Social Issues

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Class XXXX, Section XXXX, Spring 2012

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STUDY

Conrad Jarret is a seventeen-year-old male of Caucasian ethnicity. He's a senior at school, lives with his parents - Calvin, assumingly, in his mid-forties and his mother Beth, approximately of the same age as her husband.

Conrad's appearance seems to correspond to his inner state - although his attire is generally clean, altogether it doesn't seem neat, he's not paying due attention to this matter, even not noticing a hole on his sleeve. Being an athlete, his appearance is appropriate but still his posture looks stooped and his movements constrained. Any relevant physical illnesses haven't been stated. At first his communication style is passive - Conrad seems to interact with others plainly, without any obvious peculiarities which demonstrate lack of emotional expression, but during the period of his treatment this deficit is being eliminated. There was an episode of Conrad representing an aggressive style of communication by getting into the fight. Supposedly, this incident took place because of a long period of self-restraining so that the first mentioned style is a prevailing one at his behavioural line. Conrad's intelligence abilities are not widely discussed but it was mentioned that before a suicidal attempt, Conrad had been an easy-A so this gives us an opportunity to evaluate his intelligence highly. Psychological functioning is unstable which is proved by his recent suicidal attempt and repeated bursts of anger which can be observed over a period of the movie (the first one is making a family photograph, the second - having an argument with his mother and later getting into the fight). Conrad himself doesn't have any source of proceedings but referring to the fact that his father is a lawyer and taking into consideration lifestyle of their family (regular Europe trips) and above the average housing, it can be said that economic situation is stable and Conrad is well provided for. His lifestyle is pretty ordinary as for a teenager (he attends school and a swimming section), except for the fact that several months ago he took a course of treatment at the mental hospital. His neighbourhood is a real idyll for any conventional family - with all modern conveniences, accessibility to all necessary services and low crime level.

At the first view Conrad's family seems quite ordinary, with his parents happily married for several decades but extrinsically it's greatly disunited because of Conrad's brother Buck's death. That's the reason why it's hard for our protagonist to get on with his parents, specially mother. It seems to him that his mother has never loved him as she loved her passed away son Buck. Anyway, despite the fact that he doesn't get into clashes with his dad, their relationships are only surface. Conrad's mother refuses to face any problems while his father tries to understand what's going on with Conrad. Other family members figure in the movie once - these are Conrad's grandparents, but according to the fact that they witnessed his fight with Beth and didn't intervene in this disagreement anyhow, makes them unessential for the view of the problem. What can be relevant to Conrad's problem concerning his parents' relationships is that they cannot arrive at mutual consent about how to treat Conrad. Calvin's attitude is indulgent while Beth's is totally indifferent which becomes an apple of discord for two of them.

Conrad gets into a strong emotional attachment with his schoolmate Jeanine. She becomes the first and an only person who's interested in the way what was that suicide attempt like and besides doesn't shun him.

He doesn't seem to be involved into any of school business and his reputation as of an achiever is long in the past. As it was noticed by his coach, he's a "bright kid" but obviously underusing his potential. He's suffering low self-esteem and eve having been a communicative person, Conrad is now a recluse avoiding social contacts.

An important figure in Conrad's life is Doctor Berger who helps him to cope with his psychological issues. Although at first he doesn't treat him as a trustworthy person, later on Bergman becomes his friend. Conrad is not involved in miscellaneous leisure activities, actually, gives up the only thing he's been into - swimming, explaining it with arguments that he didn't want to do it at all. Religious matters are not brought up in the film as only once Conrad mentions that he doesn't believe in God, so there is any religious affiliation.

There is a suicidal attempt mentioning in his medical record which was treated with electroshock. Afterwards any alcohol/drugs use hasn't been stated, he's not taking any medication as well. The same thing concerns legal issues.

At first Conrad didn't want to refer to the doctor at all, the initiative of his referral was mainly on his father but because of insomnia caused by repeated dream which presents the scene of the storm which his brother died in, he decided to get some help. He formulated the problem as lack of control (withholding information about those dreams at first) and the necessity of eliminating this problem for people not to worry about him. While explaining his understanding of the problem at the first session, he sounds quite unconfident and uncertain, failing to present any of its causes but the consequence as he perceives it, is over-agitation of his social milieu.

ASSESSMENT

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach and one that can be used in PTSD treatment (altogether with exposure therapy, cognitive therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)) and includes exposure-based approaches, anxiety management, stress inoculation training, and combinations of these techniques. Furthermore, CBT is very helpful for the therapist with interpretations of personal dynamics and this corresponds to the practical model for treating patients.

Exposure consists of a range of methods developed to assist patients in facing situations they are afraid of and stay involved into it for the treating process to be effective. CBT is based on the idea of our thoughts to be connected with our emotional states and