When a Man Loves a Woman

Running Head: WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN 1

When A Man Loves A Woman

WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN 2

Alice Green is wife to Michael Green, and mother to 6-year-old Jess and 4-year-old Casey. Alice lives in San Francisco in a beautiful home. She is able to have the help of a nanny, and depends on her nanny while Michael is gone, sometimes for weeks at a time. This leads to Alice feeling lonely and isolated. Alice grew up in a household with an alcoholic father and a mother who enabled his drinking and blamed Alice for his need to drink. Her mother has never been good for Alice’s self-esteem, often being critical of Alice in front of her children. Jess takes a protective stance over her mother, letting both Alice and Michael know of her disapproval of how Alice’s mother treats her. Alice has grown up unsure of her self-worth, which has caused her to use alcohol as a means of escape.

Alice was given her first beer at the tender age of 9. This early exposure to alcohol has led Alice down a path of severe dependence. In the clinical setting, Alice would be diagnosed as a type B alcoholic. A Type B alcoholic refers to a more severe alcoholism with an earlier onset, more-impulsive behavior and conduct problems or disorders, more co-occurring mental disorders, and more severe dependence (Inaba & Cohen as taken from Babor, Dolinsky, Meyer, et al, 1992).

Alice works as a middle-school counselor. She complains about her job being stressful, and complains to Michael that her job is emotionally draining and that the kids she works with don’t seem to listen to her advice. Again, here is an example of an outside influence affecting Alice’s self-efficacy. When Alice drinks, she becomes, at first, fun and playful. However, this quickly turns into aggressive behavior as she becomes more and more intoxicated. In one particular scene, she eggs a car whose alarm goes off continuously. She even talks Michael into participating in this with her. He obliges unwillingly, and throws a few eggs himself, more to appease Alice than for his own desire. Here, Michael is acting as the enabler. He continues with this behavior the next morning when he wakes up a hung-over Alice with a kiss and a cup of coffee, telling her he will start her shower. He does not show anger or disappointment in these earlier scenes, in fact, he seems to use this as his role in the marriage. He likes feeling like he can always “fix” Alice after a night of drinking. He knows she is drinking excessively, but doesn’t know how to help her. Finally, after being asked by a co-worker to get a drink, she comes home very late without calling Michael to let him know where she