Case formulation report # 1: Charlotte John Henahan Chatham University Charlotte is a middle aged, married woman who is seeking counseling for severe depression. Charlotte reports that she has come to counseling at this time because she was fearful of “slipping back into an even deeper depression.” In addition to this fear of slipping into a deeper depression, Charlotte also presents with a multitude of other concerns, such inability to concentrate, poor self-image, sleeplessness, binge eating comfort foods, difficulties with her career, some marital concerns, and a low libido; both in the classical sense of sexual desire and the Freudian sense of a drive for all life instincts. All of these other concerns are most likely symptoms of her “overwhelming depression” which she has now come to counseling to address because she’s fearful it will worsen if she doesn’t get help. The cause for Charlotte’s depression is not immediately clear. Charlotte reports several life events that could be related to her depression.
In her editorial “Restraining orders hurt women,” author Carey Roberts claims, “Restraining orders are not only ineffective, they can also escalate partner conflict.” But how can she support her claim that they are ineffective? Roberts is not looking at the whole story. Although there may be a small number of cases in which her opinion is true, it is impossible to know the number of cases in which restraining orders help those victims who need them. There may be vast numbers of people who have been deterred from physical or mental abuse because they did have fear of the law’s repercussions if they were to violate a restraining order that was taken out against them. There will always be a small number of people who will, regardless of penalty,
The Court in People v. Aris, 215 Cal App 3d 1194, 264 Cal Rptr 167, 178 (1989) stated that "battered women tend to stay in abusive relationships for a number of reasons." Among those reasons: women are still positively reinforced during the honeymoon phase; women tend to be the peacekeepers in relationships - the ones responsible for making the marriage work; adverse economic consequences; it is more dangerous to leave than to stay; prior threats by batterer to kill self, or children; or to abscond with children; lost self-esteem; and no psychological energy to leave - resulting in a learned helplessness or psychological paralysis. "Battered woman syndrome describes a pattern of psychological and behavioral symptoms found in women living in battering relationships." There are four general characteristics of the syndrome: 1. She believes that the violence was her fault.
This documentary showed a live access into female sex workers’ lives. In the three aforementioned countries, all differing in language, culture and peoples, I saw a current reality for many girls and women. Some of the scenes I watched made me very uncomfortable and in some, ignited anger. My anger was directed firstly at men, then in my self-awareness, redirected it toward patriarchy, then again redirected it toward humanity and then, when I was realizing my thoughts were merely adding to the negativity, I realized my discomfort and anger had stemmed from a pain I felt when realizing the loss of consciousness of humanity. The fact that these women are selling their physical bodies as a means to the basic, biological and physiological necessities for any human being, demonstrates the huge imbalance and disrespect for other beings and a disharmonious, and unconscious bunch that we are.
Another reason against abortion is the long term effect it will cause a woman. Abortion can come with psychological side effects. For example, women who’ve had an abortion have later struggled with regret, shame, and depression over the decision they made. Another side effect of abortion are physical. For example, some women after having an abortion have been left infertile.
Wouldn’t that be much more jolly?” (Rama Rau 114). The head mistress’s condescending tone creates tension because it makes the reader feel uncomfortable for the characters. Rama Rau puts this experience in the beginning of the story to set up the tension the reader will feel through out the story. Premila’s mom expresses, “You’re to small to have them. You won’t have them in donkey’s years” (Rama Rau 116).
This image created by the media can have many negative effects to the body image of women by leading extreme vanity and obsession with being perfect, major insecurity and depression, and even eating disorders. The negative pull of body image the media has on a female can impact negatively both physically and mentally. It seems that the Medias prime message to women is that beauty is everything. Essentially it seems like almost every advertisement for women all have an element of beauty in it, with 50% of commercials aimed at women mention physical attractiveness. The media scrutinizes against females that do not meet their standards, and try's to sell us the idea that happiness is found in being beautiful in their standards.
Images portrayed by the media tend to make people strive to be someone else's idea of perfect, while ignoring their own goals. The media influences us through television, health magazines, fashion, music videos, film, commercials, and various other advertisements. Sadly, as a result, this frequent exposure, the "thin" ideal, can lead many young girls in triggering depression, stress, low self-esteem, and suicide. The media's ideal body image has led to wide-ranging effects including, surgical procedures, body dissatisfaction, and clinical eating disorders. In “Body Image of Women” by Tabitha Farrar, she points out that the “thin-ideal media” concept highlights thinness as a desirable thing to be even if it comes to the point of damaging a person’s health.
It is collectively an insight of how social media can be so sickening to young adults, while it covers both genders, it it generally focused on women seeing as “it is women’s bodies, rather than any other attributes, which appear to make them worthy of being represented” (206). That quote alone just show how much the female body is of importance in succeeding in this world, and just how fragile it can become due to eating disorders. Media is very negative when it comes to girls of all ages loving themselves, by simply telling them their bodies aren’t beautiful. Which is what Maggie Wykes and Barrie Gunter were trying to bring light on that media reinforce vivid images of femininity, that it has been :”within history of cultural constructions of femininity” (207). It is a cultural phenomenon that media effects those drastically that it has been given a name: body shaming.
Right from a student getting bad grades as a result of a submission they couldn’t complete due to being unwell, to the difficult situations faced by a single mother in this society. Although the Theory is primarily referred to in the feminist context, I believe its scope is immensely wider. Some of us, including me, often thing that we are empathetic and can understand what is going on with another person’s life. However, I am sure that try as we may, we won’t be able to understand completely what the sufferer truly has to endure. As social awareness is increasing thanks to mass media and increased sensitivity among my generation, we find people championing various causes, we find NGOs foraying into new domains.