Psychotherapy Case Study Assessment Answer

Ronnie the Rabbit

One day there was a rabbit that was called Ronnie. Ronnie and his family stayed in a small town that was called Rabbie town. The rabbits in Rabbie town looked different from each other. Some rabbits had short ears, some had long ears, some were tall and some of the rabbits were short. Each rabbit had a talent in something but some of the rabbits did not really know what their talent was. Some of the rabbits had a talent to run fast, some had caring hearts and did not like it when others were ugly to other children, and that is a great talent.

Ronnie rabbit had very long ears. Ronnie liked to play, especially with his tractor and implements in his mother's garden. He then planted seeds and made himself a vegetable garden and then he gave food to the hungry rabbits in town. He liked to share with other children. He also loved it when his family went to visit his friends or family on the farm as he loved farming. He could also drive the big tractor that other children could not do.

The holiday was nearly finished and it was time for Ronnie to go back to school. Ronnie was a little bit excited to go back to school but he was also a little bit scared and stressed because he had to make new friends, he had a new teacher and he did not know what to expect. At night when he was lying in his bed he was thinking about school and his stomach made butterfly moves.

Eventually it was time for the school to start for the new year. Ronnie was awake early the next morning, he was excited and could not wait to dress for school as he had new school clothes and shoes and he loved new things. He was feeling ready for the big day.

At school there were children in Ronnie's class that were older than Ronnie. At times they were nice to him and at times they looked at him and started to laugh at him. It made Ronnie feel sad and scared. When the teacher was not in the classroom some of the older children started to tease him about his long ears and they said his jersey was too big. They said ugly things to him.

Sometimes at break time the older children wanted Ronnie to play with them and when he was running he sometimes fell over his long ears and some of them were laughing at him and teasing him. Sometimes they wanted him to join them to do wrong things like smoke paper and dared him and he was too scared to say no because they would then call him bad names and not want to play with him.

Ronnie was very sad and scared to go back to school and he was crying and made excuses not to go to school. He told his mother his stomach was aching and he was not feeling well. He begged his mother if he could please stay at home but his mother said, NO Ronnie you have to go to school. Now Ronnie was shy also because his eyes were red because he cried and he was scared that the children would tease him about his red eyes.

Ronnie remembered that his teacher once said in class if you feel sad or scared about something you must tell an adult that you trust and Ronnie told his mother about the children that were teasing him. After he told his mother it made him feel a little bit better. His mother told him that they must think of a plan that they could make to make him feel better and to do something about the situation. His mother asked him if she could tell the teacher about the children teasing him and he agreed because he trusted his teacher. His mother also said he must see if there are other children that will play with him and maybe feel the same he is feeling and if he can he must just say NO to them.

His mother went to the teacher and told her about Ronnie who was scared of the older children. After school the teacher called Ronnie and said to him, "Ronnie, I know how you feel and it is not right if the other children are teasing you, sometimes the children want to bully you and hurt you to feel better about themselves. I want us to have a secret language that only the two of us will use, so if you feel sad OR scared, put two fingers on your arms." It made Ronnie feel better but he was still feeling sad and scared at times.

He was practicing in front of the mirror to say to himself NO, NO, NO and one day when the children wanted to take his food he just said NO. He could not believe that he could do it but he did and he felt so proud of himself. When they wanted him to run and play he fastened his ears on top of his head and if he did not feel like playing with them he said NO or he told his mother about it.

The bunnies that were the bullies never teased him again. From that day Ronnie was a happy bunny and times when he was feeling unsure and scared and sad he was thinking of the things his mother taught him to feel better and it really worked.

Review of the Story

The story is about a child rabbit named Ronnie who stayed with his family in a small town called Rabbie town. Each rabbit in the town had a special talent. Ronnie’s talent was that he cared for other rabbits, for example, he used to feed food to the hungry ones.

Once the holidays were over, he had to prepare for the new year. He was excited but was also scared, as he had to make new friends. In his class, there were rabbits who were older than Ronnie himself and most of them were bullies. This scared him.

Eventually, the older bullies started teasing him because of his long ears and they even said that his clothes were too long. They asked him to do things that were uncomfortable for him like smoke paper. The bullies even called him by using bad names. All these things made Ronnie uncomfortable.

At home, he told his mother about these instances, and that he wanted to get out of them. The mother then came up with a plan that helped Ronnie. She went up to the teachers and politely talked to them about what was going on. Ronnie was then told to say no whenever the bullies asked him to play with them.

This made him feel better and he started defending himself against the bullies. This motivated him and it led the bullies to stop teasing him.

The mental therapy given by Ronnie’s mother and the teachers helped him a lot. And from that day, he was a happy bunny.

Psychological Perspective

According to Milton Erickson, it was important for the mother to understand the cognitive behavior of her child. Since Ronnie was kind-hearted and sensitive, he found it challenging to face the bullying classmates. Fear had developed in his brain and he needed mental treatment from someone. Psychotherapy would be effective in this scenario, which was given by the mother and the teacher.