The life of the main character in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple (1984) contained many examples of the traumatic events that DSM-V indicates as triggers for PTSD. (APA, 2013) Celie started her story by writing a letter to God explaining the dark place she had found herself after the unexpected death of her mother. Her father expected Celie to take her place in every way, twice impregnating Celie and having the resulting children removed. Within the first ten minutes of the film, the events of Celie’s life had provided the catalyst for developing PTSD:
A. Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence in one (or more) of the following ways:
1. Directly experiencing the traumatic event(s).
2. Witnessing in person, the event(s) as it occurred to others.
3. Learning that the traumatic event(s) occurred to a close family member or close friend. In cases of actual or threatened death of a family member or friend, the event(s) must have been violent or accidental. (APA, 2013 p 271)
While Celie had already experienced so many of the possible causes of PTSD, her problems were only to intensify. Her first opportunity to leave the detractive home was presented when her father agreed to marry her to a local widower looking for a woman to care for his children. Her situation only grew direr as her husband also abused her sexually but with an added physical and emotional dimension. Her husband would constantly berate her and tell her how useless and ugly she was while her step-children were verbally and physically abusive as well.
All of these abusive behaviors tend to cause internalizing problems for the victim. It would not be surprising to find Celie using the defence mechanism of dissociation to fin...
... middle of paper ...
...ntent. Any of these elements could not only trigger imbalance but provide a maintenance structure for PTSD to ingrain more deeply in Celie’s life.
Luckily, Celie was able to fight all of these faulty perceptions and risk factors to hold strong to her moral core and protective mechanisms. Her story of reconciliation and recovery provided courage and determination for many not only seeking to leave abusive relationships but also those healing from CSA they suffered as youngsters. They were able to see that even in the face of negativity and adversity of this magnitude there is hope…always hope! Unlike Celie always looking forward and never back, our next case study will show us what happened as Evan constantly struggled to change the past rather than accepting its place in his history while also giving life to many of the intrusive symptoms associated with PTSD.
Joyce Dorado. "Who Are We, But For The Stories We Tell: Family Stories And Healing." Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, And Policy 2.3 (2010): 243-249. PsycARTICLES. Web.
Boone, Katherine. "The Paradox of PTSD." Wilson Quarterly. 35.4 (2011): 18-22. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental illness that develops after exposure to an event that is perceived to be life threatening or pose serious bodily injury to self or others (Sherin & Nemeroff, 2011). According
Jackson, K. (2013). Understanding traumatic grief - Mass violence, shattered lives. Social Work Today, 13(3). May/June, 12. Retrieved from http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/051313p12.shtml
Children who have PTSD can feel alone and no one to relate to. Ann Hazzard talks about a case in which a girl named Tina was sexually abused. Hazzard generalizes Tina’s behavior given by a worksheet that Tina had previously completed...
I’ve learned that PTSD is a terrible mental abnormality. It’s also clearer to me that you can develop PTSD as a result of suffering from one or more psychological traumas or stresses. In Lisbeth’s case, the first trauma was being taken from her parents and being described as incompetent, as well as her second trauma of being sexually abused and raped by a lawyer who was appointed to help her better manage her financial affairs. These traumas, either individually or collectively, pushed Lisbeth into an abnormal psychological condition called PTSD.
As a child born to an inter-race couple, during her early years Molly also faced prejudices from some members of her own community, and was considered an outcaste who was isolated (Pilkington, 1996; Atkinson, 2002). All these experiences coupled with the ordeal of surviving an ardours trek along with the responsibility of ensuring the safety of her sisters, leads to me concur that Molly will present various emotional, psychological and behavioural symptoms like heightened alertness, vigilance, anxiousness, vivid nightmares, heart palpitations, intense emotional reactions, difficulty falling asleep and trust issues. All these symptoms are indicators to conclude that Molly will be diagnosed with post traumatic stress syndrome (Williams & Poijula, 2002). I also strongly suspect that she may face difficulties in reconciling her identity of being born to mixed race couple, leading to self-acceptance
During an evaluation at the age of 10 years old, I was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Camilla Sutter and Thomas Reid determined that many of the children in their case study were not simply mourning, but rather battle a sickness of their own. Many of the children in this study were diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress disorder. “PTSD is a debilitating disorder characterized by symptoms of avoidance, re-experiencing, and physiological arousal related to a particular traumatic event or experience.” This diagnosis explained why many of the children in this case study developed such negative coping mechanisms. After my father’s death, I felt that nothing made sense. I never had any experiences with my father, and with his death any chances I had of forming a relationship with him were taken from
Risk factors can hinder a person’s growth, confidence, and likeliness to become resilient. Several risk factors are present in Geraldine’s life such as: violence at school, repeated cycle of domestic violence in her family, and the instability and drastic changes that took place after her mother’s murder. The biggest correlation between the core concepts and Geraldine’s risk factors comes down to her safety and stability. There is already a decline in her behavior at school, her academic success, and her mental health. Lehmann (2000) concludes the article by emphasizing how children who witness violent assaults of their mothers continue to be a potential at-risk population due to exhibiting symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Due to the many years that Geraldine witnessed the domestic violence in her household serves as a major risk factor. As the core concept described, children’s traumatic experiences can undermine children’s sense of protection and safety and magnify their concerns about danger. Geraldine must have been in constant fear for her mothers, sister, and her own safety. Since Geraldine recently lost her mother, she is also grieving her presence, relationship with her, and a sense of safety that she had with her. Geraldine did not appear to be frightened by her mother and showed signs of
Trauma is often seen as an event; however, trauma is actually the impact on a client’s life as a result of an experience (Saunders, 2016.) There are many factors that determine the effect the trauma will have on a person to include: developmental processes, the meaning associated to the trauma, and sociocultural factors (SAMHSA, 2014). Traumatic experiences can cause a person to have an unintegrated state of sensations, feelings, thoughts, behavior, and/ or images so strong they interfere with the person’s normal functioning. This state causes the person not to be able to access memories, sensations or somatic responses necessary to overcome events that are overwhelming, and can be developmentally intrusive (Saunders, 2016). In posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), unintegrated feelings, sensations, and images can become triggered, and the brain reacts with the same feelings of being overwhelmed. These reactions of PTSD are a result of unintegrated memories about a single
“PTSD was first brought to public attention in relation to war veterans, but it can result from a variety of traumatic incidents, such as mugging, rape, torture, being kidnapped or held captive, child abuse, car accidents, train wrecks, plane crashes, bombings, or natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes.” (NIMH)
Smith, M & Segal, J 2011, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), viewed 17 August 2011 .
When people think of domestic violence, they often think of an injured or bruised woman who has been brutally assaulted by her partner. However, not all abusive relationships involve violence. Verbal abuse is the main abuse that will be discussed in this research paper. Just because you’re not assaulted does not mean you’re not battered. Many women suffer from verbal abuse, which is no less devastating. Sadly, emotional abuse is often unrecognized, even by the person being abused. Emotional abuse can hurt just as much as physical violence, or even more in my opinion. This problem has become especially evident in in our country today. As an example, lets look at my last relationship, we were together for almost two years, and sometimes it seemed we were on a roller-coaster ride, in our relationship. It appeared she was so insecure about herself that she had a breast implant surgery, besides that she was not happy with her figure. She is now thirty-four years old and there is a fifteen-year age difference between us. The truth is that it seemed that every time she would get upset, she would just yell and threaten to call my parole officer, and she would say to me how “I was a no good gangsta thug, and she wished that I was back in prison or dead, and how she regrets leaving her former boyfriend for me.” When in fact, my anger and jealously would overcome my feelings for her.
Physical abuse can have a number of long term effects. It can cause physical injury, brain damage, and may lead to emotional dev...
Trauma is a psychological reaction to sudden traumatic events and overwhelming issues from outside. Additionally, the exposure to activities that are outside the human’s normal experiences. Traumatic events become external and incorporate into the mind (Bloom, 1999, p. 2). Traumatization happens when the internal and external forces do not appropriately cope with the external threat. Furthermore, trauma causes problems because the client’s mind and body react in a different way and their response to social groups. The symptoms of trauma relate to irritability, intrusive thoughts, panic and anxiety, dissociation and trance-like states, and self-injurious behaviors (Bloom, 1999, p. 2). Childhood trauma happens when they live in fear for the lives of someone they love (Bloom, 1999, p. 2). Judith Herman’s trauma theory states that the idea of repressed memories relates to unconscious behavior. These repressed behaviors include those inhibited behaviors relate to memories of childhood abuse. From McNally’s point of view memories of trauma cannot be repressed especially those that are more violent (Suleiman, 2008, p. 279). In addition, one of the theories used to dealing with trauma includes the coping theory. With situations, people tend to use problem-solving and emotion-focused coping. Emotion-focused coping happens when people are dealing with stressors. When the stressors become more