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Refrigerator Mothers Analysis

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In watching Refrigerator Mothers we saw how at this point in time, people bought into the ideology of Dr. Bettelheim that the root cause of the autistic child must be the byproduct of cold mothers who were remote and rejected the child. From there, the mother became the focus of solving – looking into their childhood experiences, their parental relationships. What I found so ironic was that Bettelheim’s therapy treatment involved removing the children from their families and putting them in isolation. I’m not an expert in therapy treatments, but I would say that when a condition that supposedly is the effect of coldness is prescribed a treatment plan of more isolation and rejection it isn’t going to be productive. I can only imagine how that would make these mothers feel, to hear that not only are you the cause of your child’s condition, but that because of them they now had to live a life of …show more content…

To me it just sounded like a witch-hunt on these mothers, there was nothing about how to prevent this nor was there a focus on trying to correct the child’s condition. I started watching Parenthood a couple years ago and fell in love with the entire Braverman family, and while it is of course not real life, I couldn’t help compare the stories of the moms in the documentaries to the journey and treatment Kristina Braverman received. These “refrigerator moms” were told they were the problem and one mom even talks about when the results were presented, the doctor talked and looked only at the mother, signaling that the father wasn’t the issue, that the burden fell all on her. When a parent hears there is a problem with their child, one can’t imagine what such a life-changing event could make a person feel. In addition to, you are being signaled out as the source of it all and making that mother feel completely hopeless and alone. Kristina serves not only as a foil, but also as a symbol of where we are today in terms of autism, and specifically family

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