Precious Movie Psychology

The Notebook demonstrates the growth and development theories including biosocial, psychosocial, and cognitive. The Notebook is a movie about a young couple who falls in love. The woman, Allie, is from a wealthy family who is discouraged when she has fallen in love with a young man, Noah, who only makes .40 cents an hour (Cassavetes, 2004). The story is told through a “notebook” that Noah is reading to Allie, whom has Alzheimer’s disease. Allie has no clue that Noah is her husband due to her disease. Noah has hope that Allie will eventually recognize the story he is telling her and realize it is her husband

Miracle, released in 2004, based on the 1980 USA hockey team. This movie is filled with many sports psychology themes; commitment, motivation, confidence, teamwork , injury, goal setting and mental toughness. Miracle is a true story based on the event of the “miracle” season of the 1980 US Olympic team had. Herb Brooks had the dream of coaching the U.S. Olympic team ever since he was cut from the 1960 U.S. Olympic team. Brooks' dream comes true, and he gets the coaching job in 1979.

Physical sensations, including sexual feelings and hunger, become severely disrupted. Precious mother, who did not protect her from her father's abuse, perpetuated the abuse in many ways. One way is through food. Feeding her when she doesn't want to eat. Making her gain weight more so. Mary has a controlling act and she is very abusive. She admits, ashamed, at various points, that she overeats. She is painfully aware of her problematic eating. In this film, Precious struggles with her self-esteem. It is in part due to her mother's constant steam of violent and demeaning put downs. Her weight does not help. Being overweight leaves her vulnerable to taunts by classmates, boys on the street, and her mother. For years, Precious told no one of the incest. Unfortunately, it is common for both sexual abuse and eating disorders to be kept a secret. Those who are abused learn to keep quiet, often out of sheer survival. There is a poignant moment when Precios reveals that she has never spoken in class before. I remember when the teacher asked how it felt to speak up. She stated, “I feel here.” Being present is the polar opposite of her silence and her dissociative, inner fantasy world. As she heals, she begins to have a voice and no longer keeps the abuse a secret. Her need to slip into an alternative world fades and her weight becomes less central to her life. Her self-esteem instead hinges on her

Next, briefly introduced is the relationship with her grandmother Tootsie. Not much is known about Tootsie other than she cares for Precious’s daughter Mongo who suffers with down syndrome. Looking at the way Tootsie reacts to Mary one can say she does not agree with how she is raising Claireece. (Magness et al, 2009) Unfortunately, her grandmother never reported any abuse or lying that Mary had been doing. Although she tries to inconspicuously let the social worker know there is no food, Tootsie never says anything. This single act could have changed Precious’s life often by not saying anything, we allow problems to continue to happen.

The video “Stress Portrait of a Killer” was enlightening. The correlation between each individual’s placement in the hierarchy and their level of stress was not surprising. In fact, it made a great deal of sense. When one is on the lower end of the spectrum, it is a reasonable to anticipate higher levels of stress than when one is at the higher end. The latter, has more control over what is happening in their lives which in turn eliminates that stress. What I found most interesting, is that stress lowers the body’s immunity. I had no idea that the brain cuts non-essential systems like the immune system when stress is present. I found this fact fascinating and rather concerning. For as long as I can remember, I have been very susceptible to

The interventions provided to “Precious” are based on her needs as an individual with the proper cultural consideration. The interventions chosen are to provide her with proper services that focuses on the two main presenting problems: Abuse and Self-image. With the amount of abuse that “Precious” has encountered in her life as well as her two pregnancies has made her less confident in her self-image, which pushed her to overeat and gain weight. This lead to her being distant from her social life as well as become hopeless about her future. Her hopelessness is affecting her education and social development in which she will need to overcome in order to succeed in her studies.

Therefore, in order to apply this psychological approach to the case of Mary, we need to examine her early development years. The available information does not provide details on the first years of Mary’s life, but it is possible to extrapolate major some major factors that affected her development as a person and her current condition. First, it was said that Mary’s mother is sober now, which indicates a history of alcohol abuse. In addition, according to Mary her mother is supportive now, although Mary does not want to burden her with her problems.

Daily, she is criticized by her family, peers about her skin color and her weight. A common effect of being abused is a term called learned helplessness which the victim believes they have no power in any given situation. However, Precious found strength within herself once she had Ms. Rain, a black lesbian as a teacher. Although Precious is conditioned by society and her family that homosexuality is a burden in society she sees beyond this. She is amused by sexuality and takes advantage of the opportunity Ms. Rain gives her.

The movie is based around the character, Precious. A 16-year-old girl growing up in Harlem who has lived a life full of sexual, physical, and verbal abuse, ridicule, illiteracy, and overall tragedy. While she was verbally abused by both parents and sexually abused on a daily basis, resulting in two children, she begins attending a special school to earn her GED. Though she is 16 years old, she is able to only read at a 1st grade level. While in the program she forms a close bond with her teacher who she regularly confides in. Throughout the film, Precious displays her abysmally low self-esteem and thinks very little of herself. She states at one point that “she will never amount to anything, and is worthless” (Precious). Her teacher works to get to the bottom of the idea Precious holds of herself, and helps push Precious to evaluate that construct. Precious grows intellectually and as a person, in the end realizing those negative views she held were not true. Ultimately, empowering her, changing her reality, and helping her to build up her confidence that was sorely

Her first child Mongo, is diagnosed with down syndrome she finds her child a miracle that will shine in her heart. Her first child gave her strength to keep on going in life, even though her twisted mother takes advantage of Mongo to continue to receive Welfare. Mary, a sick and twisted mother, rejected Precious’s truth to cover the reality of her husband affairs with her daughter. Undoubtedly, her moody and jealously causes her to retaliates against her daughter. Mary abuses her physically by hitting Precious with a frying pan, throwing a TV at her, and calls her a useless child.

The way your brain regulates the chemicals and hormones your body releases in response to stress."(2)(Mayoclinicorg, 2016)

In Felicia R. Lee’s To Blacks, Precious Is ‘Demeaned’ or ‘Angelic’ on the New York Times, she claims that there was controversy within the meaning of the movie. In this article some people feel as if African Americans are not always depicted in the right light. As opposed to have positive movies show the lifestyles of Africans and Americans, society continuously want to focus on the negative aspects of being in an African American family.There are some similarities between Felicia R. Lee’s To Blacks, Precious Is ‘Demeaned’ or ‘Angelic’ and the movie Precious directed by Lee Daniels.

The amygdala is made up of a group of nuclei located in the medial temporal lobe of the brain. (Mannironi, et al., 2013) The amygdala is believed to be key in stress response integration with its extensive network of efferent outcrops to other regions of the brain. (Mannironi, et al., 2013) Stress mediators such as adrenaline, cortisol, and corticotrophin releasing hormone, contribute to neuronal operative change and plasticity that are instrumental contributory to the stress response. (Mannironi, et al., 2013) Acute psychological stress creates a instant surge of hormone release, neuronal activation, and neurotransmission. (Mannironi, et al., 2013) This activation has an intense effect on the brain, leading to structural modification in the synaptic connectivity and dendritic spine morphology. (Mannironi, et al., 2013)

Nell, a movie known for its spectacular acting and realistic depiction of a ¨feral child¨, brought an awareness to not only mental illness, but to the reaction to the discovery of a new case study. The movie focuses on two psychologists, Lovell and Olsen, who both argue over the treatment for Nell, a woman who has lived away from all civilization, whose only companions were her mother and hallucinations of her twin sister who passed away at a young age. Given three months to study Nell and determine if she is capable of living in modern society, both doctors camp by her cabin in order to keep her safe from both the press and their own co-workers, who want to keep her in a mental facility and study her mental capacity and physical abilities. Over the course of time, Lovell and Olsen realize that Nell is capable of supporting herself in the cabin despite her language disability and it would do more harm than good to take her away from the safety of her home. Nell’s language disability is displayed throughout the entire movie.

In the film, Precious is a sixteen-year old girl who leads a rather lonely life, for she has no friends and is obese. Her father is a negligent and sick father, who rapes her from time to time, and has been doing so before she could even learn to crawl- since she was three years old. The film shows Precious in her second pregnancy, with both of them as results of her father’s vicious acts. Her mother is possibly the worst and unimaginable character. Naturally, mothers are expected to be supportive of their daughters, but this is not the case with hers. Her mother is a mean woman, who abuses her in every way possible- physically and emotionally especially. She hits her with steel kitchenware without any provocation. All these harsh realities make her to adopt an unhealthy lifestyle and habits like eating junk food and leeching off the welfare they are provided with in their poor conditions. However, the most adverse effect of the abuse is the psychological effects. Her mother’s articulation of her life is that Precious is worthless and will fail in the world. Precious lives in the Harlem ghetto of New York City. Precious is an illiterate sixteen-year old who does not know how to read or write. Her mother, Mary, is