Social Work Theory and Social Work

As Fiona’s social worker, the student looked into ways of helping Fiona combat this guilt she has been experiencing. First of all the writer went to the library and took out several books relating to guilt as she felt it was essential to define the meaning of guilt before going any further. Freud spoke of guilt as ‘the most important problem in the evolution of culture.’ This, however, did not serve as an accurate explanation of guilt. The student typed in ‘definitions of guilt’ into google and found several different meanings.  The best way to describe the guilt Fiona felt is ‘remorse caused by feeling responsible for some one else who has experienced a traumatic event.’
In her work, the student used a process of wild carding to begin with, for example, typing guilt followed by a *. This would bring up any article relating to guilt on Google. The student found this very strenuous and time consuming and found it far better to actually type in what it was she needed to know about guilt in full, as this brought more relevant articles up. It was then apparent the student would need to identify the variations of guilt and apply one to Fiona. The student read an article relating to trauma-related guilt. This related well to Fiona’s situation. Many people experience this type of guilt when they believe that they could or should have done something different at the time a traumatic event occurred. In this case, Fiona is feeling trauma–related guilt for abandoning her little sister when she was abused by her uncle. As her sister has also gone into care and had other related problems, Fiona is blaming herself.

Lastly, the student felt it was essential to look at ways in which the Social Worker would actually help Fiona’s situation and the methods of therapy she would advise Fiona to take. ‘It is not feeling guilty that is bad, but unresolved guilt that is harmful’. It was important to encourage Fiona to change and accept the guilt that she has, then she can move on. As her Social Worker, the writer also felt it was necessary to point her in the direction of guilt and regression therapy which is a form of counselling, similar to psychotherapy in the way that it allows people to overcome stress, emotional problems, relationship problems or troublesome habits. What they have in common is that they are all treatments based on talking to another person and sometimes doing things together. The writer would finally recommend several self-help books and activities that may take Fiona’s mind away from the guilt.

An article titled ‘Coping with Guilt’ by Chuck Gallozzi speaks about guilt therapy. He says ‘Unresolved guilt can crush our enjoyment of life, cause fear and pain, and prevent us from reaching our potential’.

In conclusion, the student organised the workload into three separate parts. Firstly, the student looked at the definitive meaning of guilt in relation to Fiona as there are many different types of definitions of guilt. This was important as we needed to categorise the way we looked at it and understand what therapies and methods of help to offer her. Secondly, the different types of guilt were looked at for Fiona’s case. Lastly, the student looked at the therapies for helping her overcome the guilt. Before the presentation took place, the group met to collaborate their findings into a power point presentation about the scenario. The writer feels the exercise has been rewarding and now fully understands Social Theory and Social Work.

Word count: 935

References

Stein, E (1969) Guilt: Theory and Therapy, First Edition, Westminister Press, Great Britain

        

Thompson, N (2005) Understanding Social Work, Second Edition,

Four therapy Network, (1998) … retrieved on 14 March 2009

Wolz, B (1998) Conquering Feelings of Guilt,  accessed…14 March 2009

Milch, M (1998), Survivor Guilt, , accessed …14 March 2009

(2000-2009), Article on Guilt OR Feeling Guilty may be an outcome of emotional imbalance   …accessed on 14 March 2009

Gallozzi, C Article on coping with guilt   ... accessed on 14 March 2009

T. Darlene Cheek, Article on Guilt and Regression Therapy  ... accessed on 18 March 2009

Tull, M (2008), Article on PTSD and Guilt  ... accessed on 18 March 2009

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