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Fictional Character Analysis and Conceptualization- Outline
Thesis Statement: The effective treatment of a psychology client relies on the effective use of
diagnosis and the application of tested therapeutic approaches to ensure appropriate approach to
psychological conditions.
I. Introduction
II. Biography
III. Assessment
IV. DSM 5 Diagnosis
V. Conceptualization
VI. Treatment
VII.

Supervision

VIII. Ethics
IX. Conclusion


Running head: FICTIONAL CHARACTER

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Fictional Character Analysis and Conceptualization
Name
Institution

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Fictional Character Analysis and Conceptualization
Therapy has been highlighted in many cases as an effective means of dealing with mental
health and allowing a better life. Specifically, films dealing with stressful mental issues provide
characters who present varying symptoms which can be assessed and treatment performed using
therapy. In this analysis, the fictional character Walter White starring in Breaking Bad is
assessed and treated using a therapeutic approach. The effective treatment of a psychology client
relies on the effective use of diagnosis and the application of tested therapeutic approaches to
ensure appropriate approach to psychological conditions.
Biography
The television series Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston as Walter Hartwell “Walt”
White Sr. also known as Heisenberg. Generally, the theme of breaking bad revolves around his
turn from a cowardly high school chemistry teacher to a ruthless, vengeful, and dangerous drug
lord. Walter White is a middle-aged White male of average height and he is married with two
children. At the beginning of the film, he is a chemistry teacher in high school in Albuquerque,
Mexico. He performs well in his teaching job and has a wife who is pregnant and a teenage son
who has physical disability which leads him to move around with crutches. After being
diagnosed with stage 3A lung cancer which is inoperable, he is struggling to pay for the hospital
bills and results into producing methamphetamine which is known as “meth,” a recreational drug
that is on the spread in New Mexico.
Mr. White has a stable family where his wife Skylar is supportive of him and wishes for
him to go for therapy and give his best shot for the sake of his family. Part of his support system
includes his brother-in-law Hank who also works with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Hank’s wife who is the sister of Skylar, Marie, is also part of the family. The client also shows

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great intelligence in the way in the past, he established a company alongside his friend Elliott
Schwartz but he later sold his shares. Schwartz went on to marry the girl White was dating then
and made a fortune out of the company that White’s brilliance in research helped elevate.
From the information obtained from the client and his family, White has been growing
distant from them often being emotionally unavailable and sometimes going missing for a long
time. He has started a car wash based on his new venture into the meth business and he uses this
facility to do money laundering. Since he is on medical leave from his job as a high school
teacher, White and his young recruit Jesse Pinkman often go to the desert to “cook” the meth
they sell. At presentation, White has managed to pay for his treatment using his drug money and
is currently considering quitting the business. However, he faces a dilemma of whether he should
continue cooking to leave a fortune for his family or he should abandon the business and remain
to be the failure he considers himself to be. His wife already knows of his business and is
assisting him at the car wash but their son is clueless and wonders why the two often argue. It is
paramount to note that all information shared in this intake is protected under the physicianclient privilege of this psychological assessment and treatment process.
Assessment
Based on the intake information provided in the bio of the client, the assessment
interview should be based mainly on the client’s feelings, emotional process, and cultural effects
on his current situation. According to DSM 5 Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI), the
physician should inform the client that the assessment seeks to understand their experience and
how they are dealing with it (APA, 2013). Therefore, the first thing to assess in the interview is
the client’s experiences and situation. Particularly, since most of his bio and general problem
statement has been provided in the intake bio, it is crucial to delve more into his personal

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perceptions of whatever is going on in his life and how it affects him. Therefore, one of the
questions to ask the client is to ask the specific problem which brings the client for therapy. I
would ask White “Tell me what brings you here? Why did you feel you needed to see a
therapist? This question would further be followed by inquiry into his relationship with his
family and friends and whether he has explained the problem to them. These questions would
make up the first section of the CFI which is the cultural definition of the problem.
The second section of questions seeks to answer the questions of cause, context, and
support as they relate to cultural issues of the client’s problem. The questions I would ask under
this category would be specifically directed to the client’s relationship with peers and family. I
would ask him what he feels is the cause of his dilemma and tendency to break the law. I would
further ask about his family’s view of the issue and which causes they feel drive him towards his
problem. These questions would mostly be focused on outlining his perceptions regarding his
family’s understanding of his problem and their influence in defining his therapy problem.
Additionally, when seeking out stressors and support systems, I would ask the client whether he
thinks there are certain stressors or support systems in his environment that could make his
situation worse or better. Furthermore, to understand more about the client’s background, I
would ask White his best definition of his identity and background and whether he feels some
aspects of his background affect his problem.
Finally in the assessment, it is crucial to understand the client’s coping and help-seeking
strategies and how culture affects them. In the case of Mr. White, I will ask him how he has been
coping with his stressors and what help he has sought in the past. According to Tseng and Hsu
(2018), the cultural background of people dealing with stress and mental problems affect their
help-seeking behavior. Therefore, when dealing with Mr. White, I will ask him where he has

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sought help and whether he finds it helpful. To further understand why he is in therapy, I will ask
the client what he expects from therapy and whether there are any helpful methods that anyone in
their social circles has suggested. Notably, most of my assessment is based on the CFI. However,
unique questions adapted to White’s situation and the bio provided will be used to ensure that his
answers are most helpful in bringing out the different aspects of therapy required for his
treatment.
DSM 5 Diagnosis
Using the DSM 5 manual for psychiatric evaluation, the initial assessment of Mr. White
shows that he has a major depressive disorder. This diagnosis is obtained from an analysis of his
symptoms and his conduct during the assessment. According to DSM 5 diagnosis for depressive
disorders, a person with depression must be experiencing at least five of the eight specified
symptoms and one of them has to be either a depressed mood or loss of pleasure or interests in
daily activities (APA, 2013). From the analysis of Mr. White, he presents most of the specified
symptoms including the following:
1. Depressed mood almost every day- White explains that he has been feeling disconnected
from his wife and family of late and feels depressed.
2. Diminished interest or pleasure in most activities- White has lost his interest in teaching
and friends always withdrawing himself to spend time planning his business
3. Feeling of worthlessness- Mr. White has reportedly been thinking of the opportunities he
has lost in life and feels he is a failure due to his position and inability to make enough
money for his family
4. Indecisiveness- Mr. White is unable to brush off ideas of crime from his mind and is
constantly torn between a life of virtue and making money for him and his family

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5. Presence of anxious distress- The client reported that he felt anxious of his family’s
future if he dies from his disease
From the conduct of Mr. White, it is easy to mistakenly diagnose him with a personality
disorder. However, notably, before his diagnosis with cancer, he did not present the identified
symptoms. Therefore, his diagnosis and stable personality disqualify personality disorders such
as avoidant personality disorder are disqualified from this diagnosis. On the other hand, the
diagnosis with major depressive disorder is limited in that most signs of this disorder involve
limited activity but the client has reported much activity moving up and down to ensure his
business is running smoothly. However, the client’s actions can be classified as part of the
coping strategy formulated as part of processing the anxiety introduced by the stressor which is
the diagnosis of the client with lung cancer.
Problem List and Conceptualization
The presenting case of Mr. White has several distinct problems to deal with in therapy.
First, the cognitive process of the client needs attention because the main presenting issue is his
metal dilemma of what he should do next in his life. Secondly, the client looks into his past and
feels how he has failed in life when compared to his earlier ambitions. Therefore, the client’s
perception of social equality or inequality also requires attention during the therapy process.
Another problem to focus on is the client’s coping strategy which he has adopted after his cancer
diagnosis. Other than his coping, the therapy also focuses on his cultural relationships with the
people around him mainly his family.
From the assessment of the client, the theoretical conceptualization approach relevant for
him is Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. At his age of 50 years old, Mr. White is in
the stage of generativity vs. stagnation. According to Newman (2017), people in this stage tend

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to have the feeling that they need to contribute positively to the society and when they fail to get
this feeling, they develop the sense that they have failed in life. Based on the client’s reflection
of his past in the science industry and how he has ended up being a high school teacher (which is
beneath him compared to his peers), he may be undergoing this crisis of striving to be generative,
especially towards his family while also fighting the apparent stagnation in his life. This
approach to understanding the client’s current stage further leads to an analysis of the concept of
identity as it relates to the client and how it affects him.
The self-identification model relevant for this client is the social class identity
development model. Under this model, integral theory identifies how people place themselves in
different social groups depending on their intersecting identities. The first identity of the client is
that he is a family person; a father, husband, and also a brother-in-law. This identity as a family
person provides him with the sense of responsibility based on his need to meet the roles of a
father to his children, be emotionally, financially, and physically available to his wife, and
maintain the status of a family person in general. This pressure to conform to this identity
presents one of the key explanations of his behavior and emotional state.
The second category of identity and this intersects with his primary category is his
identity as a high school teacher. Primarily, his work as a high school teacher identifies him
according to his professional level in his career. This identity closely intersects with his
alternative job of a business person, regardless of the business he has been doing so far. The
identity of a teacher is compounded by the one of a business person mainly because he uses the
latter to supplement his earnings due to the limitations of being a teacher. The “-ism” that best
applies to his situation is classism. Classism can be defined as the social separation of people
based on their classes. This identity is mainly seen in the way he interacts with Schwartz whom

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he claims was a great friend in the past. He secretly resents him for benefiting so much from his
research idea while White is left to deal with lower levels of scientific involvement.
Overall, the problems to be dealt with revolve around the client’s perceptions of duties
and generativity, his perceptions of social justice, and his coping strategies when it comes to the
different stressors he is facing. The identity development model utilized here is one of social
identity development and the client’s ideas of his social class. As a teacher, family person, and a
business person, these identities all intersect to define his place in the society. Overall, the
treatment plan will deal with the stated problems while also looking into psychosocial issues
revolving around his identity at his social level and age.
Treatment Planning, Implementation, and Outcome
Assessment
The treatment plan of Walter White will be based on changing his cognitive process and
adapting a more positive outlook into life. This is mainly because the pinpointed causes of his
depression are mainly based on his anxiety and thoughts. At the beginning of the treatment plan,
the therapist will focus on the client’s thought process and ask him how he felt about certain
issues. I will then focus on working with the client to come up with a plan of making up a better
future for him. I will use the magic question of asking the client of his ideal situation and then
working with him to see if we can attain those therapeutic goals of coming up with that situation.
I will primarily build rapport by allowing the client to be involved in the major decision-making
models of the treatment plan. Therefore, working with the client’s schedule, we will work on a
treatment plan that allows him to attend sessions without missing.
Overall, other than the treatment planning phase which will include the patient and the
therapist in coming up with a workable plan, the middle of this therapy will mainly be

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constituted of meetings in therapy sessions and review of previous thoughts and session. The
middle of the therapy will involve a change of thought by the client. Generally, the expected
thought train is a change from the negative feelings of anxiety and worthlessness to positive
feelings of bonding and acceptance in the society. Another expected course of therapy might be
the lack of change in the client. This may be experienced due to ineffectiveness of the therapy, a
point at which I will look into an alternative to cognitive therapy. This is expected at the middle
of the treatment whereby communication and interactions will be expected to mediate the entire
process of treatment.
Generally, the interaction between the client and his therapy is crucial. First, I believe our
identities might intersect by the fact that we are both scholars. As a renowned chemist, the client
has been into academia for some time and this might be a point of connection. Also,
communication with the client will form a crucial part of this relationship. According to Altabef
(2017), active listening on the part of the therapist and also engaging in empathetic listening will
allow a better understanding of the in-depth issues that the client might be facing. Therefore,
communication styles will affect the client’s level of openness and thus affect the effectiveness
of the therapy as a whole. Furthermore, the interaction with the client will allow a better
understanding of social dynamics such as oppression and equality. This idea will mainly be
advanced through bringing out the different classes and how the notion might be affecting the
client. Overall, the middle of the therapy will be characterized by in-depth engagement with the
client’s issues in an attempt to resolve them.
The end of therapy will mainly include the analysis of therapy outcomes and whether
successful attainment of therapy goals has been realized. The same questionnaire used in
understanding the client’s thought process will be used fo...