Personality

Questions to consider:

How reactive is Jim as a person? How in touch is he with his emotions?
How much insight does he show in relation to his problems?
How fearful is he of his son entering adolescence and of growing away from the family? How much are the issues he is experiencing in relationship to his son related to loss of father, or loss of control as a parent?
Are there fun things that his son enjoy doing with him?
What are the sources of tension between him and his son?
When do they come up?
How does/did he feel about his father’s illness or death?
Given the midstage of his life, what impact does his father's illness/death have on him now?
How fearful is he of his own mortality, of losing his parents?
Does he have friends with whom he socialize with regularly?
How many hours does he work?
When he is at home, what is a typical evening or weekend day like?
Have there been other changes in his life affecting his well-being (e.g., taking care of aging parents, marriage difficulties, financial concerns, deaths or recent illness of friends)?
Would he benefit from or be open to counseling?

Based on this information, what might you suggest to Jim?

(jeffsmallwood, Hands of Love, flickr. CC: BY-NC-SA 2.0.)