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Case Study Depression And Suicidal Ideation
Case Study Depression And Suicidal Ideation
Speak melinda character analysis
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In Laurie Halse Anderson’s book Speak, Melinda keeps her thoughts and feelings inside because she is too scared to speak up.The fact that Melinda’s trapped feelings causes self destruction suggests that sharing one's issues is the right thing to do. Melinda explains, “I opened up a paperclip and scratched it across the inside of my left wrist”(87). Self harm displays depression because of an event that might have happened. In Melinda’s case she did go through a traumatic experience last year that she denies happened everyday. If someone is depressed to the point where they have self harming thoughts they should tell someone they trust because that person can provide support and help them recover. Melinda tells us that the first hour of blowing
One may say that this novel shouldn’t be taught in schools, because this doesn’t happen to teenagers. However, it was found that of teenagers who have been sexual assaulted in their life, 70-90 percent of them experimented with self-injuring methods (Kennedy). Also, someone doesn’t have to be sexually assaulted to intentionally injure themselves. An untrue belief is that all self-injurers have been sexually abused, however this is not the case as many have a history of not being sexually abused in the first place (Styer). Another argument could be that this book shouldn’t be taught in schools because self-injury is a suicidal attempt. This is not true, because the person hurting themselves doesn’t intend on dying, but rather releasing the tension in their lives in order to cope with their thoughts. In the book, Callie is worried when a friend of hers is seriously injured and says, “’So she’s going to be OK?’,” while her therapist responds, “‘I can’t say. She will be, if she begins taking responsibility for her health, for her recovery here’” (McCormick 96). This concludes that not all people who self-injure are suicidal, because from this point on Callie became proactive and had a willingness to become better. In summary, many people may disagree and state that the novel shouldn’t be taught in schools; nevertheless, the book has life lessons that are
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a story written in the first person about a young girl named Melinda Sordino. The title of the book, Speak, is ironically based on the fact that Melinda chooses not to speak. The book is written in the form of a monologue in the mind of Melinda, a teenage introvert. This story depicts the story of a very miserable freshman year of high school. Although there are several people in her high school, Melinda secludes herself from them all. There are several people in her school that used to be her friend in middle school, but not anymore. Not after what she did over the summer. What she did was call the cops on an end of summer party on of her friends was throwing. Although all her classmates think there was no reason to call, only Melinda knows the real reason. Even if they cared to know the real reason, there is no way she could tell them. A personal rape story is not something that flows freely off the tongue. Throughout the story Melinda describes the pain she is going through every day as a result of her rape. The rape of a teenage girl often leads to depression. Melinda is convinced that nobody understands her, nor would they even if they knew what happened that summer. Once a happy girl, Melinda is now depressed and withdrawn from the world. She hardly ever speaks, nor does she do well in school. She bites her lips and her nails until they bleed. Her parents seem to think she is just going through a faze, but little do they know, their daughter has undergone a life changing trauma that will affect her life forever.
The plot of the book, Speak is that Melinda Sordino, a freshman at Merryweather High went to an end of the summer party with some of her friends. Things take a turn for the worst when a senior named Andy Evans sexually assaults her at the party without her friends knowing about it. Melinda is frightened, afraid, and does not know what to do so she calls 911 busting the party, and causing her friends and everyone at that school to hate her, even if they don’t know her.
Everyone has to deal with struggles during their everyday life. Some people’s problems are more serious than others, and the way that people deal with their problems varies. Everybody has a coping mechanism, something they can use to make the struggle that they’re going through easier, but they’re usually different. Some people drink, some people smoke, some people pretend there is no problem. There are healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms, and people will vary the one they use depending on the problem they’re facing. In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the author and her family deal with their struggles in multiple different ways as time goes on. However, the severity of her situation means that the methods she uses to deal with it are very important. That’s why it’s bad that Jeanette’s and her family have such unhealthy coping mechanisms, such
One of Laurie’s favorite past-times is reading, especially now that she is unemployed and has time to follow her favorite authors. If you were to watch Laurie read, you would be able to tell when a book is getting really interesting or exciting, because Laurie will start biting her nails until she has worn them down to the quick and they start hurting her. According to Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory, Laurie’s predilection for biting her nails is a result of unresolved sexual urges that occurred during the first of five stages of development, the oral stage. Freud’s five stages of psychosexual development are the oral stage, occurring from birth to 1 ½ years, the anal stage from 1 ½ to 3 years, the phallic stage from 3 to 6 years, the
They argue that therapists should consider their own motivation to self-disclose and set boundaries. The therapists should never put their own needs above the client. They make sure to point out that self discourse alone cannot affect the outcome of treatment. Self-disclosure is effective only if it is used appropriately and only if it is used when it is necessary. The amount of information disclosed and when it is disclosed is also important. Therapists should draw a clear line with the amount of intimacy to include in their therapeutic disclosure to ensure that no inappropriate boundaries are crossed. The authors suggest two rules of thumb to follow when disclosing information which include: (a) “Why do I want to say what I am about to say” and (b) “What will be the likely impact of the client” (p. 567).
Melinda was an outcast and loner in high school who was overwhelmed, fearful, and confused with her life and her environment at school. She was always silent in class and afraid to speak in front of people. Many students today might feel the need to fit in with other people so they wouldn’t have to be looked down upon. As we take a look at Melinda’s life we’ll be able to see how she handles her daily conflicts. In the book, Speak, Melinda Sordino, an incoming freshman at Merryweather High, starts her year off with a terrible start. She’s stuck with a mean history teacher, by who she calls Mr. Neck and a whole bunch of other weird teachers like her English teacher of who she calls, Hairwomen, because of her crazy, uncombed hair. Her favorite teacher would seem to be her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, because he seems to be the nicest and most reasonable. Every student, even her ex-best friend, Rachel Bruin, gives her nasty looks and treats her rudely. All this trouble started when Melinda called the cops at an end-of-summer party. Everybody thinks she did that just to bust them and get all the people in trouble but instead, she called the cops for something more terrifying. During the night of that party, she was raped by a senior who goes to Merryweather High, Andy Evans, by who she calls IT or Andy Beast. She was too scared and didn’t know what to do so she called the cops. Because of this, now everyone in school is disgusted and hateful of her. Though most of the students didn’t like her, she did become sort of “distant” friends with Heather, Ivy, and her science lab partner, David Petrakis. With all the drama, sadness, and conflict involved in Melinda’s life, she still seems to manage and finish the school year without ...
So begin the episodes of anguished soul-searching, of horrific "if-onlys" experienced by the family members of countless suicides. Anyone who has faced what Mr. and Mrs. A now grapple with knows that the girl is wrong: they will not be better off, not feel happier, without her. Yet each year, thousands of suicide victims express similar convictions: I am killing myself, they reassure us, for your own good. This thinking – this appeal for selflessness that our society cannot condone – where does it come from? Why, in truth, do people kill themselves?
It all started when I discovered her artwork at the age of 12. Laurie Anderson is an exceptional artist. I just recently broadened my research and discovered that she is a broad ranged artist. These articles gave me a better base of knowledge on Laurie and it gave me a little bit of influence to research her more in-depth. Anderson, does not just stick to one art medium. This woman can be seen in a few movies as well as television shows. She is also an artist, a music composer, and a film director. These combined make this artist truly amazing.
• This experience made her very secluded and reserved. She thought a lot about suicide but found comfort in writing. She became an observer rather than a participator in everyday life.
Many people in the world are like puppets. They move to the commands of others. Once in awhile, the puppet obtains a will of its own and moves against the crowd. Ivy, from Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, became that one puppet who moved against the crowd, with the crowd being social constructs. A social construct is something that the society makes true even though to other people, it has no value. There are many examples of social conflicts throughout the book and the clans or groups in school are social constructs. The main character, Melinda, struggled to fit into these categories causing her to be the Outcast to society. Nobody seems to want to truly befriend Melinda, causing her to be alone. Although Melinda is ostracized by her society
Psychologist Lisa Firestone had come to a conclusion that the main driving factor behind suicide and suicide attempts was an inner voice which disconnected the individual from the real world and from selflessness. The voice centers around the ego and weakens the conscience of the individual, leading them to believe they are unworthy of living and undeserving of human love. She believes that human beings who have suicidal attempts do not do it out of their own accor...
It is amazing that two completely different characters could not only be faced with an identical dilemma, but also both react in such comparable ways. The resemblance of the characters’ struggles because of alienation in the popular novels The Catcher in the Rye and Speak is astonishing. Alienation can be caused by many factors and result in many consequences. But it is interesting how the situations individuals face can be quite similar. Within Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, and Anderson’s novel, Speak, both protagonists are alienated by those around them. As a result, they must endure the negative effects of this isolation and, ultimately it leads both these individuals to alienate themselves.
Self-harm is a growing and troubling trend. It's a frightening disorder, most common among women, where hurt and alienation are expressed by injuring oneself. There are several kinds of self-harm. Self-mutilation and various eating disorders are among the most common forms of self-destruction. These forms of self-harm often lead to suicide. There are three types of self-mutilation. The rarest and most extreme form is Major self-mutilation. This form usually results in permanent disfigurement, such as castration or limb amputation. Another form is Stereo-typical self-mutilation. This usually consists of head banging, eyeball pressing, and biting. The third and most common form is Superficial self-mutilation. This involves cutting, burning, hair pulling, bone breaking, hitting, interference with wound healing, and basically anything that causes harm to oneself. It's almost unimaginable that one would inflict injury upon oneself. However, cutting, burning, slashing, stabbing, and bruising occurs while apparently no physical pain is felt. As many as three million Americans are believed to be suffering from this psychiatric disorder. (Simpson) The very nature of this problem is shrouded in secrecy. It is no surprise that it has taken some time for people to get wise to this growing problem. There are several different theories as to why one engages in such behavior. One popular theory is that it's a control issue. There are also several reasons for a need for control. For instance, when children are abused, they are in a situation of no control. Their abusers can hurt them at anytime, and the children are largely powerless to stop it.
When I was 14-years-old I suffered through mild depression and self-harm. I never spoke of it, but once my mother found out she forced me to go see a therapist. Not opening up, I lied to the therapist about my feelings, and didn't even make eye contact. But the doctor just passed me as mentally healthy based on the fact that I'm a smart kid 'cause I don't do drugs. Looking back at this experience I wish it had been a better one, it would’ve helped if I had someone that cared enough to notice I was obviously lying about my emotions. Me being an individual that has gone through struggle with their feelings. I want to be that person that actually cares and would be able to notice someone who obviously isn't opening up. Through high school I've been immensely fascinated with the human body, and most particularity the function of your brain. I feel during the time of depression my adolescent mind's growth was in tie with my actions, in result of my feelings.