Who Is Ptsd In The Martian Child

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Recommended: Emotional abuse and the effects on childrens development

Summary In the film, The Martian Child, David is a recent widower who adopts Dennis, an emotionally abused young boy who claims he is from Mars and exhibits many abnormal habits and needs. David is a famous science fiction writer, and Dennis’s foster mother proposed that David would be best suited to help Dennis overcome his claims to Mars. David struggles with Dennis’s caseworker, who pressures David to help Dennis overcome his Martian attachment before he may officially adopt Dennis. As David provides Dennis with unconditional love, Dennis gradually adopts more normalized behavior, eventually telling his caseworker at his adoption hearing that being from Mars is just pretend. After the official adoption, David and Dennis have a major conflict as Dennis reveals he pretended to give up being form Mars so David could adopt him. Eventually, David realizes that he cannot conform his son to the person he wants him to be, but love what makes him different. However, Dennis believes David has rejected him as the other adults have and runs away. Later, Dennis is finally able to verbalize his mistrust and deep fear of rejection, and David is able to convince him that he will never reject or leave him. Analysis of Author’s Key Points As his foster mother informs David, Dennis was emotionally abused …show more content…

Though effects of emotional maltreatment cannot be seen as well as those of physical abuse, healthy attachments are essential to human flourishing. While other characters in the film want Dennis to be fixed, David recognized that the first order of business is to help Dennis understand that he is

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