Case Study Antwone Fisher

Case Study: Antwone Fisher
Patricia Perez
October 4, 2013
Houston Community College

Antwone Fisher is a 25 year old African American male, who was born in Cleveland. He is currently in the navy, but seems to have anger problems. He got upset when one of the other guys from the navy called him a racial word, so that altercated into a fight between them. He seems to try to fix all his problems with fighting and I can tell that he has a lot of anger and resentment inside him. He is not very sociable and not very easy to talk to. When asked questions he is very short on his answers and does not seem to like to talk about his problems. To get him to open up he was told to come in for psychiatric sessions every week until he can start talking about his problems. Finally he starts opening up about his child hood, and automatically I can tell it is a very hurtful and sensitive topic for him. From what I can tell he had a rough childhood, but that did not stop him from becoming a better person and man. The Navy provided him with the opportunity to better himself, the only problem is that he still has those ghosts from his past that haunt him, and will not be at piece until he confronts them. Antwone grew up not knowing his parents, all he knows is that his mother was in a women’s correctional facility, where he was born and 2 weeks later was abandoned by his mother. He knows that his father’s name is Edward and that he was killed by his ex-girlfriend. At age 2 he was put into a foster home with Mr. and Mrs. Tate, in which he has spent most of his child hood. He grew up with 2 more foster brothers, Keith and Dwight. He did not have a loving home growing up. He experienced a lot of physical and mental abuse from his foster mother Mrs. Tate. She would tie him and his brothers up and beat them as part of a punishment. Antwone has also suffered sexual abuse at age 6 from Nadine, Mrs. Tate’s niece, which has affected him now as a grown up. He has had relationship problems, including the fact that he is still a virgin because of the sexual abuse he went through. Antwone had a best friend named Jesse, they grew up together. He was best friends with Jesse because he knew Jesse would not beat him up. Jesse was always there for Antwoine, he knew everything about him. Antwone seems like a very intelligent person, he knows how to speak 2 languages. I can tell he loves being in the Navy and to him it feels like a home. I can see a lot of hurt coming from inside him, he feels abandoned by his mother, family, and his friend Jesse. Jesse was shot while trying to rob a corner store; Antwone was present during the robbery. Sometimes Antwone wishes that would be him instead. When Antwone was a teenager Mrs. Tate kicked him out of her home. He was sent to reformat school in Pennsylvania, where later he would end up in the Navy. He likes to write books as well as poems, and says that he would love to become a teacher someday. Antwone had a very good imagination growing up, he would imagine that he had the prettiest of mothers; also he would dream that he had a perfect family and that they would have huge dinners. Antwone feels ashamed of being unwanted because he has no parents. He feels anger towards his family for forgetting about him. Overall, Antwone seems to be in good physical condition, he seems pretty healthy; he does not like to smoke. To conclude this session, based on what I have observed, I think that Antwone has a strong chance of leaving everything behind and moving on with his life. He has already come this far, the only thing we need to work on is his aggressiveness. I know that the fact that he is so angry is because of feeling abandoned from his family. My suggestion to Antwone is that he needs to come at peace with all his ghosts from his past, and learn to forgive. He needs to use all that anger that he feels in positive ways, such as, teaching children, writing books, or doing something that he loves, that can also benefit others. Antwone should still attend psychiatric sessions every 2 weeks, to follow up on his progress. Finding his family will put him at peace with himself, that does not mean he needs to keep in contact with them, but if he wishes to he will benefit from it. For now, no further treatment is needed, only the sessions will due.