Psychoanalytic Lens In She's Come Undone '

While "Ma and Grandma played by the rule: never to mention [her] weight" (123), in fear of throwing off the emotionally fragile Dolores and the family dynamic, her mother and grandmother ignore the health threatening issue of obesity. Issues regarding family boundaries also play a role in Dolores's health issues and Dolores's mother serves as a boundary between Dolores and her grandmother. Her grandmother, because of this boundary, "said nothing about her weight" (Lamb, 121) and became "tolerating [of] overindulgence" (Lamb, 279). Since Dolores no longer dealt with her grandmother directly, she ultimately lost a family intervention figure regarding her eating habits and health behavior.

The film Girl, Interrupted focused on an eighteen year old girl by the name Susanna that was admitted into a private mental hospital after being accused of a suicidal attempt. The movie follows Susanna on her journey in the institution as she encounters women with different admittance stories. The one who intrigues Susanna the most is Lisa. Lisa is thought to be a sociopath with the way she manipulates those around her to get her way. She is constantly in and out of the institution causing those around to fear, yet admire her. My main focus will be on Lisa and although it was not specified in the film just how old she is, she seemed to be around the same age group as Susanna. This means that, according to Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages, she is on stage five or six. Stage five happens during adolescence where ones primary task is their identity versus their own role in society whereas stage six happens in young adulthood and one faces intimacy versus isolation. The article incorporated gives more insight on how Erikson’s stages play hand in hand with one another and can potentially affect the mental state of someone if not successfully fulfilled. There is also a possibility that, with the ‘symptoms’ of a sociopath, Lisa could have had past problems during what Sigmund Freud considered the anal stage of her childhood.

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical theory of personality argues that human behavior is the result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego. The Id (Anger), is concerned with satisfaction of basic and physical needs and urges.

Freud proposed the psychological structure of personality to include three systems called the id, the ego, and the superego. At birth, the id is the original system of personality and is ruled by the pleasure principle. It is driven towards satisfying instinctual needs. The ego can be described as a mediator between ones instincts and their surrounding environment. The ego is ruled by the reality principle, using realistic and logical thinking to formulate action plans for satisfying needs. The superego includes a person’s moral code and strives for perfection, not pleasure. Psychic energy is distributed between these three systems creating dynamics of personality. This psychic energy is what determines behavior (Day, 2008).

Freud primarily subscribed to the idea that there are two energies that drive human behavior. These two energies are sex – the pleasure principle and aggression. The human mind is comprised of the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. Within the realms of the mind, the human personality is controlled by the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is driven by the pleasure principle. The superego is the instinctual moral good, which aims to please the ego ideal, or the magnified moral values. The ego interacts with both the id and the superego and aims to please both components (Connors).

The unconscious contains the instincts, those driving force for all human behavior. In Freud’s later writing he revised the conscious- unconscious distinction and came up with the id, ego and superego. The id is the unconscious, the least accessible part of the personality. The id includes the sex and aggressive instincts. Freud wrote, “We call it…a cauldron full of seething excitations. [The id] knows no judgments of value, no good and evil, no morality” (Freud, 1933, p 74). The id seeks immediate satisfaction without regard for the circumstances of reality. The id operates under the pleasure-seeking principal. For example, a newborn’s mind consists only of the id, which is responsible for the satisfaction of physical desires. The id, represents a human being’s most primitive desires, and a person ruled only by the id would do everything strictly for his or her own pleasure, breaking societal norms in the process and risking punishment. (SparkNotes, 2007)

A trait that stands out in the book is the symptom of bodily memories. In Melinda’s case, during a frog dissection in her science class, she remembers the opening up and even says, “She doesn’t say a word. She is already dead. A scream starts in my gut – I can feel the cut, smell the dirt, feel the leaves in my hair.” (81). One of the other symptoms that Melinda has is self-harm. The first time that this is shown in the book, Melinda says this, “I open up a paper clip and scratch it across the inside of my left wrist. Pitiful. If a suicide attempt is a cry for help, then what is this? A whimper, a peep?” (87). Melinda also has a hard time talking to her parents about the rape to which she says, “How can I talk to them about that night? How can I start?” (72). Some victims recover from such a traumatic experience, while others don’t and live a lifetime of depression and must undergo intense therapy. In Melinda’s case, she finds redemption by talking to her parents and the guidance counselor, and putting her faith into her teachers, friends, and her art project at school. Because rape can affect anybody anywhere, everyone should be aware of the circumstances, and how to deal with it.

One major portion of Sigmund Freud’s perspective on psychology involves the personality structure of the id, ego, and

Julia past experience justifies her need to escape her past because an average person with decent parents would not describe them as “monsters” . Her dissociation from her past is demonstrated by her complete detachment from her childhood. Furthermore, dissociation is not the only concept abused people use to get over their past because some split their choice of identity between a

Freud’s structural and topographical model of personality, revolves around the id, ego and superego (McLeod, 2008). As a newborn, I was born with my id which allowed me to get my basic needs met. As an infant, I would cry if I was hungry or tired or just wanted to be held, I did not think of anyone else. The second part of my personality started around when I was three years old, and according to Freud this is when I began to develop my ego. An example of this would be if I was hungry I would want to satisfy my id, but at the

One of Freud’s biggest theories is the “id”, the “ego”, and the “superego”. He believed that the “id” represents one’s instincts, “ego” represents reality, and “superego” represents morality. Your primary consciousness is the “ego”. You process information and create rational thoughts with this part of the mind. On one shoulder lies the “id”, designed to act on impulse and primal conditioning.

Although a light read, her experience is heart-breaking as she is abused at home, institutionalized, and instead of being treated for her depression, doctor’s attempt to “feminize” her with eye shadow and lipstick. She is the type of advocate that makes noise in a silence because she tells a tale that would otherwise be unknown.

Traumatic events such as rape, bullying, and abuse lead Dolores to unconsciously make decisions that are influenced by her childhood. The rape she experienced leads her to focus more on her id than any other part of her mind. In result of this, her obesity became a major concern to her family members. After the rape, she thought of her self as being worthless and constantly thought about suicide. The bullying she received by the Pysyk sisters influenced her ability to make friends and establish healthy relationships. Her failed friendships made her desperate enough to do anything to make friends such as acting like a slave and lesbian lover. Lastly, her abusive father and neighbour made her oblivious to the fact that she was victim to abuse in her marriage. If these traumatic events had not been apart of Dolores’ childhood her relationships with people and herself would have significantly altered. However this, like anyone else, was what made Dolores the person she

In the textbook, the authors discuss Freud’s psychoanalytic theory in which, according to Freud, individuals acted out their desires and behaviors in response to a mental system made up of the ego, superego, and id (Cervone & Pervin, 2013). The ego seeks reality. On one hand the ego wants to meet the desires of the id, but at the same time the ego also wants to satisfy the demands of the superego. The superego controls the moral and social acceptable aspects of an individual’s behavior. The id is the part of the system that functions under the pleasure principle. Simply put, the id wants to achieve pleasure and it wants to avoid pain. Individuals entered states were they would seek to relive tension and to achieve pleasure. These states are called instincts or drives.

Bentley’s mother, Melika Vasquez is a 35-year-old fiancée, sister, aunt, head of household, friend, and student. She is a full time NYC employee working for the NYC Department of Education as a community advisor. Her role as a CA enables her to work with high school students, various staff members, and the community. Melika is also pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in sociology; she plans to obtain a Master’s Degree in Psychology so she can eventually become a school counselor. Melika exhibits a tremendous amount of resilience as she is still mourning the death of her mother