self doubt.