Theory and Practice of Counseling Essay.
Category: Others
For this assignment, you will be required to watch a film or television show with an identified main character, and complete the attached worksheet.
While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
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Requirements: 250 words per question
Topic 2: Media Analysis Worksheet
Directions:
Watch a film or television show, listen to a radio program, or read a short story with an identified main character. Answer the following questions with a minimum of 250 words each.
- What is the name of the show/movie/story, and who was the main character examined?
I’ve just watched a Universal Pictures film, “Breakthrough” (2019). The two main characters were John Smith (Marcel Ruiz) and his mother, Joyce Smith (Chrissy Metz). The film was based on the Breakthrough book by Joyce Smith, written by John’s true mother. The real account comes from the 14-year-old John Smith, who crossed the ice at a lake in St. Louis, Missouri, at 14 (Smith, 2019). John, Josh, and Reiger challenged the neighbor’s warning and ventured later on into the ice lake. John is later stuck for fifteen minutes underwater, and forty-five minutes after being rescued, he still had no pulses. The doctor tries to restart the kid’s heart and gives up after three-quarters of an hour. The boy’s mother, Joyce Smith, requested alone with his assumed dead son and prayed to God for some time. By this time, after failing to detect any heartbeat or brain activity, the team was set to proclaim him dead.
He recovered consciousness almost immediately. Every breathing aid was removed the following morning, and John Smith respired alone. The situation shocked the doctor. If John awoke from his induced coma, the doctor warned that the extended brain lack of oxygen would result in irreparable brain damage (Smith, 2019). A few moments after, the doctor had revived John, and it took him to recognize his mother and speak to her. He recognized his dad as he looked around the room. John was talking to the doctor, answering some of his inquiries. The doctor added that he had been working with drowning all of his life, and he had never seen such occurrences in his profession while escorting Joyce Smith into the hall.
- Briefly describe the conflict the main character experienced, what drove the story?
The main character in the story experiences conflict throughout his childhood life. He was adopted from Venezuela when he was just six months old and always had an internal conflict of why her biological mother did not want him in her life. Due to his poor self-esteem, he misbehaved as he grew older to gain his classmates’ attention because he naturally felt inferior. He was always searching for acceptance and was satisfied by his attention. When adolescents talked to him, he deliberately disregarded them, and this led to an occurrence that would permanently affect his life when he almost loses his life due to his defiance (Smith, 2019). When an adult informed him the ice in the pond was dangerous, John chastened the adult, three of whom went on the ice. The ice ran, and the three lads have submerged into the chilly water right away.
His low self-esteem and lack of belief in his capabilities brought him into conflict when he was to be benched by the basketball coach due to his poor performance in class. Two of the guys with modest hypothermia were rescued, while John Smith was stuck under the ice, which conflicts with the main character because it was due to his behavior that occurred (Smith, 2019). The heart could not restart in the ambulance, and it was the same thing at the hospital. This is a conflict in the main character because practically, no human being has ever recovered from such amounts of time without oxygen. All through the film, John struggles with an internal conflict of whether he is good enough in life compared to other people.
- Using Freud’s theory, what psychodynamic structures (id, ego, and superego) were in conflict, what were the desires of each structure? e.g., a boy’s Id may want the boy to ask a girl out, but his ego might resist the urge because he could get turned down and feel hurt.
According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, the behavior evolves through several phases, each defined by an internal mental conflict. According to the psychoanalytic persona theory of Sigmund Freud, an individual’s behavior results from the interplay of three-component components of the thoughts: the id, the ego, and the Superego (Smith, 2019). The theory, also known as Freud’s structural personality theory, stresses the relevance of unconscious psychological strains in behavior and personality formation. Five separate psychosexual stages of development are seen as dynamic relations between these central elements of the development of the mind. In the previous century, though, Freud’s theories were challenged because of his sole emphasis on sexuality as the fundamental motor of forming a person’s personality. Despite the challenges, his theories are still considered very effective in analyzing individual behavior in psychology.
The identity of the film’s primary character is a sense of loneliness. He had little self-esteem and wanted to take him in by his friends, and he didn’t feel like he was in the group. His Id drove him to refuse authority and do it when he went into the frozen lake. His ego tried to keep him under control, but he let him do what he wanted with his emotions. His Superego was the motor behind acts that originally brought him to the frozen water (Smith, 2019). His Superego warned him of his misconduct, like when the neighbor warned him and his friends not to go into the lake. His identity and ego were beyond his control, leading to cheating in class and almost losing his life.
- Review psychoanalytic defense mechanisms, identify and describe three defenses used by any of the characters in the show.
People employ psychoanalytical processes for defending, concealing, or changing the views of others (Corey, 2017). Three defenses are used in John Smith’s film: denial, removal and streamlining.
Denial
Denial is a protective mechanism that Anna Freud describes which means she does not accept reality and obstructs awareness of external occurrences. If a situation gets too difficult for an individual to endure, they may refuse to notice or refuse it (Corey, 2017). Something is taken away to increase the probability of conduct. Everything is removed to reduce the likelihood of conduct. The hidden brain examines the issue and its impact on our everyday lives. John was ignorant that his biological mother abandoned him. By seeking acceptance from his peers, he tries to disguise his emotions.
Removal
Removal is when one wants to associate mathematical coincidences and their influence on understanding human brain functions (Corey, 2017). John talks half-heartedly that everyone knows his history and that he does not even know his biological mother. He associates the story with his failure, especially in class which demonstrates removal.
Streamlining
Streamlining is the act of taking the shape of the situation and adopting the best way forward. After indulging in negative behavior and even taking on his adoptive mother, John used displacement as a protective tactic (Corey, 2017). Although she loved him and said it every day, John regarded his mother, Joyce, with disregard, as if she was guilty of her biological mother’s crime. When John Smith began apologizing for his actions, he justified himself and used logic to support his actions. He only understood his method was improper after his accident, and his poor walls began to heal, streamlining.
- Using Adler’s psychotherapy, briefly describe how feelings of inferiority may contribute to the conflict in the media observed.
The overcompensation might lead to an inferiority mentality. The individual can’t surmount his sentiments of inadequacy in this kind of poor self-esteem. People always look for a setting in which they are excellent. This is because of their overwhelming feelings of inadequacy (Lemberger, 2017). Initially, John is portrayed as a kid with an inferiority complex because he is overly determined to excel in basketball compared to his friends. However, according to his coach, he still had to excel in class to become a starter on the school basketball team. This leads the main character to cheat in his class assignment to start in the school basketball team, which he tries to overcompensate his inferiority in life.
An inferiority complex may emerge as a result of overcompensation. In this type of low self-esteem, the individual is unable to overcome his feelings of inadequacy. A person with complex inferiority explains, “People constantly search for an environment in which they may be outstanding.” Because of their overpowering sense of inadequacy, this is the case (Lemberger, 2017). In the later stages in the film, John is seen dangerously walking on the frozen lake despite understanding the danger while ignoring the neighbor’s warning not to do so. In his opinion, basketball was an area where he excelled, and nobody would have managed to stop celebrating the only thing he had achieved in his life. The results of that defiance almost lead to his death after getting stuck under the ice for fifteen minutes before the rescue team saved him from imminent death.
References
Corey, G. (2017). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (Tenth Edition). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Lemberger, M. E. (2017). Adler as a preceptor of humanistic psychotherapy. The Journal of Individual Psychology, 73(2), 124-138.
Smith, J. (2019). Movie “BreakThrough.” Las Angels, CA: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.