Walking down the streets of New York City millions of people pass one another. Each person is unique in their own way because of the environment they were raised in. Their environment would affect the way they dress, their morals, and their culture. Because of how people are raised they could develop a personality disorder. As defined in Rathus: Psychology a personality disorder is a pattern of inflexible traits that disrupt social life or work and may distress the effected individual (Rathus, 2010, p. 525). The award winning film Mommie Dearest, directed by Frank Perry accurately conforms to how the aspects of personality disorders such as narcisstic, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, can affect one’s everyday lives.
Mommie Dearest is a
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They fantasize over their own success. They think they are more powerful, or beautiful then everyone else. They don’t show empathy towards people or if they do it is very little. Joan Crawford showed many examples of this personality disorder during the film. At Christina’s birthday party Joan was in the same floral print dress as her daughter. When Christina had gotten a grass stain instead of letting her change she forced her to go upstairs and get it cleaned off she then went on to have Christina open a few presents so that the photographers could get photos of just her. Later on during the movie Christina and Joan were racing in the pool when Joan won. Christina was tired and hurt by never winning. Instead of comforting her and telling her the harder you work the faster you will get she said that she’ll always be faster and better than Christina. Where ever Joan would go she would have to be the center of attention. When she would talk into a restaurant she would make a grand entrance forcing everyone’s attention onto her. Also because she was so focused on her image when Christina was “acting up” she forced her to go to boarding school. Young Christina was in tears begging her mom she wouldn’t be bad and to come back home; Joan just left her there. When Christina was in her teenage years she kissed a boy in the barn and was then sent to a nun school with all of her privileges taken away. Joan was truly narcisstic because it was her way or the
Personality Disorders are patterns of inflexible traits that disrupt social life or work and may distress the affected individual. Psychological Disorders is an illness that an individual experience as episodes, and clearly distinguished from personality. While we aren’t trained psychologists, everyone can learn how to learn these disorders and identify them in movies and TV, or even real life! A movie that can help you learn how to identify and have a better understanding of these disorders is “Mommie Dearest”. This movie is based off a book about a famous actress Joan Crawford who had multiple disorders. The disorders Joan Crawford possessed was Bipolar, Narcissistic, Obsessive Compulsive Personality
She always wanted to be the center of attention, she was prejudiced and believed things should stay the same, and she was very selfish. While she thinks she’s above everyone else, she feels that the world revolves around her.
Personality, defined by Merriam-Webster, is a set of enduring behavioral and mental traits that distinguish human beings from one another. Therefore, a personality disorder “is a type of mental illness in which you have trouble perceiving and relating to situations and to people—including yourself” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). In general, someone who suffers from a personality disorder has a long-term pattern of behaviors and emotions that are very different from the society’s view of “normal”.
Abnormal Psychology Abnormal psychology in the area within psychology that is focused on maladaptive behavior-its causes, consequences, and treatment. Abnormal psychology deals with how it feels to be different, the meanings the get attached to being different, and how society deals with people whom it considers to be different. The spectrum of differences is wide, ranging from reality defying delusions and severe debilitations to worries and behavioral quirks that we would be better off not having but do not significantly interfere with our daily lives. An example of the milder end of the spectrum is a man who was an eminently successful district attorney, was elected governor of New York on three occasions, and was almost elected president of the United States in 1948. This man, Thomas E. Dewy, reached the pinnacle of success, displaying such qualities as rectitude, efficiency, precision, and nearly limitless capacity for hard work.
A personality disorder is an unhealthy group of mental illness (Personality Disorders , 2013). These thoughts and behaviors cause a series of problems in a person’s life. The disorder has often been linked to destruction in social, occupational, and an overall functioning of life (Soeteman, Verheul, & Busschbach, 2008).The person has often had problems associating with other people and managing stress (Personality Disorders , 2013). Personality disorders are consistently noted in a person that has obsessive-compulsive disorder (Butcher, 2010).
Each piece, at some point in the film or play, addresses the way women are portrayed and how both main characters defy the gender stereotype of their time. In Saint Joan, there are two instances where Joan defies traditional gender norms. The first is when she refuses to dress in women’s clothing. For example, there is a section in the play where the Inquisitor tells Joan to change out of what was considered men’s clothing. But Joan does not comply with his order and instead defends why she does not dress in the traditional women’s clothing, “If I dress as a solider they think of me as a solider”.
My choice of research was in the play behaviors of children as well as aggression. Breaking the topic down more, behavior relates to the psychology and the psyche of each individual. The definition of psychology is “science of mind and behavior” (Clavijo, 2013). After reading the article by Clavijo, I have realized that psychology can be defined in three ways such as the study of the mind, the study of behavior, and the study of the mind and behavior. In the text “The Developing Person” by Berger, behavior is learned through social learning. Children learn different behaviors through the observation of others, others being children and adults. Different people have affects on a child’s life that can affect their behavior. A child’s behavior is heavily influenced by their parents. A son may speak aggressively and without respect towards his mother because this is the way that his father speaks to her therefore he feels that is how to communicate with his mother (Berger, 200, 2012). Moving into play behaviors, children learn from other children in how to play. Most believe cognitive growth relies on child’s play time. Vygotsky and Piaget both believe that when children play it is beneficial, but according to Vygotsky, playing enables a child to think outside the box and create their own meaning from objects, using their imagination. Piaget believes that child benefit from playing together because children and sharing their knowledge and making it more concrete ideas and thoughts. There are four stages of plays, with the fourth stage being the highest most complicated play which consists of rules and guidelines for the game. The lowest level or play would be functional play being infants shaking rattles, clapping their hands, or blow...
This disorder is characterized by inflexibility and fixation on rules, procedures, and orderliness (Rathus, 2010). At the beginning of the movie you watch Joan scrub her hands, fingernails, wrists, forearms, and face. Then she moves on to cleaning her house, she even goes as far to move furniture around to clean certain areas even after she’s already cleaned them. In one of the later scenes of the movie, Joan attacks Christina after finding one lone wire hanger in her closet in the midst of all plastic hangers. She goes ballistic and throws all of Christina’s stuff around then drags her into the bathroom and orders her to wash her already clean floor. Another obvious disorder exhibited by Joan is the paranoid personality disorder. This disorder causes people to be more suspicious of others and to interpret others’ motives as harmful or evil (p.525). She constantly overworked her children and forced them to give up their toys and gifts from their birthday’s and holiday. She did this because she was concerned about them growing up spoiled and never learning to work for what they wanted. She also did this because she wanted the publicity that came along with her children giving away their toys. She was also extremely paranoid that Christina was making fun of her, even though she was just taking after her mother’s footsteps and acting. Joan found Christina’s skits as mockery. In her later years, Joan was always aware of the younger, prettier, more talented women that were trying to take her job. Lastly, Joan sports the histrionic personality disorder multiple times throughout the movie. A person with the histrionic disorder is overly emotional and dramatic and seeks constant attention (p. 526). This side of Joan comes out at one of Christina’s birthday parties. Reporters ask to get pictures of just Christina, and Joan thinks it ridiculous that they don’t want her. She begins to compete with
As Christina aged she began to rebel against her mother, but her mother did not put up with that. Christian was sent to boarding school, when she was introduced to men her age and go t intimate with them, Joan later found out and there was punishment for making the name Crawford
Another key point is the dejection these characters face when pursuing their eccentric interests. Joan lives within a time period in which wanting to be anything else but a mother is considered obscene and unimaginable. Her ambition to acquire new knowledge is looked down upon and viewed as a sin, “ I read by night so no one would know. I knew you would not approve “ (Cross 57). Due to the constant reprimands she receives she is left to fight her inner struggles of self-worth and deal with rejection from her family and society. This rejection underlines how she is an outcast within her own time period. As for The Creature he aspires to be a friend to society,yet he is constantly leered at for believing it would ever happen. His belief that
My paper is based on an article from the text’s web site (chapter 9) entitled “Lack of sleep ages body’s systems.” The basic claim of the article is that sleep deprivation has various harmful effects on the body. The reported effects include decreased ability to metabolize glucose (similar to what occurs in diabetes) and increased levels of cortisol (a stress hormone involved in memory and regulation of blood sugar levels). The article also briefly alludes (in the quote at the bottom of page 1) to unspecified changes in brain and immune functioning with sleep deprivation.
People with this disorder tend to display “great instability, including major shifts in mood, an unstable self-image, and impulsivity” (Comer, 2014, p. 413). The term “borderline” was coined by psychoanalyst Adolf Stern in 1938 under the assumption that this condition resided on the border between neurosis and psychosis. The text also describes those with borderline personality disorder as being prone to bouts of anger and violent emotional reactions, however it can be suggested that the reason Lux does not portray this emotional reactivity is partially due to how she was raised. The strictness and control the Lisbon parents reinforced could have very well instilled in their daughters the notion that they are to do and act as they are told and to behave in a calm, polite, lady-like manner. This could explain why all five sisters seem to be shy and quiet, and even wild-child Lux has her moments of conservative propriety. In an article by Scott O. Lilienfeld and Hal Arkowitz in Scientific American Mind, it is said that people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are “often regarded as hopeless individuals, destined for a life of emotional misery” (2012). Because of this stigma, many individuals do not fit the stereotypical mold of someone with BPD. Other films such as Fatal Attraction (1987) and Girl, Interrupted (1999) further shape the misconception that individuals suffering from BPD are violent and bizarre. While Lux does not bang her head against the wall out of anger or scream at her parents over the smallest infraction against her, she does at times portray other signs of BPD. Impulsivity and self-destructiveness can be seen as Lux partakes in risky behaviors such as drinking, smoking marijuana and cigarettes, and unsafe sex with different partners (Comer, 2014, p. 414). These behaviors of
Every person that has different characteristics that influence how they think, act, and build relationships. While some people are introverted, others are extroverted. Some people are strict and do not take risks, while others are carefree and free spirited. However, there are times where a person’s behavior becomes destructive, problematic, and maladaptive (Widger, 2003). The key to examining a person for a possible personality disorder is not if they have quirks, but if they display severe behavioral, emotional, and social issues. A diagnosis of having a personality disorders involves identifying if their extreme behaviors, emotions, and thoughts that are different than cultural expectations interfere with the ...
They had to sacrifice their motherhood in some form or another in order to gain success in other aspects of their lives. Joan, a young girl wanted to have an education and so she ran away from home under the disguise of a boy to gain higher knowledge which was not an option for a girl in her time. Joan stated, “I dressed as a boy when I left home”… “I was only twelve. Also women weren’t/allowed in the library. We wanted to study in Athens” (8). Joan having to disguise herself as a boy, showed that women were not allowed to have an education; they had limited opportunities. However, under the disguise as a male, Joan was given the opportunity to be a pope, a role generally reserve for a man. Nevertheless, it was discovered that she was a female when she gave birth in public and hence, she was stoned to death. Even other women who did not have to choose between motherhood and career, were unable to get promoted even if they were more qualified than men. This is due to the gender gap and the historical male domination. Louise, who came for a job interview at Marlene’s employment agency stated, “Nobody notices me, I don’t expect it, I don’t attract attention by making mistakes, everybody takes it for granted that my work is perfect” (52). This illustrates that even though the feminist movement had made significant advances in gender equality, there are still limitations in inequality concerning
Catherine appears to be narcissistic because she loves her wealth and has a lot of money. She can buy anything she wants or anyone. She uses her beauty as a seduction to get what she wants from both sexes. She throws out indirect comments and hits that are persuasion that she is the killer to gain more attention from Nick. Antisocial disorders have traits of people who are irresponsible, lack guilt or remorse and engage in antisocial behavior, such as aggression, deceit, or recklessness.