Child Psych Thought Paper

Based on Conrad’s character in the movie, he could be described as having more of an intuitive grieving style. This style of grieving utilizes more of the affective domain and uses little of the cognitive (Martin & Doka, 2011). For the intuitive griever, grief is characterized by the experience of painful feelings. The feelings of guilt and sadness were those that Conrad experienced the most. After

The family consists of the mother Beth, father Calvin, and their son Conrad who are living in the aftermath of the death of the oldest son Buck. Conrad, who has attempted suicide and hospitalized because he inability to overcome grief and misplaced guilt, and therapy as way to feel more in control. Beth on the other hand always favored Buck and does not connect with Conrad. Whereas, the father Calvin is trapped in trying to hold the family together, but those pressures are building and he is coming to realizations of his own.

Regarding psychological functioning, Conrad is under the vicious cycle of depression. His brother’s death led him to adapt a negative explanatory style. This in turn resulted in his depressed mood and cognitive and behavioral changes. He also believes that he has disobeyed his parents and does not deserve their forgiveness or affection (1:09:38). Conrad lives with a sense of guilt, not only for attempting suicide, but for things he had no control over (ex. Karen’s death). From a socio-cultural approach, Conrad depression worsens due to his unstable relationship with his mother, along with other relationships in his life. Throughout the movie, we clearly see that Conrad’s mother does not understand the severity of Conrad’s mental state. She frequently believes that Conrad is fine and wants their lives to ‘get back to normal’ (0:24:37). She believes Conrad’s mental health is a phase that can be fixed by simply being harder on him. The movie also takes place in a time where discussing mental health is taboo. Mental illness was significantly less common and thought to be a touchy subject. Throughout the movie, we can see that people do not know how to approach the Jarretts about Conrad’s state and frequently stumble through conversations or do not understand the situation (0:22:14; 0:31:52; 0:48:05). This plays a part in Conrad’s depression because he feels he can’t talk to or relate to anyone

He is definitely feels guilty for the accident even though he couldn't do anything to try and prevent his brother’s death. He definitely went through the bargain stage before everything and is now going through it once again. Conrad is really hard on himself. He punishes himself because he thinks that if he is punished enough, he won't feel bad. Conrad feels guilty and responsible for the death of his brother even though, there is nothing he could have done better to save him. He is similar to his father in that he feels responsible and

The emotional agony that Conrad experienced following the death of his brother almost led to his end. The conflict inside of Conrad is only the beginning of his suffering. The emotions that engulf one's mind can swallow them up and eat them from the inside out. They demand to be felt, but the management of the emotional conflict has been just as important. For example, when the Jannett family is together to take family photos, including the grandparents, the disconnect between Conrad and his mother are clearly visible to the naked eye. After being asked to take a picture with her son, Beth hesitates, violently insisting a different photo to be taken in order to avoid accepting and showing the increasing disconnect between her and her son. Siting and watching, Conrad struggles internally to decode the intentions of the scene depicted in front of him before he burst into an outrage. Initially, Conrad practiced silence in the form of withdrawal. Thus, he situated himself in the isolated window chair. The actions of his mother spoke to him in the sense that she hated him, wishing to have nothing to do with him. The silence remained silent until he burst with rage, projecting the instructions of his father for the camera to be given to his emotionally silent mother. Conrad rested on the assumptions he formed based not only on his mother’s current action, but passed actions as well, to reveal what he

He was used to live in his brother’s shadow, but when the boat accident happened to them, he was the only one to survive. As he was always indentifying himself the less important one, he considered it was wrong that he was the one who would still have a life. As a result of nervous breakdown, he tried to kill himself with cutting his wrists in the bathroom, fortunately his father found out and save him. Then he went to the psychiatric for four months. When he comes back, there are still issues he needs to deal with.

My first assumption of family therapy was to involve the parents and the individual that had the problem. This book explored further what it

First we must look for the root causes of the turmoil in the Jarrett family. The initial crisis was caused by the death of the Jarrett family's older son Buck Jarrett. His death in a sailing accident has left each of the surviving members of the family with their own issues. In response to this

The stages of grief are demonstrated in Conrad’s relationships with his family and friends. Conrad has experienced depression and a suicide attempt in response to his brother’s death. At the beginning of the book, Conrad is going through the first stage of grief, which is shock and denial. Conrad’s father, Cal, worries about Conrad’s mental health and gives him the name of a therapist. However, Conrad does not call him. Cal believes that Conrad, “ ought to stick with the plan --’” (13) However, Conrad “can’t [because he] is swimming every night…[He doesn’t] need to see anybody. [He] feels fine’ (13). Conrad is uncomfortable talking about the death, and seeing a therapist would require him to talk. Conrad is afraid to feel his emotions. He thinks if he just avoids thinking about his brother’s death, he will be okay. The second

The film “Ordinary People” is story about the Jarrett family, an upper middle class family living in the picture perfect suburb of Lake Forest, Illinois. The story begins shortly after the tragic and untimely death of the oldest son, Jordan (also referred to as Buck), who died in a boating accident, that his younger brother Conrad, survived. When a traumatic event such as this occurs some families unite and battle the grief and heartache together, as a unit, while others become emotionally isolated and detached from one another. This is the case for the Jarrett's. The depth of grief that each individual character is suffering is uncovered as the film progresses. This tale is

Berger, "She loved my brother, too.  It's just me"(120).  He concluded that Beth could not love him because there was something wrong with him.  After the big fight that Conrad had with his parents, he revealed to his father his opinion of Beth's feelings for him. Conrad tells him, "All right, then.  She hates me"(114).  Because Conrad felt that there was something wrong with him, he did not know how to react to situations nor did he know when to express his feelings.  For his Christmas present, Conrad's parents and grandparents bought him a car.  His response to this extravagant present was, "Yeah, okay… Thank you both, it's beautiful really.  It's terrific"(126).  He was not overly excited, as one should be, on receiving such an extraordinary gift.  He was not quite sure how to act, so he repressed all of his feelings.  In an early conversation with Berger, Conrad said, "What I'm doing here is that I had to come"(41).  This proves that Conrad was in denial of his psychological state and foreshadows Conrad's severe state of depression.  Conrad repressed all of his feelings and emotions.  He told Berger, "I don't feel anything"(98). Later on in the conversation, Berger told Conrad that the "Only way you're ever gonna get to know him [the guy in the closet] is to let him out now and then."(100)  This alludes to the fact that Conrad repressed his feelings and was extremely depressed.  All of these factors led to

In a conversation with psychiatrist Dr. Berger Conrad is asked who does most of the worrying and he answers "My father, mostly. This is his idea." When asked about his mother he says "She's-I don't know, she's not a worrier." Clearly Conrad thinks that his mother doesn't care about him. Conrad also goes on later to say, "My mother and I do not connect."

Chalk-faced, hair-hacked Conrad seems hell bent on continuing the family myth that all is well in the world. Their initial sessions together frustrate Dr. Berger because of Conrad's inability to express his feelings.

I mean he wasn’t telling me anything I couldn’t figure out for myself. Really, the only one who can help you is you. Well, you and God (Guest 55)”. This demonstrated that Karen was unwilling to receive help; since she had no one to lean on she decided to end her life. Conrad did not give up like Karen did because he got the social support he needed to cope with his grief. The decision Conrad made of continuing to see Dr. Berger was a very smart step because a lot of people like Karen give up, but he kept trying. This helped him avoid extreme measures and was a sign that he was starting to find his identity. Equally important, when Conrad went to Dr. Berger for support after Karen’s death he said this to Dr. Berger after they talked about it, “I don’t know what I would have done if I couldn’t have gotten you this morning. I feel so shaky”(Guest 227). This proved that Dr. Berger did hold Conrad back from not hurting himself, and helped him control his feelings. In short, Dr. Berger helped Conrad avoid suicide, which then gave Conrad the chance to realize he was a stronger person than he thought he was. With this, he found his confident identity at the end of the book, which he would not have gotten without Dr. Berger.

It is not the differentness that worries Conrad but the lurking hint of kinship, of common