Never Talk to Strangers, "Disasociative Personality Disorder"

This movie begins with Criminal Psychologist, “Sarah” played by Rebecca DeMornay, interviewing a rapist who is serving time in prison for his crimes. It is suggested later in the movie that Sarah’s father had raped her several times during her child hood. Later, Sarah meets Banderas in a shopping mall and gives him her phone number. The two begin a hot, steamy relationship as she avoids the advances of her neighbor. Several days pass in the relationship when Sarah begins to receive death threats and strange gifts. Some of the gifts include rotten eggs and dead flowers. The gifts become more and more disturbing as she gets more involved with Banderas; finally, she receives a large box as a gift and she opens it to find her life long cat, cut in to tiny pieces. After this incident, a terrified Sarah hires a detective to catch her stalker. The detective soon discovers that Sarah is her own stalker and shows her a video documenting her killing her own cat and mailing herself some of the other disturbing gifts. Sarah has no memory of her criminal actions but the video sends her over the edge and she kills the detective as well as her father. The movie also suggests that she has killed lovers in the past and at the end of the movie she begins a relationship with the neighbor. After the viewer is made aware of the two distinct personalities we are shown that each of them is very different from one another; One is strong and ruthless and the other down to earth and caring. Based on the evidence it is indicated that Sarah suffered from Disociative Identity Disorder.

Dissociative Identity Disorder ( DID) formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder covered in Chapter 12 on pages 472 and 473, is a psychiatric disorder that describes a condition where a single person displays multiple, distinct, different personalities. Each personality is an individual and has its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with its surroundings. Each personality of a person suffering from DID has its own memories, wishes,way of speaking and behaving; each identity is a unique personality. At least two personalities must take control of the person as well as display memory loss concerning what the other personality has done in order to make a definite diagnosis. Symptoms must not be caused by substance abuse or biological medical condition. Doctors believe that this disorder develops as a way to repress unbearable impulses, unbearable memories. Most people suffering from DID are victims of severe and unavoidable abuse as children. Sufferers also seem to be skilled at self hypnosis and can induce a trance like state. Most people with DID found that they could escape the trauma of abuse by subconsciously creating separate and safe personalities to deal with stress and unwanted memories.

I chose this Movie because I find this to be an interesting and fascinating topic that exemplifies the power of the human brain.

The Yellow Wallpaper, "Depression and Disorganized Schizophrenia"

In the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” written in 1892 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, we are given a glimpse of a woman in her darkest hours as we journey with her from simple depression to Psychosis. This story is about a woman named Jane who, after having her first child is mis-diagnosed with “Nervous Depression.” Her husband is a Doctor and in order to help her, he moves the family, along with his sister and a nanny, to a rented estate in the country. Once there, he prescribes complete bed rest for his wife and she is forbidden from working at anything or writing in her journal. In spite of her protest, Jane isn’t allowed to participate in any sort of activity that provides her with pleasure or occupies her mind. She is confined to a room papered with wallpaper that is an awful color of yellow and has an odd pattern. Jane is irritated with the wall paper but eventually begins to believe that she sees the form of a woman trapped behind it. As Jane becomes more anxious and depressed, the wallpaper provides her with her only source of stimulation. As the days progress she becomes more convinced that she can see a woman being held captive behind the wall paper; she believes that she can smell the paper through out the house. As Jane’s health improves, her interest in the wall paper deepens,

At certain times she displays an in appropriate response to situations. For instance, Jane laughs when there is a “miss-hap” in the dinning room concerning her Mother – in-law. When Jane learns that she will be leaving the house in two days, she decides to peel off the wallpaper to allow the women to escape. At night, Jane attempt to help the women behind the wall paper by peeling it ½ ways off all around the room. The next day, Jane locks herself in her room and tried to free the woman completely by tearing all of the wall paper from the room, she is terrible upset by the shrieks of the woman trapped behind the paper and tries to commit suicide to escape the maddening noise. When the bared windows prevent this from happening she gives in to her psychosis all together and begins creeping around the room in the piles of wall paper on the floor, convinced that she is inside of the paper.

Jane was unfortunate to be born in an era when women were dictated to and had little to say about their own welfare. Jane began to suffer from slight postpartum depression that, because of faulty care prescribed by her husband, developed in to "Disorganized Schizophrenia." Page 474 of Chapter 12, discusses depressive disorders. These disorders are described as the victim having lack of interest in activities and relationships for months and taking pleasure in nothing. These feelings are compounded by exaggerated feelings of inadequacy, worthlessness and hopelessness or guilt. Based on this description, I don’t believe that Jane suffered from a major depressive disorder because she still wanted to write and enjoyed the garden. When these things were taken from her and replaced with nothing, she began to turn her inquisitive and creative mind on the wallpaper that she was forced to look at day in and day out. Instead, I believe that Jane, after giving birth to her first child, suffered slight depression brought on by changing hormones, changes in blood pressure and metabolism leading to mood swings and fatigue. It is also possible that Jane was sleep deprived and overwhelmed with her new responsibility. When her husband refused to allow her to seek respite in one of the only things that she could escape in, her writing, she began to feel guilty about her condition and thought she to be inferior in all ways, especially to that of her sister in law, who seemed to be so perfect. Imprisoned in her room she began to experience hallucinations (page 461) she heard shrieks or voices calling to her. She was also experiencing hallucinations when she believed that she could “smell” the wallpaper through out the house, or saw women crawling about the grounds out side of her window. Jane had developed Disorganized Schizophrenia. (482, chapter 12) Victims suffer delusions, Hallucinations, Incoherent speech, neglect personal hygiene, and have inappropriate laughter or giggling. I chose this article because I want to educate people about the dangers of being mis-diagnosed and the need to assume ownership of ones own care plan. It is important to be educated on the issues in order to make informed decision and to act of these decision when ever possible.

Slaying Shatters Love Story, The Herald, "Motive"

Tired, frustrated and unable to face the remaining years of his life alone, Gustave Hartner made the decision to shoot his wife, execution style, in the back of the head. After performing this gruesome task, Hartner attempted to take his own life by ingesting an overdose of pills and alerting a neighbor for help. Gustov Hartner, age 73, was the main caregiver for his wife, 90 year old Mildred Harnter. According to the article that appeared in The Herald on Friday, November 21, reporter Tonya Graham describes a man who was attentive to his wife’s every need. Neighbors said that daily Gustave would go through the routine of tenderly dressing his wife and applying makeup to her face. It appears from the article that the 90 year old Mrs. Hartner suffered from some sort of dementia and was unable to care for herself. Tired and frustrated, Gustave had placed his wife in a nursing home several times but, unable to face life with out her, he would always bring her back home. The two of them would have moved to an assisted living facility together but no double rooms were available. Neighbors said that, in spite of suicide threats and threats against his wife six months earlier that Mr. Hartner loved his wife and that she was everything to him. One witness reports that the elderly gentleman would cry when talking about his wife stating that he couldn’t go on with out her.

I chose this article because I was fascinated by the possible motivation behind Mr. Gustave Hartner’s actions. What were Mr. Hartners sources of Motivation? According to chapter 8, page 298, Human Motivations stems from 4 main sources: Biological factors such as such as the need for food and water; emotional factors such as fear, panic, love; cognitive motivators such as a persons perceptions of the world concerning beliefs on what they can do, and finially motivation can stem from social factors such as the influence of others. There is no doubt that Mr. Hartner had at least 3 of these motivators when executing his wife. Fear, love, dread, his inability to care for his wife or to live with out her (what he could or could not do) and his biological need for sleep.

It is apparent, based on eyewitness accounts, that Hartner loved his wife very much, and that over the past few months, he had been tired, frustrated, conflicted, helpless and depressed. I have had years of experience with people suffering from Dementia and know the turmoil that this condition places on families, especially a spouse. Often times the healthier spouse of a loved one suffering from dementia feels trapped and has an overwhelming sense of doom. They can not physically take care of the ailing spouse nor can they live without them. Knowing that the end of their lives are close at hand and that the condition will only get worse, over 93% experience deep depression and suicidal thoughts. This was Mr. Hartners motivation when he shot his wife, execution style in the back of the head and then tried to kill himself. In my opinion Hartner called for neighbors before passing out from the overdose he had taken because he didn’t want he and his wife’s bodies to lie unattended. Based on his actions, he believed that he would be dead before help could save them. I chose this article because I believe that everyone has the right to live and die with dignity, understanding of this basic human need is important for all of us to master if we are to treat our elders with the respect they deserve.

My Secret Struggle, People Magazine, 2003 " Bulemia"

Katherine McPhee has been struggling with Bulimia since she was 17 years old. She began to binge and purge when she was a junior in High school; it was how she dealt with stressful situations and uncomfortable emotions. In the article McPhee claims that she would over eat to hide any pain that she didn’t want to feel and then Binge out of guilt over her actions and in order to remain thin. McPhee claims that she used food as a drug and that she was addicted to it. She hid her eating disorder for about 6 months when she finally couldn’t take it any longer and confided in her mother. After her confession she immediately began seeing therapist, dieticians and attending support groups. Treatment worked for a while but she would always have a relapse and have to begin over again. When McPhee auditioned for and earned a spot on American Idol she was on her way to destroying her vocal cords all together. McPhee decided to seek help before returning to Los Angeles in December. McPhee entered a program where she would spend three months undergoing intense individual therapy. McPhee kept her condition a secret from the “Idol” judges and contestants but confided in her producers. During the competition, she saw therapist 3 times a week and hasn’t binged since becoming an idol. Katherine McPhee won runner up for American Idol and has released an album.

Bulimia is a psychological disorder that affects over 4 million people each year. (Covered in Chapter 8 beginning on page 305) Although males can be affected as well, this disorder normally affects females. Eating disorders covered in chapter 8, describes Bulimia Nervosa as a disorder that “involves eating huge amounts of food and then getting rid of the food through self-induced vomiting or strong laxatives. These “binge-purge episodes may occur as often as twice a day.” “ People who suffer with bulimia may eat several boxes of cookies, a half gallon of ice cream and a bucket of chicken”(page 307) Like Anorexia, bulimia involves an intense fear of being fat but the person may be thin or over weight as actual body image is distorted by the disease. But more often than not the condition will involve more intense psychological problems such as low self esteem, stress, preoccupation with being thin and depression to name a few. Treatment for Bulimia can include individual or group psychotherapy as well as antidepressant drugs. The object of treatment is to help the Bulimic person to eat more normally as well as cope with any underlying problems at the root of the Bulimia.

The Transformer, Psychology Today, "Transgender Disorder"

Psychology today recently published an article entitled “The Transformer,” by Matthew Hutson. In this article Hutson interviews Calpernia Addams, a transsexual who was born as a man but who underwent a complete sex change operation in order to become a woman. Addams was born as a male in to a Christian cult. Raised in a strict family, Addams was never allowed to watch movies or Television and never listened to modern music; In fact, his parents never saved money for his college and discouraged him from attending because they believed attending would lead him away from God. Desperate to find himself, he joined the Navy where he served 4 years as a combat field medical specialist in the first gulf war. During his time in the military he met a group of lesbians who took him under their wings and helped him decide that he was gay. After leaving the Navy, Addams became a show girl and began dating a local soldier who was murdered for his affiliation with the dancer. Determined to honor his memory, Addams became an activist for Trans -gender women and currently host a dating show on the LOGO channel.

I believe that Calpernia Addams suffers from Tran-sexual Gender Disorder. (Chapter 8, pages 310 through 313) Although Homosexuality is no longer considered to be a psychological disorder, there is still a great deal of mystery surrounding this phenomena and debate still continues concerning the cause. Anonymous studies have found that between 2 and 21 % of all people in the United States are either homosexual or bisexual. Homosexuality may be more rooted in biology than in environment as once thought. At the time of birth, the organizing effects of the brain occur and it is during this time that certain brain areas are sculpted in to a male or female like pattern. Studies show that the area of the brain known as the BnST (Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis) may be larger in male identified men than in transsexuals. This, coupled with circumstances in upbringing may explain the phenomenon of homosexuality. I chose this topic for this project because I believe it is important for people to be more sensitive to those who are different than themselves. I was appalled that a service man was killed because of his sexual orientation and education is the key to preventing this from happening.

Monk, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

The television show, “Monk,” is about a brilliant ex police officer turned “Super Sleuth” because he is rendered emotionally unfit to serve on the police department after his wife is unexpectedly murdered in a brutal car bomb. Set in the city by the bay, “San Francisco,” Adrian Monk solves crimes that stump his colleagues on the force with unbelievable accuracy. Monk has dozens of phobias and emotional problems including an acute case of OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Monk is so debilitated by this disorder that he has to have a personal assistant with him almost all of the time in order to function in everyday society.

Obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD, covered in Chapter 12 on pg 468, is basically a disorder rooted in Anxiety. People with OCD have unwanted, and often upsetting, thoughts that, many times, focus on some sort of calamity that hasn’t yet occurred. This is the obsession part of the disorder. People who suffer from this disorder can not stop their unwanted reoccurring thoughts. A person suffering from OCD often experience concerning suicide, illnesses, germs and causing others pain. The person suffering form OCD rarely act on them, these thoughts drive the affected person to alleviate the anxiety caused by these thoughts by performing repetitive behaviors such as hand washing or touching poles and in extreme cases, cutting their selves.; these actions are called compulsions. This debilitating order can be devastating to the person suffering from it as well their family. Those not suffering from the disorder often find it impossible to “deal” with the actions of the OCD sufferer and as a result these people can live a very lonely life. I choose this as one of my topics because I think it is important for people to understand this disorder and thus the people suffering from it.