Case Study
Robert Smith
211 North Dawson Street
Lumpkin, AL. 32325
901-665-8479
Robert was referred for mental health treatment after getting arrested for trespassing and
threatening to kill an employee at his former place of employment.
Robert is a 29-year old African-American male who lives alone in an apartment that he rents. He
is currently divorced and has a daughter who is 10 years old. His daughter lives with her
mother, Robert’s ex-wife, but Robert gets her every other weekend. Robert grew up in Lumpkin
and has never lived anywhere else. He was raised by both parents, who are still alive and
married also living in Lumpkin, and he has two younger sisters and one older brother. He
graduated high school with a special education diploma but did not attend college. He began
working at Mead Paper Company shortly after high school and worked there for 10 years;
however, he was recently fired.
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Robert does not report any alcohol or drug use and denies having any family members with a
history of alcohol or drug abuse. When asked about any family history of mental illness, he
initially denies any history but then proceeds to tell the intake counselor about his mother’s
occasional “episodes” of crying, sleeping a lot, refusing to get out of bed, not cooking or taking
care of the house, and even going days without bathing. Robert did not identify this type of
behavior as being reflective of a mental illness and denies his mother ever receiving any type of
“help” or treatment for these episodes. He reports, “my dad just tries to take care of her as much
as she will let him and he just waits for her to get past her episode.”
When asked about friends Roberts states he does not have many friends. He reports, “in school
the kids were mean to me, even in my special classroom where all the kids had trouble doing
their work. They always teased me and said I was weird.” I know they thought I was weird
because I would ask them or the teacher if they saw something, like spiders on the wall or
someone walking into the room, and they would laugh at me and say I was crazy. That has
happened to me since as long as I can remember. My parents just told me I had an active
imagination.” Robert then stated, “because the kids laughed at me so much and my parents did
not seem to believe me, I never asked anyone if they hear something or someone that I heard. I
just figured they did not hear it just like they did not see what I saw. I have learned to just try to
ignore it. Sometimes it works but sometimes I can’t ignore it.” Robert then stated, “I did have a
girlfriend in high school who I married when I was 20 but we only stayed married for two years.
She got tired of me always accusing her of cheating on me or talking about me/making fun of
me when she was on the phone talking to someone. She started calling me paranoid and
crazy.”
When asked about what happened at Mead that lead to his arrest, he became visually agitated.
He started wringing his hands or balling them up in a fist and his voice became louder while he
talked faster. He stated, “I know I got written up sometimes at work for arguing with other people
but that was only because they were talking about me or trying to get me in trouble. That bitch
Rhonda was trying to get me fired. She told my boss lies. She said I would leave my station
several times during my shift and go hang out in my car and smoke. That is not true. I did go to
my car sometimes but that was because I was trying to ignore the voices I was hearing or the
stuff I was seeing. Sometimes I would be mad at another worker and I was just trying to calm
down. She made it sound like I was being lazy and did not want to work. My supervisor knew I
had stuff I was dealing with and that is why he would let me go to my car sometimes. One time I
had to meet with my supervisor and some people in the front office because I did keep getting in
trouble for arguing with people and that is when one of the guys in the meeting said my
supervisor needed to let me go cool off when I needed to. After Rhonda told on me for going to
my car, my supervisor met with me and said I was not supposed to be leaving my station that
much and that the company had tried to work with me for as long as they could and they just
could not handle my issues any more. If that bitch had minded her own business I would still
have a job. Now I don’t have a way to pay child support and my ex-wife is threatening to not let
my daughter come over on the weekends I am supposed to have her.”
When asked about family support Robert stated, “my parents keep telling me I have an active
imagination that I never grew out of from when I was kid and they say I have to accept that God
just made me different than everybody else. I know they go to church all the time and believe all
that stuff, but I don’t and I wish they would just that God stuff out when we are talking. They call
me special. I did hear my older brother talking to my parents after I got home from being
arrested and he said they had to realize that I needed help and I was not going to get better. I
don’t know what he was talking about. I don’t know what he think I need help with. Maybe he is
talking about me hearing or seeing things or maybe the way I argue all the time with people
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about stuff they say is not true and that I am being paranoid about. I really don’t see my sisters
much. They live in another town about an hour from here. They are both married with kids and
they are always busy.”
Robert denies any other involvement with the law other than this one arrest. He reports no
history of any medical problems and states, “I am in very good health. I eat healthy food and like
to work out on weights at least one or two times every week.” When asked about how he sleeps
he reports sleeping well every night. He denied any “episodes” like his mother has and after
describing symptoms of a manic episode, he denied ever experiencing anything like that.
Throughout the intake interview, Robert maintained good eye contact and did not seem to
experience any hallucinations or paranoia. He was cooperative and engaged well in the
conversation. He did become agitated when talking about the incident at his former place of
employment. He was dressed neatly; however, he did have on a white t-shirt under his long
sleeve Polo shirt and he was wearing a pair of blue jeans. This is notable because his
appointment was after lunch and it was already in the upper 90’s outside and he mentioned
walking to the appointment from his apartment. His apartment is over a mile away from the
office. He did not seem to be dressed appropriately for the hot weather.
At this time, Robert reports wanting to find another job, make the whole police stuff go away,
and just spend time with his daughter. When asked about whether or not he wants to stop
hearing and seeing things he knows other cannot hear or see, he stated, “that would nice. I
know my parents tell me it is my imagination but I don’t think that is all it is. Why has everyone
else grown up and their imagination gone away but mine hasn’t?”