Mike

Mike is a 16-year-old Asian American male who lives in Virginia with his parents and two sisters (Abby, 18, and Leesa, 20). Mike’s dad brought him to counseling after discovering that Mike was dressing in women’s clothes. Mike’s dad’s goal for counseling is for Mike to “stop dressing up like a girl and begin to act like a man.”

Mike presents as meek and quiet-spoken. He rarely speaks unless spoken to and his responses are concise yet thorough. Mike has never felt comfortable with his physical body and began dressing in his sister’s clothes when he was 4 years old. He has been secretly cross-dressing in his room for 12 years. He reports that he feels “relaxed and happy” when he is wearing girl’s clothes but hid it from his father and friends because he knew that they “wouldn’t understand.”

Mike reports that he is close with his mother and sisters, and they allow him to borrow their clothes. Mike’s mom thinks he is just going through a phase, and if the family would just support him, the cross-dressing behavior would stop. Mike has a difficult relationship with his dad, who believes that Mike is deliberately “defying God by denying his masculine nature.” Mike reports that his father is often physically and verbally abusive toward Mike. Mike’s dad accuses his wife of promoting Mike’s “sinful” behaviors and threatens to leave her and the children. Mike feels responsible for the tension in their house, and he is glad to come to counseling if it will help his family.

Mike is an average student, with a 3.0 GPA. Mike’s classmates often tease him, calling him derogatory names and pushing him when teachers are not looking. He reports no male friends, but he does have two female friends. He reports that his hobbies are designing apps, working on his car so that he can “get away,” and looking at fashion magazines “to plan for the future.” When asked about romantic relationships, he reported that he hasn’t been attracted to anyone yet. Mike reports that he has a desire to be in a romantic relationship but isn’t sure if he would date men or women since he has not been physically attracted to anyone before.

Mike states that he daydreams about being a woman. He shares that all his problems go away when he imagines being a woman. Mike has considered talking to his doctor about medical and surgical options for transitioning but stated that he is afraid of his dad and what he might do if he were to transition. Mike says his dad can be physically violent and if he transitioned to a woman, even if he could leave the household to protect himself, he would blame himself if his father became violent toward his mother in Mike’s absence.

Answer the following points as if you were a feminist or transpersonal counselor. Use your Learning Resources and the notes you took on language and technique from the feminist therapy video to support your conceptualization and integrate examples from the case to support your post. Include the following:

• Presenting Problem
• Treatment Goals
• Identification and explanation of at least two techniques and interventions
• Expected Outcome
• Be sure to support your main post with specific references to the Learning Resources using proper APA format and citations. Your response posts may be more conversational and less formal.