Posted: December 25th, 2023

Stress and Anxiety; Precious

Attached I have highlighted the T.V. and Movies that I know so please use one of them.

Locate a movie, television series, or streaming series that portrays a character with an anxiety, stress, or phobia disorder (For example, characters from the movies: The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio, What About Bob? With Bill Murray, The Truman Show Jim Carrey, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? Leonardo DiCaprio or Analyze That with Robert De Niro or TV shows: The Big Bang Theory with any character, Monk with Tony Shalhoub or streaming series: This Is Us with Sterling K. Brown, Scrubs with any character, or One Day at a Time (2017) with Justina Machado).

In an essay of 1,000-1,250 words, address the following:

1. How is stress related to the disorder displayed by the character you chose (anxiety, stress, or phobia disorder)?
2. What are some of the irrational or abnormal beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors the characters displayed, and how did they manifest?
3. Using current DSM diagnostic codes, what is a possible diagnosis for your character?
4. What psychological model best explains the cause of the symptoms/behaviors? Based on this model, explain a possible treatment plan, including some ways the character can modify the stress and reduce anxiety (cope)?

Use the Library databases and include two to four scholarly sources from the GCU library to support your claims. In addition to the scholarly resources from the library, you can include past classroom materials, your textbook, and credible internet-based sources (.org, .edu, .mil, .gov).

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the Help write my thesis – APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
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Stress and Anxiety; Precious

Name of Student
Institutional Affiliation
Date

Introduction
Precious is a film set in 1987 whose recurring theme is on the psychology around child abuse. The main character, Precious, undergoes physical, verbal, and psychological abuse. Her father sexually abuses her and impregnates her twice. Her mother is fully aware of this abuse but blames precious for stealing her man from her. Precious is also overweight and is ridiculed at school. This affects her as she can barely read or write. Often, she escapes from her depressed state by imagining a life where she is a super-star. She also keeps to herself and only speaks when necessary. Eventually, she transfers to another school, where she meets a nice teacher who gives her supports and shows her a new dimension to life. Also, Ms. Weiss from social welfare supports her in a bid to start a new life. Precious is a depressed 16-year-old batting depression and anxiety.
Stress and Anxiety; Relationship and Manifestation
Sexual abuse is an underlying factor for anxiety disorder (Maniglio, 2013). Child sexual abuse has a direct link with anxiety disorders, as observed in the survivors. Sexual abuse and domestic violence experienced especially in early childhood can have dire consequences, especially on the victim. Often it can manifest itself in the form of panic or phobias. Such experiences inform how the child will view and even react to external stimuli like peers at school. Violent experiences lead them to mistrust people around them, be resentful, angry, and lonely. It is worse when a perpetrator is a person well known to the victim, her supposed father. Her mother, who is supposed to protect her, abuses her verbally and physically instead. If one cannot trust their parents who are known to them, how can they trust strangers in the vast world? Research shows that inter-personal and psychological problems are more common in people with an abusive childhood than those who have never experienced such (Briere & Elliott,1994).
Posttraumatic stress can result from events as distressing as child abuse. The victim’s responses can be relevant in diagnosing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Poor concentration in class can be a good indication. Despite being a student, Precious was generally illiterate. She passed in Mathematics and enjoyed doing it, but reading and writing was a challenge. This can be attributed to PTSD. Also, she becomes aggressive towards her teacher, who tries to help her. Her attitude towards her mom is cold. She wishes to have her TV to avoid the company of her mom when watching shows. Eventually, she refuses to go back home to her mother. This attitude and response may also have been informed by the cognitive distortion that followed her victimization. Not her mother or society stood with her.
The life of Precious particularly was characterized by depression and anxiety. She is first raped at the age of three, at such a fundamental stage of growth. Her overweight body did not help as it attracted ridicule at school. Early pregnancy is also treated with contempt, which generates shame. This is a ripe recipe for anxiety. She responds aggressively towards her teacher, who is only trying to help her. The anxiety she suffered was brought about by the stress experienced from home. It affected her social life as she could not interact well with her peers at school and even faced ridicule outside school from the community. She has a skewed image of herself, which lowers the quality of the life she is living.
Diagnosis of Mental Disorders
Anxiety disorders, F 309, are manifest in Precious to the extent that her social life is adversely affected. It includes selective mutism, whereby children find it difficult to communicate with other children, especially in a school setup. Feelings of anger have also been attributed to victims of sexual abuse, which are often manifested in behavioral problems. It is especially worse if the victims have dysfunctional families like that of Precious.
Trauma and stress-related disorders can be occasioned by sexual abuse or serious injuries. She experiences violence in her home, which comes with anxiety and depression. When offered help, Precious says, ‘please don’t love me’ (Precious,2005). She feels worthless and underserving of love. This is trauma-related as she is tearful as she says this. Somehow she wants a light-skinned handsome man to love her; yet again, she feels unworthy of being loved. She feels very hopeless at some point, yet she also imagines herself as an award winning super-star. Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders, F43.21 can be said to be why she has experienced these for longer than six months. If anything, her entire life has been traumatic.
Social Communication Disorder, F80.82, manifests that at her age, 16 years, Precious cannot read or write. Communication is done through the use of speech and language, which includes written speech. Deficiencies of proper communication in the social aspect cab are manifestations of this disorder. Precious is unable to engage socially with her peers at school, which results in her getting ridiculed. Also, some men accuse her of not giving them attention, resulting from this disorder. This disorder can also be signaled by little interest in social relations and poor reading and writing skills.
Language Disorder, F80-9, is in a code tree whose disorders include; expressive language disorder and developmental disorders in language and speech. At 16 years, Precious is still in junior high and finds it difficult to communicate her feelings. Precious could talk, but she rarely did so. It is not that her words were not grammatically correct but that she could not read for her age. She also could not hold a decent conversation, which affected her social interaction.

Bio-Psycho-Social Model of Illness
A behavior is considered a disorder if it becomes extreme, unusual, or causes the doer to be deviant. The Bio in this model looks at the person’s body and how it contributes to the disorder. Precious is overweight, which has attracted ridicule resulting in anxiety disorders. It could be from her genetic make-up since her mother is big and her dietary habits. The Psycho looks at the mind of the patient. Precious feels unloved, unworthy of love, and hopeless. The social bit now looks at other stimuli like abuse, society, school, and family. Before Precious moves to a new school, she has no one to support her and is alienated everywhere.
Psychological Therapy
Some disorders are a result of psychological issues that call for psychological solutions. Hers was not an intellectual disability but a psychological issue. Psychological therapy aims at restoring hope and finding meaning in life. It may also be accompanied by social processes whereby one finds their social role. Precious is alienated socially and often feels hopeless. She has dreams which if encouraged and her hope restored, she can achieve. Super-stars are hardly rejected in society unless they are weirdly deviant. She has already moved away from her mother, who triggers some of the diagnosed disorders, healthy for her and will reduce the traumatic experience.

References
Briere, J., & Elliott, D. (1994). Immediate and Long-Term Impacts of Child Sexual Abuse. The Future of Children, 4(2), 54-69. doi:10.2307/1602523.
Maniglio, R. (2013). Child Sexual Abuse in the Etiology of Anxiety Disorders: A Systematic Review of Reviews. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 14(2), 96-112. doi:10.2307/26638305.
Daniels, L. (2009). Precious. Lionsgate.

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