Mississippi Damned is a fictional film based upon real life situations. Is it centered on a small urban town in Mississippi that has experienced issues from generations to generations. The film centers around three families who live in close proximity of each other. All three women are sisters who are either married or dating with live in boyfriends. There are also three young children who grow up with these families and are subject to experiences far beyond their years. Throughout the film we learn that each woman has setbacks within her household. One sister has a terrible drinking problem and ultimately loses her job due to excessive drinking and tardiness. The second sister has had several pregnancies that each result in miscarriages As a therapist, there are several different elements to be reviewed. The first step requires acknowledgement of both the times and the dynamics of the family. The setting is between the years 1989-1998. As stated above, this is an African-American family that lives in an urban town in Mississippi. In some African-American families important things are not always discussed. It is as if the method of dealing with an issue, is actually not addressing the matter at all. This creates a heavy elephant in the room. I believe that is a coping method for the family. If the family were to address the issues at hand, it would require someone or several people to admit fault. Admitting fault in some families, can be worse that not acknowledging the problem. A therapist would have more success with the client if they take these factors into Being that we are starting with Kerrie as a young girl, I would ask open ended questions that are relatable to the age targeted. For example: Kerrie, tell me about a time where you experienced your immediate family happy? In asking this question, we are opening a window for continuous communication. The way that Kerrie responds helps me to formulate which direction to continue. After speaking in a few sessions with Kerrie I would hope that we are in a comfortable place. We can start identifying barriers and create a plan to work through them. We would deal with everything that has been laid out one step at a time. Kerrie was fortunate to live in a home where her father was present. He did not always make the best decisions but he was present and as we see in the film, he loved her. They spent quality time together working on cars. There is a positive balance of paternal love in her life. I would help her see the value in having her father in her life. She would use her experience with her father to understand that great men do exist and not everyone will hurt
According to Napier and Whitaker (1978), In the Brice family, many problems were resolved since they decided to go on to therapy; however, the main problem that the therapists have not been able to solve was to convince the
Mental health counselors must first assess the family’s problems. Assessment begins with a history of the presenting problem, which includes making notes of exact dates and checking them for their relationship to events in the extended family, becoming aware of the history of the family, including the history of the parents’ courtship, their marriage, and childrearing years (et, al., 2017, p77). The counselor must be aware of where the family has lived, the history of the spouse’s births, sibling positions, and significant parts of their childhood history, and the functionality of their parents, which should be recorded in a genogram covering at least 3 generations (et, al., 2017, p77). The mental health counselor also must always practice confidentiality, and cultural competence in dealing with
Aisha was in a situation where she could not go back to school because of an outstanding bill. But now she is back in school. She did not let a situation keep her down. As for her sister, Alisha, She is trying to be the mother to her child that she wish she had in her life. Limitations for Aisha would be that she has to work and full time and go to school. That is a big struggle but is possible. Alisha is a young mother. And being a young mother is never easy. There is many struggles that comes along with being a young mother. You do not completely have yourself together and you have to take care of a
Sister’s perspective is very self-centered and designed to manipulate the reader for selfish purposes. When the story first begins, Sister is trying to get the reader to see that “Of course [she] went with Mr., Whitaker first…and Stella Rondo broke [them up].” Sister wants the readers to know this piece of information so we will think she is a victim in the story. This is a way of getting us, the readers, on “her side” so we will begin to think like her and dislike the person or people that she dislikes.
As if that wasn't enough tragedy for the family already, two of her sisters died
Looking at recent publications, one has the impression that family therapy is a new concoction from the psychotherapist's alchemic kitchen. It is met with diverse reactions. Some regard it suspiciously, seeing it as a deviation from traditional therapeutic methods; others praise it as an important advance in the treatment of psychoses. Still others view it as a special method for dealing with children.
Napier provides a crucial exploration of the therapy of a family struggling with battles for the structure of their family and battles to define and grow their relationships with one another. Napier and Whitaker seamlessly and purposely work with each family member, educating and
Looking back on the death of Larissa’s son, Zebedee Breeze, Lorraine examines Larissa’s response to the passing of her child. Lorraine says, “I never saw her cry that day or any other. She never mentioned her sons.” (Senior 311). This statement from Lorraine shows how even though Larissa was devastated by the news of her son’s passing, she had to keep going. Women in Larissa’s position did not have the luxury of stopping everything to grieve. While someone in Lorraine’s position could take time to grieve and recover from the loss of a loved one, Larissa was expected to keep working despite the grief she felt. One of the saddest things about Zebedee’s passing, was that Larissa had to leave him and was not able to stay with her family because she had to take care of other families. Not only did Larissa have the strength to move on and keep working after her son’s passing, Larissa and other women like her also had no choice but to leave their families in order to find a way to support them. As a child, Lorraine did not understand the strength Larissa must have had to leave her family to take care of someone else’s
The specific situation I will talk about is towards the end of the film, Mae Mobley watched as Elizabeth (her biological mother) fires Aibileen, who was practically her only mother figure since the maids did most of the parenting during this time frame. A similar plot happened with Skeeter. Her mother also fired their maid, Constantine, who raised Skeeter as a young girl. This can be very traumatic especially to younger children because to the kids it was just like
Although single parenthood is on the rise in homes today, children still often have a father role in their life. It does not matter who the part is filled by: a father, uncle, older brother, grandfather, etc...; in almost all cases, those relationships between the father (figure) and child have lasting impacts on the youth the rest of their lives. In “I Wanted to Share My Father’s World,” Jimmy Carter tells the audience no matter the situation with a father, hold onto every moment.
The main psychological impacts were self-stigma, increased stress, and depression. Self-stigma occurs when the family members except mental illness stereotypes to be true. When self-stigma occurs caregivers tend to feel embarrassed about the person’s mental illness, feel as though they are looked down on because a family member has a mental illness, and feel the need to be hide it in order to have people continue to treat the family the same (Girma,Dehning, Mueller, Tesfaye, Froeschl, Moller-Leimkuhler , 2014). In the movie the little sister Ellen and primary caregiver Gilbert are the most effected by the self-stigma. The most predominant ...
The sister's fights are usually underlined with their desires to make each other into better people. The sisters are connected by their pursuit a better life causing them to push each other towards their goals. When Emily gets herself
The client stated that she came to therapy because she has been feeling really lonely and feeling as though that she is not enough since the death of her father. After the death of her father, her mother did not pay her any attention; she understood that her mother was grieving, especially when her grandfather passed a year later. I stated that the frequent death that surrounded her mother, seem to have caused her mother to distance herself from her. She responded “yes, and it even gotten worse when my mom started to date and eventually marry my stepfather”. She mentioned that once her little sister was born, she became jealous and envious. I emphasized with her by stating that she must have felt as though her little sister was going to take the attention that she sought from her mother. After confirming that her mother paid more attention to her sister and stepfather, she mentioned that during this time she began to cut herself in places that no one would notice. The pain did not take the feeling away, but she wanted to know that if she could still feel pain after the thought of losing everything. However, the only person who paid her any attention during this time, was her grandmother. Her grandmother showed her the love that her mother nor “father figure” never showed her. I stated, “the love that your grandmother showed was not the love you were
Wimberly, E.P. (1997). Counseling African American marriages and families [Electronic Version]. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
I would start off by saying: my dearest Kayla, there are some very important things i've learned over the years that i'd like to let you know. First off everything that seems imp...