In this case analysis, I will be discussing the famous Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. In her film, Frida exhibits signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism. I plan to explore her clinical difficulties through a cognitive-behavioral lens, as well as a psychodynamic lens. Frida Kahlo was born in 1907 in Mexico City, Mexico. Her father was a German photographer and artist that immigrated to Mexico to escape Nazi persecution, and her mother had indigenous roots in Mexico. Frida is one of four daughters, which meant she grew up primarily around women. When she was just six years old she contracted Polio, which left her right leg thinner than her left. She was often bullied for limping because of her leg; as a solution, Frida wore long …show more content…
This approach draws on the importance of early experience and how people internalize events that happened in their youth. It draws on the idea that there is a conflict between events that happened in the past and what a person is trying to accomplish in the present. The therapist is very engaged and develops a close relationship to the client, in which the relationship helps model normative relationships that the client can use to generalize. The goal of this kind of treatment is to make the unconscious conscious to the client. The hallmark of psychodynamic psychotherapy is insight and working through, in which the client has deep and reflective epiphanies about themselves. Psychodynamic therapy has also shown to be effective in the treatment of individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Schottenbauer, Glass, Arnkoff, and Gray (2008) explored the contributions of psychodynamic approach to therapy in individuals suffering from PTSD and trauma. Some of the many contributions psychodynamic treatments include addressing interpersonal issues that are a by-product of PTSD, and also addressing development. Aside of bringing unconscious thoughts forward, the therapist also watches for defense mechanisms that the client might use. These defense mechanisms are important to the therapist, because they provide insight to the person’s wishes, feelings, and impulses. A benefit to using psychodynamic treatment over other approaches is that it is better suited for handling complex cases of PTSD, as well as comorbid cases. In addition to that, because it focuses heavily on interpersonal relationships, it helps create a social support system for the client. Having social support may aid the client in recovering. In the case of Frida, a psychodynamic treatment approach would be effective. A psychodynamic therapist would establish a rapport with Frida before
Ester Hernandez is a Chicana artist, best known for her works of Chicana women. Ester’s goal is to recreate women’s lives to produce positive images of women’s lifestyle and to create icons. Her piece, Frida y Yo, contains the iconic painter Frida Kahlo. Frida, after being in multiple accidents causing long-term pain and suffering, began painting, mostly self-portraits, to portray her reality and glorify the pain. Similar to how Hernandez's goals are a juxtaposition to Frida’s artwork, the art piece Frida y Yo creates a juxtaposition between life and suffering and death and fortune.
PTSD is a battle for everyone who is diagnosed and for the people close to them. The only way to fight and win a battle is to understand what one is fighting. One must understand PTSD if he or she hopes to be cured of it. According to the help guide, “A positive way to cope with PTSD is to learn about trauma and PTSD”(Smith and Segal). When a person knows what is going on in his or her body, it could give them better control over their condition. One the many symptoms of PTSD is the feeling of helplessness, yet, knowing the symptoms might give someone a better sense of understanding. Being in the driver’s seat of the disorder, can help recognize and avoid triggers. Triggers could be a smell, an image, a sound, or anything that could cause an individual to have a flashback of the intimidating event. Furthermore, knowing symptoms of PTSD could, as well, help one in recovering from the syndrome. For instance, a person could be getting wor...
The aim of the psychoanalytic therapy is to resolve interpersonal conflicts, toward the end of reconstructing one’s basic personality. (Corey 2013). Gathering life-history data, dream analysis, free association, interpretation and analysis of resistance and transference. Such procedures are aimed at increasing awareness, gaining intellectual and emotional insight. This begins a working-through process that leads to the reorganization of the client personality. According to Freud, out most intense experience of anxiety occurs at birth, when we are speratated from our mothers. Using this model will allow to examine the aniety as the basis of all the clients feelings of anxiety. Seperation from his mother at the age of 6 may have had an impact. Finally, this model tend that if noramal, rational approaches of the ego to reduce anxiety are not effective, the ego revert to ego-defense mechanisms. Jackson’s was defensive when discussion of possible sexual abuse was introduced in the sessions. This was pointed out as the Defense Mechansims, Repression. Therapist find this useful to bring the past experiences to the present, so that the client can begin to be aware.
Andy Warhol and Frida Kahlo had an immense amount of impact on the world of art. Warhol has always explored the rooted connection between celebrity culture and artistic expression, which left him with a lasting legacy that has marked him for one of the most famous artists to have existed. The population was fascinated by Warhol’s ability to blur the lines between fine art and innovative design, providing him a large following and work that will be remembered for decades. Kahlo too is a name that is not likely to be forgotten. Her work is recognizable on a global level and her works are loved by many people. The deep admiration her followers have given her, and the amount of modern artists that she has influenced, creates an immortalization
The article under review is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the DSM-5: Controversy, Change, and Conceptual Considerations by Anushka Pai, Alina M. Suris, and Carol S. North in Behavioral Sciences. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, like combat, a natural disaster, a car accident, or sexual assault (U.S. Department VA, 2007). PTSD can happen to anyone and many factors can increase the possibility of developing PTSD that are not under the person’s own control. Symptoms of PTSD usually will start soon after the traumatic event but may not appear for months or years later. There are four types of symptoms of PTSD but may show in different
Frida Kahlo is known for the most influential Latin American female artist. She is also known as a rebellious feminist. Kahlo was inspired to paint after her near-death bus incident when she was 17. After this horrendous incident that scarred her for life, she went under 35 different operations. These operations caused her extreme pain and she was no longer able to have kids. Kahlo’s art includes self portraits of her emotions, pain, and representations of her life. Frida Kahlo was an original individual, not only in her artwork but also in her
Diego Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo are an important aspect of the Hispanic World and well-known names in Latino art. Rivera and Kahlo knew many famous painters such as Duchamp, Siqueiros, Orozco and Picasso. Picasso became a great friend of the family. Kahlo has influenced many places in Mexico. There are many land marks not only in Mexico but around the world. The Frida Kahlo Museum is located in Coyoacan Mexico in her Casa Azul home (blue house), this is the same place Kahlo was born, grew up, lived with her husband Rivera and died (Gale, 1996). The museum holds collections and embraces the personal effects of both artists shining light on the way of life for affluent Mexican writers and artist during the first half of the century. The Dolores Olmedo Museum at Hacienda La Noria is another museum-house from the 16th century monastery, includes many of Kahlo’s famous paintings such as “The Broken Column,” “Luther Burbank,” and holds a large amount of Rivera’s works of art (Gale, 1996). Rivera’s murals of his wife Frida, himself, and various members of their family and friends can be found at the Secretariat of Public Education (where he met his wife), the Mexico City’s National Palace, the Museo de la Alameda, and the Palace of Fine Arts (Gale, 1996).
There are many different causes of PTSD such as sexual abuse, sudden death of a loved one, and war. Trauma affects people in different ways, some can develop it from watching a fellow soldier being killed, and some can develop it from losing their jobs or a divorce. Being diagnosed with PTSD is a difficult process because there are many other psychological disorders whose symptoms can overlap and are very similar. An important fact to remember is that PTSD doesn’t just affect the person suffering; it can also have secondhand effects on their spouses, children, parents, friends, co-workers, and other loved ones. Although there is no direct cure, there are many treatment and alternative treatment options to assist them in moving forward after a trauma.
The disorder consists of two or more recognizable identities which change personality and appearance. Though there are as many as one hundred separate personalities, there are five different generalized alters (Swartz, 2001). These consist of a depressed personality, a strong and angry protector, a scared and hurt child personality, a helping personality, and finally an internal persecutor personality. Each one of these derives from traumatic childhood memories and allows the victims to act now as they could not act in the time of the traumatic experience. The depressive personality causes one to repress the harmful memories and have mood swings similar to bipolar disorder. This is common as it expresses the sadness they felt at the time but could not show. The strong angry protector is a result of the victim not being able to protect themselves from the disturbing situations endured, it allows them to express their true anger they could not before. The scared, hurt child shows tendencies such as mistrust, anxiety attacks, and substance abuse. It is commonly the most emotionally agonizing as it provokes the authentic memories. It challenges the individual to return to the feelings they felt during the trauma. The helping personality acts as a therapist as it tries to work through the intense emotions in the given context. This personality tries to make sense of the past and present circumstances in order to bring an inner peace by providing answers as to why the trauma may have taken place. The last personality, the internal prosecutor, blames the other personalities for the history of abuse. This personality may only be obtained if the patient is aware they have other personalities. It is often named after the oppressor or offe...
There are hundreds of different kinds of psychiatric disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed. (DSM-IV). One of them is called Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Based on the research, post-traumatic disorder usually occurs following the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults like rape (Harvard Women’s Health Watch, 2005). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the risk factors, pathophysiology, clinical manifestation, diagnostic criteria and tests, treatment, prognosis and future research and approaches to treat this psychiatric illness of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The second stage in the psychodynamic therapy process is, the transference stage. In this stage the development of treatment is set and now it is the patient’s time to let their feelings out. The patient expresses those feelings, emotions, fears, and desires to the therapist without having to worry about censorship. The feelings and behavior of the patient become more pronounced and become a vital part of the treatment itself. During this stage the therapist could experience and better understand of the patient’s past and how it impacted their behavior in the
The creation of a stressful psychological state of mind is prevalent in the story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, as well as, Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Ophelia’s struggles in William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, and the self-inflicted sickness seen in William Blake’s “Mad Song”. All the characters, in these stories and poems, are subjected to external forces that plant the seed of irrationality into their minds; thus, creating an adverse intellectual reaction, that from an outsider’s point of view, could be misconstrued as being in an altered state due to the introduction of a drug, prescribed or otherwise, furthering the percep...
The psychodynamics theory which was introduced by Freud to understand the human mind and psyche, reached a new level in the continuous analysis from therapists. Psychodynamics originally has been explained as a study of various psychological forces that affect human behavior which is related to early experiences. It specifically discusses the connection between the conscious and subconscious motivations. The theory was further analyzed and developed by Melanie Klein, Carl Jung and Alfred Adler. Based on the theory, the psychodynamic therapy evolved to help patients through psychoanalysis. With time other therapies like individual, group and family therapy evolved to offer treatment by understanding the present day complexities in more detail. The main aim of the therapy is self –awareness through identifying the various influences of many past events in life. The therapies are continuously evolving since it was introduced by Freud to help in solving a variety of psychological disorders within people.
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter, born on the July the 6th, 1907. She was born in small town on the outskirts of Mexico, called Couyocan. Her family lived in a house they built themselves, La Casa Azul, or “The Blue House”. It’s name comes from the structures bright blue walls, and now stands as the Frida Kahlo Museum. At the age of fifteen, Kahlo was enrolled in the National Prepatory School of Mexico, where she was one of only a thirty-five female students. With the dream of becoming a medical doctor, Kahlo studied sciences at the school. But, on Septemer 17th, 1925, Kahlo experienced the fateful accident which changed her life forever. She had been riding on a bus with her boyfriend, Alejandro Gomez Arias, when the vehicle collided with a tram. The accident had left several people dead, and Kahlo with many injuries. Some of which were broken collar bone, fractures in her right leg, a crushed foot and a broken spinal column. The injuries left her in a full-body cast for months on end and was confined to her bed for this time. Kahlo also was left with fertility complications after handrail had pierced her uterus. The tragic event left Kahlo in a world of unbearable pain and also boredom. It was during her bed-ridden recovery where she took up the practice of painting, with herself as the subject. Her mother had made her an easel to paint in bed, where she developed her skills of painting. Her first self portrait, “Self Portrait in a Velvet Dress”, was her first serious piece which she painted in 1926. She painted it as a present to her boyfriend, Alejandro Gomez Arias. The artwork was fairly muted in colour and was quite a traditional European-style artwork. But, as Kahlo continued painting her works transitioned from the acade...
Isabel says, “If Dr. Nelson is right and he’s suffering from delayed shock surely new surroundings and new interests will cure him, and when he’s got his balance again he’ll come back to Chicago and go into business like everybody else” (48-49). Isabel’s statement though lacks understanding of what kinds of treatments are beneficial for treating PTSD. New surroundings and new interests won’t help treat PTSD because people who suffer from PTSD “tend to avoid places, people, or other things that remind them of the event” (Edwards). In order to understand what helps treat PTSD, we must come to understand that PTSD can never be fully cured. According to ptsd.about.com, “Treatments for PTSD will never take away the fact that a traumatic event occurred. Treatments for PTSD cannot erase your memory of those events,” (Tull) and, “That said, it is important to remember that symptoms of PTSD can come back again” (Tull). Even though it cannot be cured, it can be treated effectively with treatment. According to mayoclinc.org, “The primary treatment is psychotherapy, but often includes medication” (None). With the help of psychotherapy and medication, people who suffer from PTSD can begin to regain their life from anxiety and