When a Man Loves a Woman – Case Study

Movie Blog week 4 When a Man Loves a Woman Alice is married to Michael who is an airplane pilot and they have two daughters the older daughter Jess is Alice’s from a previous relationship and the younger daughter Casey is theirs together. Alice is a junior high guidance counselor and also an alcoholic. The movie goes through their life together and shows how Alice’s addiction affects the family. Alice goes to rehab and gets sober and her and Michael have a hard time adjusting to sober Alice and they break up but at the end of the movie they get back together.
The main character in crisis is Alice because of her alcohol addiction. The precipitating events that triggered the crisis are her drinking and her relationship with her husband who seems to belittle her often. The factors that exacerbated the crisis are when Alice got into an accident because she was drunk. The coping skills she used were when she entered rehab to get sober. Using the Crisis in Context Theory the crisis is Alice as an alcoholic and when she falls out of the shower her daughter Jess thinks she is dead.
The system is Alice and the community is the town that she lives and works in and the stakeholders are her husband Michael and two girls Jess and Casey. The layers of the crisis involve Alice and her family when dealing with her alcoholism. The family of Alice is close in physical proximity to the crisis and also has reactions to the crisis. The reciprocal effect with Alice and Michael is they have to learn to be a couple when Alice is sober and then her children have to be able to forgive Alice for treating them poorly when she was drinking.

The movie also shows the time factor as we see Alice interacting with her family after her crisis as she continues to go to AA. Alice does return to normal daily functioning and is invested in staying sober by attending AA meetings and working on her personal relationships with her husband and children. Alice did experience growth post crisis and took ownership of her actions when addicted and even speaking at AA meetings. Some personal issues I might have when dealing with Alice while in crisis are that she is first a mother and she is neglecting to care for her children and even physically hit Jess across the face.
I would help Alice see that she needs to get sober for herself and her children and not be judgmental to her. While working with Alice I would do self-care by continuing to exercise regularly and spend time caring for my children. Resources Mandoki, L. (Director). (1994). When a Man Loves a Woman [DVD]. United States: Touchstone Home Entertainment Myer, R. A. , & Moore, H. B. (2006). Crisis in Context Theory: An Ecological Model. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 84(2), 139-147.