Movie Character Presentation

Lester is a 40-year-old man referred to me for counselling by his doctor. He is currently married and lives with his wife, Carolyn, and their 16-year-old daughter Jane. He is employed as a fast food attendant (Cohen, Jinks & Mendes, 1999). At the initial examination Lester dresses untidily and unshaven, and avoids eye contact. Lester reports an overall feeling of unhappiness (Cohen, Jinks & Mendes, 1999). He stated that he has become reckless and self-destructive and worried about some of his recent life decisions.

I have chosen the move Fatal Attraction to depict a character suffering from mental illness. I remember watching this movie with anticipating fear of what was going to happen. This movie is about a happy family compromised by an obsession resulting from an affair. Dan Gallagher is the husband and father in this film who has an affair with Alex Forest and then wants to end it with her. Dan has a happy life with his wife Anne and daughter Ellen, all of which Alex desires. In terms of DSM-IV, I would diagnose Alex with Histrionic Personality Disorder which falls in Axis I category. One characteristic of this is precipitating and perpetuating causes. (Baird, 2011, P. 264; P. 267) Alex appeared to be a strong woman, and may have well been, until the affair happened. This event could have been the trigger for her disorder, causing her to refuse letting him go. As such, the disorder manifested and worsened as time went on. Dan told Alex the relationship was over and that he loved his wife but Alex wanted more and would not let up. She even kidnapped their daughter, Ellen, and took her to an amusement park to live out part of her obsession with him. This leads to the second characteristic of Alex as she demonstrates excessive emotionality and manipulation. (Baird, 2011, P. 275) Alex felt she could not live without Dan and needed reassurance from him that he loved her. She wanted to step right in and take his wife’s place. Her expectations were unrealistic

Many individuals have the power to alter their perception, but many people have disorders to comfort and confront their psychological perspectives. In the film, Silver Linings Playbook, directed by David O. Russell explains how psychological disorders are maintained within Pat and Tiffany, and explaining their theoretical personalities to three sub categories: psychodynamic, biological and trait, and sociocultural. The psychodynamic perspective looks at the topographical and structural model created by Freud. In continuation, the biological perspective is based on the genetic traits, and the Big 5 personality traits. Finally, I'll discuss the sociocultural perspective which a based on the environment factors in one's life. All of these perspectives

When I was told to choose a movie to perform a psychoanalysis on a character. I did not know what movie to choose. After watching the two hour long film on the multiple characters that seemed to be struggling to find their inner happiness: American Beauty. I knew that I should not look any further. One character that especially stood out was, Lester Burnham. A forty-two year old father with a mid-life crisis. In the film, American Beauty Lester Burnham is portrayed as an ordinary man, with a perfect life, but of course that is far from the truth. From the outside, Lester seems to have a perfect salary, and a perfect family who lives in a perfect neighborhood. In reality, things are not

Frank calls his daughter on his cell phone stating that his wife gets upset when she sees phone numbers from his children on the landline caller ID. Frank is an 81-year-old widower who remarried 12 years ago. In the sixth year of marriage, Frank needed open-heart and bypass surgery, was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, peripheral neuropathy, and has pain that is difficult to manage. During this time, Frank’s personality changed insidiously from a lively conversationalist with many interests, to a somewhat solemn recluse with limited direct contact with his children and friends. Was this due to his change in health or due to the change in the dynamic of his marriage from husband and wife to elder patient and caregiver? Frank’s daughter is extremely upset by this phone call. Frank makes excuses for his wife’s behaviour, such as, “She is cranky because she doesn’t eat breakfast” or “I’m such a burden.” The daughter realizes that immediate action needs to be taken before the situation gets worse.

In response to changes in John’s behavior due to his medications, one scene clearly depicts non-verbal “criticism and hostility” by Alica after her attempt to be intimate with her husband. “High expressed emotions” such as criticism and hostility are often how primary caregivers express themselves, which further increase psychological stress upon the entire family (Chien, 2010, p. 4). With the progression of the disease, the social and physical impact on the Nash family becomes even more evident. The contrast demonstrated between their homes prior to John’s diagnosis and after, represent the fall in socioeconomic status of the family. Non-compliance on John’s behalf towards his treatment exacerbated because of the impact the medications had on the relationship with his wife. John clearly states his inability to “take care of the baby,” and “to respond to his wife” led to make the decision to stop taking his medications. His decision however leads him to causing potential physical harm to his baby, and also to his wife because of the influence of his visual, and auditory hallucinations. Throughout the progression of John’s disease, the impact on the family is evident clearly indicating the need for family intervention (Chien, 2010).

John is a 49 year old Caucasian male who lives with his 47 years old wife in one of the working class area of the city. John has 2 children and only recently became a grandfather. He used to be a manager of a food processing plant before he took time off work on health ground. His wife is a nursery school assistant. John had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes precisely 13 years ago. Living with diabetes had made John physically and emotionally drained, and had been deemed so by a Psychiatrist. He was on several major anti-depressants. Because of his depression, he had not

Behavioral symptoms, which Lester established, incorporate: withdrawal, decrease in work performance, reckless behavior, acting out, and relationship problems (PsychNet-UK). These are a characteristic of those witnessed in adolescents diagnosed with adjustment disorder, although we see Lester identify with adolescents so much through his thoughts and actions that it seems appropriate. The specification “disturbance of conduct” refers to the violation of societal norms which for Lester includes nearly every act he took in reaction to his stress: lusting after the underage Angela and later nearly having sex with her, buying drugs, and blackmailing his company. Since a time frame within which the story takes place is not specified-except for Lester mentioning in the introduction that he will die in less than a year-the ability to diagnose his disorder as acute or chronic is rather dubious. Acute adjustment disorder lasts less than six months while chronic adjustment disorder may last six months or longer (PsychNet-UK, n.d.). It would be tempting to say Lester had a midlife crisis and leave him undiagnosed. For two reasons this is incorrect. First, the notion of a midlife crisis as its own mental

Michael is a 38 year-old entertainment lawyer; his boss referred him for treatment services. Michael is a married man without a sex life; he feels that sex is for simple individuals as it is ordinary and below him, he has better usages of his narrow time. He is mindful of his own mortality and sense of his scholarly heritage. He states, many women who conveyed their endless adoration for him and of having had a few who stalked him for years. Michael has three children, but the connection with his household is stressed. He articulates being distressed with his wife for how his youngsters have turned out. “They are all just so average,” he says nearly mockingly.

In the classic film “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, two eccentric characters, journalist Raoul Duke and his psychotic attorney Dr. Gonzo travel to Las Vegas on a job and in search of the American dream. Throughout the trip they find themselves in odd situations that one would not normally encounter. Duke and Gonzo’s predicaments could be explained be a wide variety of psychological issues.

Sharon is a 29-year-old, White woman, of Irish and European descent. The client lives with her husband of 10 years and nine-year-old son. Sharon does not cite any issues in her marriage or with her son but says they are both “dull.” Today, Sharon abruptly quit her job of two months job, as a receptionist at a vet. She

Mr. McKenzie is a 50 year-old Caucasian, male. He has no children, and no immediate family. Mr. McKenzie was a former manager at a local steel company where he was employed for 25 years. He was known for his leadership skills, and outstanding work ethic. Recently, Mr. McKenzie was referred to McLaren Hospice for support and resources, due to the death of his spouse. Mr. McKenzie stated his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer almost a year ago. He stated he thought she was going to, “beat it.” She instead, became very sick, and passd away from liver failure due to the chemtherapy. Mr. McKenzie stated he cries alone in his room with the lights off, and does not eat or drink anything for days. Headaches, insomnia, nightmares, and anxiety have become part of his daily life. He isolates himself from any form of socializing, except to drink at the bar, and feels detached from others. He stated he has been in several fights, especially while drinking in the local bar, which has led to his arrest on two occasions. Mr. McKenzie also seems angry at others, as their lives seem to continue in a positive way.

For this project, I decided to revisit the story/movie of Forrest Gump. In the movie, Forrest Gump was portrayed as a young man with both intellectual and physical disabilities; these characteristics categorized him abnormal/less of a man. These disabilities made Forrest experience devaluation on various levels in different stages of his life. His mother tried to protect him from such acts keeping him isolated and close to home. Forrest Gump’s character was made fun of a lot, throughout the film. As a child, Forrest Gump had visual impairments that required him to wear leg braces. These braces were to assist him with the crook in his back. Further research relates this type of impairment with scoliosis. It is also portrayed that Forrest Gump

Anthony’s affect was congruous and appropriate to content; he became emotional and showed signs of deep sadness, anger, and anxiety when speaking of his daughter’s death. He remained frank but seemed suspicious of the counselor during the interview. Client reported feeling anxious as he continued to talk. When asked to rate his anxiety on a scale of 1 to 4 (4 being high) he rated himself as a 3. He demonstrated no notable characteristics in his motor skills and spoke with a normal rate, rhythm, and volume of speech. Client’s thought processes were coherent, logical, and goal directed with no cognitive impairments noted. He demonstrated both intellectual and emotional awareness. There were no notable impairments in judgment and he

Presenting Concerns: Andrew looks depressed and acts depressed. Andrew zones out and lacks attention to certain important daily functions. There is not any color present in his bedroom, everything is white and sterile. He also experiences terrible dreams of being in a situation where the people around him and himself are about to die, yet he still does not or cannot show any emotion. He is just in a daze, without care of what is going on in the world around him.