The book I chose for this assignment is Reviving Ophelia. This was a very interesting book. Mary Pipher, PhD. discusses the roles that society plays in shaping the self esteem of teenage and preteen age girls. The author contends that our society today is very look-obsessed and media driven. Through magazines, television, fashion, and retail the "idea" girl is formed and anyone who doesn't fit this idea is not perfect in the culture that girls live in today. Weight issues have caused conditions of anorexia and bulimia putting young girls in jeopardy of declining health. Dr. Pipher chronicles the life of adolescent girls from their carefree days of being energetic, assertive, and tomboyish to their losing themselves at the onset of puberty. Most girls lose their previous selves to fit into a norm of society, being more passive, depressed, and self-critical. The main point of this book is to help uncover the true self of adolescent girls and to give them techniques to help them combat the views of society. This quote from the book summarizes all that the author was addressing when writing this book. "Most girls choose to be socially accepted and split into two selves, one that is authentic and one that is culturally scripted. In public they become who they are suppose to be."
Dr. Pipher's approaches to psychology are more eclectic than following any one approach exclusively. When a girl comes in for depression, she first will determine if there is a biological reason for the depression. "At the severe extreme, I think of a client whose family history was filled with depression and alcohol abuse, who had an alcoholic father and psychotically depressed mother. When she hit adolescence she had neither internal nor external resources to support her." Dr. Pipher describes her form of therapy approach as this, "I call myself a relationship-oriented cognitive behaviorist. I'm influenced by the humanistic psychologists and also by social learning theorists." The author gives girls encouraging behavior techniques along with thought changing techniques to help them to observe and learn more clearly about the world around them.
The book I read is like the psychology textbook chapters 7 and 10. I chose chapter seven because it deals with learning and conditioning. In my book, Reviving Ophelia adolescent girls are taught how to act, look, and behave by society standards.
The play Hamlet is known for its eccentric plot and warped sense of reality as well as its fanatical characters. Hamlet himself created all the drama in the play with his pretend “madness” and his emotional outbursts, which lead to the destruction of almost all of the characters in the play. The most notable self destruction came from Ophelia, Hamlet’s object of affection. During the play, Ophelia had undergone a lot of stress which lead her character to metamorphous.
Mary Pipher, author of the book Reviving Ophelia, has made many observations concerning young adolescent girls in our society. She wrote this book in 1994, roughly eleven years ago. Although some of her observations made in the past are not still accurate in today’s world, there are many that are still present in 2005. The primary focus of Pipher’s comments is to explain how young girls are no longer being protected within our society.
Barbara believes that in using “psychopathology (Woods 14)” it helps links us to a deeper knowledge of our self-psychology. “Psychopathology is known as the scientific study of mental disorder (Mental Kowalczyk).”More often than not, this is caused by the neglect and abuse shown by parents or guardians of this child. Stated by Woods the “Psychological dysfunction(Woods 14)” of any child, gives everyone an understanding of the problems of COAs, and this severely distressed children who grow up in alcoholic homes. In Woods book she looks into the philosophy of a man named Freud. Freud deems to think that all of these problems are a part of this psychic concept of your id, ego, and superego. When it all comes down to Barbara, finding this all to be a something she calls an “inherent and pernicious flaw (Woods 24) in the COA. What she believes is their sense of familiarity or their security blanket. This gives the
Teenagers are young, naïve and impressionable. They are also insecure and usually sometimes unable to express themselves so they put others down. They are pressured daily to do things they really don’t want to do. They often find themselves doing something they said they would never do. Because of the influence of those around them, they are trying to cover their insecurities by saying things to make others feel bad about themselves. The traits above describe the two main characters in the short story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”. Both Bernice and Marjorie are young teens dealing with the pressure of being popular and fitting in. Bernice, being the quieter, shyer girl, deals with trying to fit in in a place she feels she doesn’t belong. Marjorie, the louder, seemingly confident girl puts on a front about who she is, deep down being an extremely jealous person. The characters in the story are both dealing with insecurities, each reacting in there own way.
“Most people don’t know the answer to the question, ‘How are you? How do you feel?’ The reason why they don’t know is that they are so busy feeling what they are supposed to feel, thinking what they’re supposed to think, that they never get down to examining their own deepest feelings.” (Hayakawa 1) Society imposes and influences human beings in such a way that we begin to mimic what it wants us to be. In the play Hamlet written by the memorable author William Shakespeare, Ophelia fails to be herself and enjoy life as it is but instead lets men that surround her control her life. Ophelia’s character is depicted as a weak and impotent individual. Shakespeare indirectly portrays Ophelia as a vulnerable character; Thomas G. Plummer imposes a connection to an Ophelia Syndrome that everyone experiences due to the lack of self empowerment and self will.
Adolescent girls growing up in today’s society endure many more hardships than in previous years. Adolescence is no longer a time of endless sunny days spent on the back porch with a glass of country time lemonade and a smile extending ear to ear. Adolescence for girls is now generalized as a dark and depressing period of life that often seems hopeless and never ending. Mary Pipher PH.D tries to illustrate just how drastically life has changed over the years for teenage girls through her best selling book “Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls”. Although Mary Pipher was once a clinical psychologist, she articulates very well for everyone to clearly understand her ideas and perspectives. One way she is able to transfer her ideas to her readers without losing any of the emotion and feeling is by using actual quotes by her adolescent girl clients. I feel this is a very effective way to keep the readers attention and to convey the reality of the problems many teenagers are trapped in. I agree with Pipher that our society has changed for the worse even though we are persuaded to think that we are moving in the right direction. Yes, equal right movements have been placed in the law, but the respect that people once had for women has been eliminated. Comparing girls’ true selves to the Bermuda Triangle, Mary Pipher goes to great depth to explain what a mysterious trend this has become. No one can reason why these girls can no longer appreciate anything in life when just a few years before a spittle bug could have kept them mesmerized for an hour. Pipher recalls early in the book the image of Shakespeare’s Ophelia drowning herself due to failed attempts to please both her father and hamlet. She states that adolescent girls are similarly drowning in confusion as they try to sort out details in their life, and decide whom they really want to please. I really liked how Pipher points out that during the most stressful time during girls lives, our society stresses the importance of cutting the emotional ties with moms and dads although this is the time when parental guidance and support would most likely be needed, but maybe not appreciated at the time. However, some parents can actually impact the girl’s choices negatively by insisting that they grow up too fast or to confine to the norm.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is set in the late middle ages, in Denmark. A time in history when women were not respected and thought of as the inferior sex. There are two women characters in Hamlet; Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, and Ophelia, Hamlet’s love interest. Magda Romanska the writer of “Ontology and Eroticism: Two Bodies Of Ophelia”, argues that Ophelia represents the typical idea of women in the nineteenth century. I agree with this, but argue that it is not the only aspect of Ophelia’s character. Ophelia becomes the bearer of Hamlet’s hatred toward the world, and is also the character of lowest status because she is an average women. Ophelia surrenders herself to the cruelty of those around her, and sacrifices her sanctity to please and conform
Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol hosts a number of clichéd adolescent issues within its pages: trouble fitting in with peers, exploration of deviant behavior, separation from family, and love complications. Out of all the overused teens angst topics, self-image reigns above all as the subject making the most prevalent appearance in young adult literature. For teenage girls, clothing becomes the main mode of communication with society and reflects the type of self-image they want to portray to the world. After all, it is a truth universally known that a teenage girl in possession of a crush must be in want of an entirely new wardrobe. Because of this unspoken language of adolescent females,
The goal of cognitive-behavioral treatment is to adapt the patient’s thoughts; as Riley is thinking of how she is failing to deal with the present situation she is in, this treatment will help her change this thinking. In this treatment, Riley’s patterns of thinking would be recognized over a series of appointments, and the clinician would then identify different ways of viewing the same situations Riley has been dealing with, making them not as dysfunctional for her. As well as cognitive-behavioral treatment, physical activity can also combat depression because it releases endorphins; this treatment would be accessible to Riley, and it is something that can be self-initiated as well as encouraged by her parents. These treatments would be ideal for Riley as they encourage her to better her illness without antidepressants since she is so
This segment was well received largely because this can be viewed as a universal concept. A highlight of the counseling session was seen in Gloria 's persistent attitude and her reluctancy to make her own decisions. Oftentimes in our human nature our decisions are derived from a combination of our values, morals, and standards. But sometimes we face situations when our values and the decisions that we are making are contradictory to one another (this is the dilemma that Gloria faced). What Dr. Rogers identified was the fact that we know what decision we want to make however we seek validation/acceptance from others. This what is known as prizing: seeking quality acceptance from others. As a result, we begin to contemplate and debate over every little decision in our lives therefore decreasing our confidence to make decisions on our own. Rogers practices enables his clients the ability to empower and uplift themselves in order to increase their self awareness. This is the type of influence that teachers, mentors, and parents can have over individuals by positive reassurance and not just telling people what to do. Gloria expressed to Dr. Rogers on several occasions that what she wanted was for him to tell her exactly what she should do; but instead he implemented counseling behaviors such as influencing her to be confident in her own
In life, some people may feel the need to lean on the shoulders of others, however in some cases where one is scared, the guidance of others may become ones dependence on them. This can have both positive and negative effects, depending on the circumstance of those involved. In the case of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia becomes more or less dependent on the protection of the men in her family. This eventually drives her to madness upon Polonius’s death. Through examining how Ophelia’s dependence adapts to the changes in the play, it can be seen that Ophelia is dependent on the men in her life, and when they are removed from her as per the events of the play, she cannot adapt to guide herself.
It is widely believed that “Living life without honor is a tragedy bigger than death itself” and this holds true for Hamlet’s Ophelia. Ophelia’s death symbolizes a life spent passively tolerating Hamlet’s manipulations and the restrictions imposed by those around her, while struggling to maintain the last shred of her dignity. Ophelia’s apathetic reaction to her drowning suggests that she never had control of her own life, as she was expected to comply with the expectations of others. Allowing the water to consume her without a fight alludes to Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia as merely a device in his personal agenda. Her apparent suicide denotes a desire to take control of her life for once. Ophelia’s death is, arguably, an honorable one, characterized by her willingness to let go of her submissive, earth-bound self and leave the world no longer a victim.
According to the therapists, the condition is applicable in many areas, including psychological and emotional fields.... ... middle of paper ... ... Within these factors, the therapy is essential in ensuring that different problems are addressed using personalized ideas. Works Cited Bandura, A 1999, Principles of behavior modification, Rinehart & Winston, New York.
In American culture today, society's view of beauty is controlled by Hollywood, where celebrities are constantly in the lime-light. The media watches Hollywood's every move, and is quick to ridicule “A-listers” whenever they dare to gain a few pounds or to let an uncontrollable pimple show. The media has created a grossly distorted mental image of what should be considered beautiful, and with almost every junior high and high school-age girl reading and viewing this message, the idea has been instilled in them as well. This view of beauty is causing many teenage girls to become obsessed with a highly problematic and unattainable goal of perfection.
Bauman, Lawrence. The Ten Most Troublesome Teen-age Problems and How to Solve Them. New York: Citadel Press, 1997.