Ms

"Ordinary People" is a remarkable story about one family's coping with the death of the family member (the oldest son). The movie brilliantly shows each family member's personal struggles, and how these struggles interact, and affect other people in the family.

The depressive symptoms of the younger brother, Conrad, fit the DSM-IV definition for major depressive episode. We can certainly notice that his symptoms affect his day-to-day activities, and persist for at least 5.5 months (most likely more).We see him being depressed, agitated, guilty, having difficulties concentrating at school, having thoughts about committing suicide.

The potential sources of conflict that attribute to or exacerbate Conrad's depression can be divided into three separate groups of factors that interact with each other: interpersonal (interactions between parents, and between parents and Conrad) cognitive (within Conrad), and external (Buck's death, and later Karen's).

The depression, without a doubt, is a very complex problem, and is a result of multiple factors interacting with each other. As a result, it cannot be explained by one particular theory, but rather the combination of theories should be applied, which can help evaluate the potential causes (or contributory factors) of depression at different "levels": for example, cognitive and interpersonal.

I would like to start with Conrad's family. For most people family is a very important factor in establishing one's self-worth, personal style of behavior, and relationship with the outside world. Most of the time parents provide behavior guidelines, as well as model the appropriate behavior, such as ways of dealing with stress. They also provide moral support, and warm, loving environment that would provide a safe base to return to in case life unexpectedly throws one a curve ball.

In Conrad's case, unfortunately, interactions within the family (especially with his mother) became a source of great distress, and if anything, contributed to his depression.

Manuchin family systemic model, in my opinion, is one of the best models for evaluating Conrad's family dynamics as a contributory cause of Conrad's depression.

According to Manuchin, family is a dynamic whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, and in Conrad's situation it could not be truer. There are two family subsystems: marital (Calvin and Beth), and parent-child (Calvin and Conrad, Beth and Conrad). According to Manuchin model there are several problems in this family system that could potentially contribute to Conrad's problems.

The first thing that caught my eye was a problem with the boundaries between Conrad and his mother: they are overly rigid. They are neither permeable, nor adaptable. We see Conrad desperately trying to reach across, and establish at least some kind of an emotional connection with his mother, who is constantly trying to distance herself from Conrad even further. She is excluding him from all family activities (for example, she insists on going away without Conrad), and interrupting all Conrad's attempts at any meaningful conversation beyond superficial "clean your closet" or "the fish is not too dry I hope". Beth's coldness deeply affects Conrad, and we see him giving up, and trying to convince himself that all mothers are like that: "What do people have in common with their mothers? It's all a surface junk anyway."

There is also evidence of "detouring-attacking". Beth, unable to cope with Buck's death, makes Conrad the sole problem. Conrad represents Buck's death to her. His presence is a constant reminder of the son that she has lost. These memories bring out very strong emotions

in her she cannot control, and that scares her. She doesn't have the strength to deal with these

overwhelming emotions, so she gets angry at Conrad instead, and blames him for provoking

her, and hurting her on purpose. As a result, he is the one who is viewed as troublesome, and

he is the one who has to see a doctor. In conversation with her mother Beth says: "I don't think people like being with him, he provokes people", but she is the only one he unwillingly provokes by reminding her of what happened.

Of course, the family problems are not limited to the parent-child relationship; there are problems within marital subsystem as well: there is no true intimacy, no true emotional connection. Beth never talks about things that truly bother Calvin (Buck, for example), consequently there is no unity because they work towards different goals. Calvin wants to let everything out in the open, talk about what's bothering everyone. He wants to start healing together by remembering the good stuff, and concentrating on what they still have. Beth, on the other hand, is constantly trying to get away, forget everything, and remove from her surroundings anything that can trigger the memories of Buck (Conrad, for example). Her approach to coping with stress can be best described as "out of sight, out of mind".

As a result, family becomes a prison rather than refuge for Conrad. His mother's coldness intensifies his feelings of guilt, isolation, and helplessness. She denies him any moral support, and opportunity to feel connected, and loved -something he so desperately needs. Beth represents what Baumrin would call a neglectful parent: she is an uninvolved and self centered.

Another source of Conrad's problems hides in himself, his cognition. This cognitive aspect of his depression, in my opinion, can be best described by Beck's theory of depression.

According to Beck, depression results from negative views of self, world, and the future, and we see a lot of evidence of that throughout the movie.