Awakenings Movie Psychology

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The movie, Awakenings, begins by showing a little boy, Leonard Lowe, playing in the park with his friends. Those same friends join Leonard as they go to school. While at school, Leonard begins to show signs that he is having difficulty writing. His teacher, looks through his notebook and notices that his writing has suddenly gotten worse. His teacher then notifies Mrs. Lowe of her findings. It is evident that Leonard’s right hand has curled to the point that he can no longer use it to write (Sacks & Zaillian, 1990). At this point, the movie picks up at the Bronx in 1969. Dr. Malcolm Sayers arrives at Bainbridge Hospital for an interview. Dr. Sayers is a researcher who has little experience with human patients. The idea of being a doctor in a …show more content…

Sayer then goes to his superior leader, Dr. Kaufman, with the notion to put all of the patients on L-Dopa. Dr. Kaufman then agrees to only allow one patient on L-Dopa, and with the consent of the family. Dr. Sayer then begins Leonard on the medicine, and slowly increases the dosage. When Leonard receives 1000mg of L-Dopa, he begins to talk and move like a non-catatonic person could do (Sacks & Zaillian, 1990). This change for Leonard is amazing. He begins to explore his new world, including going out into the public with Dr. Sayer at his side. Further tests are performed to evaluate Leonard’s condition. After evidence is provided concerning Leonard’s condition, Dr. Kaufman decides to allow all of the catatonic patients to take L-Dopa (Sacks & Zaillian, 1990). Once the catatonic patients begin to take L-Dopa, they too begin to have their physical abilities restored. Lucy, begins to talk about how she knows that it is not 1926 anymore, but she wants it to remain 1926 because she is scared of being older. Lucy states that she knows she is older than twenty two, but she can’t imagine what it is like to be older than that. Other patients also begin to enjoy their new found freedom from catatonia (Sacks & Zaillian,

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