Movie Write Up as Therapist Role
Introduction
‘Precious’ narrates the story of a young woman who was impregnated by her father. Precious is an illiterate 16-year-old teenager at the mercy of her abusive mother and father. When the chance to transform her life appears, she takes it. In an attempt to portray an accurate picture of the turbulence lifestyle of an obese teenager, the movie’s plot engages the audience through Precious’ determination to succeed against all the odds. Once precious starts schooling, her class teacher, Blu Rain, inspires her pursuit for better education and life. Finally, Precious acquires the ability to read and write (Precious, 2009). She then meets with a social worker named Ms. Weiss. Ms. Weiss learns of Precious hurtful past after she reveals it to her. This paper will articulately analyze precious’s condition from a therapist perspective.
Client in Context
Precious was raised in an abusive family. Unlike other families where the parents cater to their children's needs, Precious' parents are negligent and abusive towards her. For example, her father raped her. Due to these sexual assaults, she bore two disabled children. Her devastating situation hinders her from consistently attending school. At only 16 years old, Precious works more than two jobs to meet her needs. One of the 'Precious’ children, Mongo, lives with her grandmother. The continuous abuse from her mother causes both emotional and physical abuse. A negligent mother, Mary idles all day and collects retirement benefits fraudulently. Against these abusive backgrounds, Precious has to beat all odds in order to succeed. Her mother believes that education will not benefit Precious (Precious, 2009). To escape from a life of despair and hardship, Precious often fantasizes about a better life and opportunities. Due to her pregnancy, Precious is transferred to an alternative school. The transfer turns out to be an advantage to her. It is through the alternative school that precious revives her hopes for a better life through education. While attending the alternative school; Precious acquire the ability to read and write.
Precious betters her life and even comes to terms with her condition. This prompts her to seek professional help. Therefore, Precious has to stabilize her emotions and even form a relationship with other men and women. Her hardships tend to block her progress in other areas, such as romantic relationships. Thus, changing the environment was the right thing to do. More so, her background does not help rebuild her life. It is vital to note the rejection from the society Precious faces, which forces her to be admitted into an alternative school. Therefore, Precious goes through hell and makes it against all odds (Precious, 2009). The most memorable part of the movie is when she reclaims her confidence and achieves everything she ever wanted.
Precious life and background prove that an abusive childhood is not a source of perseverance. Instead, certain unique personality characteristics facilitate specific exceptional individuals to overcome suffering. Subsequently, it can be concluded that Precious adapts to her hard domestic life within a socially neglected space. Psychologists claim that Precious integrated the perceptive forms of her surroundings so that she could cope with her hardship lifestyle. The essence of her background gives psychological facts of how she can create her future by forgetting her past.
Privilege and Oppression
So far, Precious' father has not yet been taken to court for sexually assaulting his daughter. Also, Precious’ parents cannot meet her needs forcing her to stray way from home (Kyrölä, 2017). The fact that her mother and father are not held accountable or even charged for their actions proves that they are privileged, and they can do as they please. Every parent should ensure their children can access health, education, and even housing. Precious life is highly disoriented at a personal level because of her parents' irresponsible behavior. Also, in the movie, other students come from a well-off family hence easier to draw out a contrast between Precious and other average families. Through the application of the first-person narrative, one can tell that Precious has low self-esteem.
On the other hand, one cannot ignore the isolation Precious has undergone due to her traumatic experience. The intentional focus on a child's ambition often creates a timeline for helping the victimized child gain newfound confidence and then put all the effort into correcting the past trauma she has undergone in the long run (Kyrölä, 2017). The probability of changing a person’s perception depends on handling pain caused by close relatives. In this particular case, identifying Precious issues will help solve her problems and find a middle ground for dealing with other psychological factors affecting her health. More so, if Precious admires other people more than her own home, she might be emotionally disturbed and emotionally absent from her routines and ambitions. The chance to live beyond other challenges and create an alternative image for the rest of the people gives Precious the ability to catapult her life into a significant success. At the same time take hold of her life. Being born to an alcoholic father and an abusive father, the only positive thing in Precious life is garnering more confidence and issuing out personal initiatives so that she can acquire education and pursue other things about her life.
Having personal support systems that can assist one in attaining certain personal relationships requires Precious to go to other places (Kyrölä, 2017). Keeping her in a new environment will transform her mind into a more objective-oriented individual who can turn her life around ad use the resources around her to start a new life and recuperate while doing other things. In other matters concerning how she should navigate her newly found freedom, Precious should limit the amount of time spent with her immediate family members because of the past abuses and sexual assault.
Trauma History
Precious’ mother does not know the importance of education to her daughter. The mother collects her retirement benefits fraudulently and intentionally does not care about the plight of her daughter. Also, Precious’ mother does not stop her father from raping her and getting her pregnant. Against such a strict background, the people close to her are supposed to take care of her needs. Instead, one of the most perceptive changes is ensuring that Precious only interacts with people who will help steering her dreams to greater heights (Masla, 2019). It is good to note that Mary, Precious' mother berates her daughter, which is a disadvantage to her emotional well-being. As seen, numerous factors are affecting Precious emotional wellbeing. For most of it, Mary and her husband should be held accountable for mistreating a child and allow harm to come to their daughter. Therefore, one can personally separately Precious from the parents. More so, looking at all the possibilities, precious is obese and this has taken a deep toll on her self-image. One cannot forget that as she suffers from obesity, her mother abuses hence diminishing her self-image further. This only implies that she suffers from sexual abuse and eating disorders. The devastating and uplifting nature of her lifestyle forces her to adapt to new situations and norms so that she can forget her traumatic past and eventually live a healthy life full of memorable memories. One of the most notable things about Precious is that she has lived an isolated life. Her personal experiences differ from other people. The individuals close to her are responsible for her trauma and hardships. In the end, she opts to find a haven while pursuing an education. The only way to help her is by speaking kind but not empty words to her. Most importantly, she should have access to government social amenities that would allow her to be able to cater to her needs. In other words, Precious emerges from a poor abusive background that needs to separate from. This way, she can get to know the world she has never been to while at the same time recover from the trauma she has been facing from her parents. Based on expert research, Precious may exhibit other numerous related issues such as excessive stress and unsafe due to the memories and flashbacks. Therefore, Precious needs treatment tailored to meet her traumatic experiences in troublesome childhood. The broad understanding of her stress reactions will probably open up her common feedback to medication and preventive measures issued at the health institutions. This is an indication of hope and brings Precious closer to a quick recovery in case she starts any psychological treatment.
Strength and Resilience Areas
One strength and resilience area in Precious’ life is her hope for education. After her father impregnated her, Precious moves into an alternative school where she meets Blu. While learning in that alternative school, she get more experience and knowledge hence forcing her to improve her life. The perspective and attention she gives to the situation is an indication that lets one know that she is ready to accept change and pursue knowledge and information (Hamid, 2012). Thus, Precious is already making progress through her education and seeing a nurse on the side. Also, one windy and snowy day she comes across a church. She fantasizes about singing in the choir. The perceptive nature of Precious gives her an edge over her condition. She is hardworking and hopeful. Also, Ms. Rain is supportive of Precious condition. For example, Ms. Rain finds Precious and her daughter in the classroom, instead of chasing them out, she quickly ensures that they are safe their needs are catered for. There is nothing as important as a support system in a troubled person's life. Another strength and resilience she exhibits is the courage to chase her dreams and seek treatment from third parties. Ms. Rain gives her a place to stay and she is appreciative and even kind towards Ms. Rain. The only distinguishing quality she has is the ability to understand herself and what her situation entails. This implies that she must be treated respectfully. In summary, Precious has a reliable support system for teachers and other concerned parties. Additionally, she is usually actively involved in bettering her condition and initiating strategies to make her life better than the previous occasions.
DSM Diagnosis
Precious diagnosis depends on the rate at which she adapts to her situation. In case she does not give in to her situations, she always finds some alternative ways of dealing with her emotional and social issues (Hamid, 2012). Her issues revolve around feeling unloved loathed by other people. Parental abuse from a parent needs counseling and three-hour sessions containing the mood. From her condition, the following are some of the possible diagnosis
- Precious suffers from anxiety and worry due to her violent background
- She succumb to stress due to her feeding disorder
- Her biological father raped causing her anguish and pain
- Excessive eating is a coping mechanisms for stress
- May experience attention deficit when interacting with her parents
Routes of Engagement
Precious is a teenager and the best way to approach her situation is through people close to her. For example, Ms. Blu should learn of her therapy session and contribute to her recovery plan. The more people come to terms with her condition, the more convenient her condition becomes hence enabling other people around her to contribute to her wellbeing. It is vital to note that Precious’s obesity and eating habits are part of the treatment. She excessively eats as a coping mechanisms. If she is to regain her complete health she needs to feel loved and the newly acquired relationships around the school. Similarly, Precious has to open up to the people she trusts. The establishment of trust can only be enforced through people she loves and cares for. Therefore, the grandmother will play a crucial role in ensuring that there is a connection between the therapist and the client. Looking at her situation holistically tends to give an accurate perspective of the issues he passed through. Playing part in her life only means that her entire life is based on her worries. It would be wise to make decisions out of Precious’ life background. Connecting her therapist based on her past.
Therapeutic Interventions
Emotional freedom technique is a substitute medication for physical pain and responsive sorrow. Precious needs this medication to relief her pain and balance her energy system. Energy disruption causes her pain. This therapeutic intervention will reduce her anxiety levels and post trauma (Schwarz et al., 2016). These specific therapeutic mechanisms will assist in restoring her energy levels and regain her consciousness. Any imbalance in Precious body might cause her body sickness.
The second therapeutic intervention brain spotting. Any child who has been through parental abuse needs to change her thinking patterns and the best way to achieve this is through brain spotting (Masson et al., 2017). In order to define, process and release emotional stress and other emotional imbalances, Precious has to undergo brain spotting therapy. This therapeutic intervention integrates body and sensory strategies to restore social relationships in the life of the victim. Brain spotting relies on focusing on positive matters and naturally make new experiences from the old ones. More so, brain spotting affects parts of the brain that cannot be medicated through customary therapeutic approaches. In summary, Precious needs to regain a healthy emotional state and an active social life away from her abusive parents.
References
Hamid, A. (2012). A Grammatical analysis of African American vernaculas english in precious movie.
Kemit, I. E. B., & Susetiyo, P. B. (2015). The Stereotype of African American Women in Lee Daniel’s Precious Movie (2009) (Doctoral dissertation, UNIVERSITAS AIRLANGGA).
Kyrölä, K. (2017). Feeling bad and Precious (2009): Black suffering, white guilt, and intercorporeal subjectivity. Subjectivity, 10(3), 258-275.
Masla, D. H. L. P. (2019). An Analysis Of Miss Rain's Teaching Method In" Precious" Movie By Lee Daniels (Doctoral Dissertation, University Of Muhammadiyah Malang).
Masson, J., Bernoussi, A., & Moukouta, C. S. (2017). Brainspotting Therapy: About a Bataclan Victim. Global Journal of Health Science, 9(7).
Precious. (2009). Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-cWrqmiVkw
Schwarz, L., Corrigan, F., Hull, A., & Raju, R. (2016). The comprehensive resource model: Effective therapeutic techniques for the healing of complex trauma. Taylor & Francis.
