The film Precious focuses on Clarice “Precious” Jones, a girl whose life is far from ordinary. At sixteen years old, Precious finds herself pregnant with her second child, both of which belong to her father. Although he’s no longer in the picture, Precious experiences daily abuse from her mother, who thinks nothing of her. Regardless of her past, Precious is eager to give her children a better life than she had. After meeting Ms. Rein, her alternative school teacher, Precious finally gets the love and support that she’s been hoping for her whole life. Precious’ life may have had a different path had she received proper treatment earlier in life. Even though Precious is in the adolescent stage of her life, she can still benefit from treatment; …show more content…
As she grew older, she continued to experience sexual, physical and verbal abuse from her mother and father. According to the DSM-5, Precious meets criteria for exposure due to the fact that she was directly experiencing the traumatic events. In my opinion, the most severe trauma Precious experienced was being raped by her father. In the film, we see moments of Precious remembering that traumatic experience but then transforming her thoughts elsewhere. The image becomes a positive moment, one in which she is famous and adored. My interpretation of these flashbacks is dissociative reactions and are not involuntarily reoccurring; it seems more as though she is in control of thinking back to her exposure. Precious struggles when she is asked about her what her home life is like. She tends to avoid the thought and proceeds to redirect the conversation; this demonstrates her efforts to avoid thoughts of her situation. Due to the nature of Precious’ abuse, her cognitions and mood were negatively effected. The fact that Precious was sexually abused by her father at a young age, in addition to her mother constantly putting her down and making her believe that she was at fault, Precious had it set in her mind that it was the truth. Her mother’s verbal abuse also diminished her participation in school resulting in her inability to read and write at age sixteen. The trauma she was exposed to …show more content…
Precious’ mother and father were extremely abusive towards her and now at the age of sixteen, it’s Precious’ best interest not to interact with either parent. Precious’ mother blamed Precious for the sexual abuse she experienced and one may assume that during a session she would express her thoughts. This exchange can cause a regression in treatment success and can produce negative outcomes of the treatment (Yasinski et al., 2016). TF-CBT explains that treatment can be just as successful with or without parent involvement. Due to the severity of Precious’ trauma, it has become difficult for her to open up to new people. It can extremely difficult for an individual to be put in a situation that forces them to actively think about their traumatic experience, causing them to retract from going to session and completing the therapy (Pukay-Martin, Torbit, Landy, Macdonald, & Monson, 2017). I think that the fact that TF-CBT includes many sessions, Precious will have time to build rapport with her clinician instead of just jumping right into discussing and reliving everything she went through. This treatment will not only benefit Precious but it will also help her children. A component of this treatment is teaching parent skills. Precious was never taught how to be a good mother; she did not have a good example of what parents
“Numerous studies have demonstrated that experiencing child abuse can lead to a range of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems” (Moylan, 2010). Precious’s internalization of depression and emotional numbing are all factors that contribute to her self-concept. Study shows that “childhood sexual abuse has been correlated with higher levels of depression, guilt, shame, self-blame, eating disorders, somatic concerns, anxiety, dissociative patterns, repression, denial, sexual problems, and relationship problems” (Hall, 2011). The implications of sexual abuse are often detrimental to the mental state of an adolescent. Psychiatric evaluations show that Precious suffers from symptoms of PTSD and Major Depression
A child is known for having innocence, and bad experiences strip kids of it. In Sarah’s
Bully (2001) is a movie based on a true story about a group of rebellious, yet naïve teens who conspire to exact ultimate revenge on a mutual friend. In a twist, unlike most, this movie highlights not only extent of bullying amongst peers, but details the ultimate revenge that would irrevocably change the lives of the entire group. The movie takes place in South Florida where Marty, a high school dropout, and Bobby are “alleged” best friends. As they set out to meet up with mutual friends Ali and Lisa for a double date the bully is immediately apparent as Bobby begins to verbally torment Marty, which quickly turns physical as he repeatedly punches Marty while he is driving for accidently swerving. Although, Marty stops the car and retaliates,
The story of “Precious” provides an excellent example of how a person can become lost in the system, and also how one can begin to turn things around by utilizing available resources. Precious’s mother, Mary, has been taking advantage of Precious to help her manipulate the system so Mary can continue to receive welfare benefits. Precious ultimately meets with the social worker, Mrs. Weiss, who begins to help her move forward in life. It is my understanding that Precious initially met with Mrs. Weiss for welfare benefits, but this relationship seemed to change as the movie progressed. I was admittedly taken aback by the conditions of the office in which Mrs. Weiss worked, how she interacted with Precious initially,
Little did the principal know that she would be the saving grace and the start of a new life for Precious and her born and unborn babies. Sadly, in the movie, Precious endures another abusive attack by her mother upon her mother’s knowledge that the principal came by her home to speak with her about Precious’ school performance. Mother was thinking that Precious was misbehaving at school or telling the “white” people about their family business. At the alternative school, Precious is inspired and encouraged by a very caring and passionate teacher, Blu Rain. She also meets many other female peers just like herself in the program.
...o grow up in home where there is neglect, abuse and trauma often miss out on a normal development with attachment and trust. Without that attachment and trust, neglected children are at risk and vulnerable to suffer consequences and risk physically, emotionally, psychologically, educationally, interpersonally that can have a damaging effect on the child’s life and development and can develop into PTSD. However, under certain circumstances, given an opportunity to attach to healthy adults in a positive way, children can overcome even brutal childhoods and injuries. Lastly, it shows how an adult or parent who is willing to attach, trust, help and work with a child, can radically change the course of that child’s life by acting as an advisor, detecting and solving problems, and being there even in the middle of conflict and eventually helping the child succeed in life.
In the movie “ Precious “ by Lee Daniels, Gabourey Sidibe plays a sixteen years old, illiterate and overweight girl name Precious, who lives in Harlem, New York. She lives with her mother Mary Jones, who was entropic and abusive to her. The abuse and oppression was so traumatic for Precious, she would often dissociate herself from the situation and pretend to be someone else. Losing track of time, her situation and herself was her coping mechanism; throughout the movie it appeared that she would have these dreaming episodes where she would be another person in a much better situation. Precious become pregnant twice from her biological father, who had abandoned the family and infected both she and her mother with the HIV virus. She suffered long-term physical, emotional, sexual, and verbal abuse from her from her parents; symptoms from her personal oppression were depressive and withdrawn attitude. Often she was very quiet and appeared unengaged and inattentive in class.
The crisis event in the movie precious is rather obscure at first. At first look you think that the crisis event is that precious is kicked out of school sent to an alternative school because she's pregnant, however I disagree. I believe the true crisis event occurred after precious had her child and went home to her mother’s apartment. Up to that point, precious had never asked for help from anyone regarding her home life or the abuse that was taking place. When precious’s returned home from the hospital with her baby and was attacked by her mother, she ran away to the only place she knew to go that was safe, her school.
The first phase is psychoeducation and parenting skills. In the first sessions we discuss the definition and nature of trauma, the effects of trauma on the brain, how it affects cognitions, behaviors, etc. This treatment approach focuses on trauma—it is in the name. It does not necessarily require a formal PTSD diagnosis, but the psychoeducation does focus on the effects of trauma, and the impact of post-traumatic stress. Essentially, it focuses on the label and “mental illness” of PTSD. Reality therapy would shy away from a focus on illness. Reality therapy would encourage the clinician to avoid the labels and focus on the choices behind the condition (pg. 15). Unfortunately, for victims of severe trauma, the neurological impact is very real. Ignoring it will not help the treatment process.
The client stated that she came to therapy because she has been feeling really lonely and feeling as though that she is not enough since the death of her father. After the death of her father, her mother did not pay her any attention; she understood that her mother was grieving, especially when her grandfather passed a year later. I stated that the frequent death that surrounded her mother, seem to have caused her mother to distance herself from her. She responded “yes, and it even gotten worse when my mom started to date and eventually marry my stepfather”. She mentioned that once her little sister was born, she became jealous and envious. I emphasized with her by stating that she must have felt as though her little sister was going to take the attention that she sought from her mother. After confirming that her mother paid more attention to her sister and stepfather, she mentioned that during this time she began to cut herself in places that no one would notice. The pain did not take the feeling away, but she wanted to know that if she could still feel pain after the thought of losing everything. However, the only person who paid her any attention during this time, was her grandmother. Her grandmother showed her the love that her mother nor “father figure” never showed her. I stated, “the love that your grandmother showed was not the love you were
.... Precious was finally proud of herself for doing well in school. In addition, her friends, her teacher, and her social worker were recognizing her efforts–these were some of her external esteem needs. Finally, at the very end of the movie, it is arguable that that she was self-actualized, even though this stage is never able to be satisfied because as one grows psychologically there are always new opportunities to continue to grow. However, for the time being, she was happy and free from her mother.
While some may believe that FT hinders optimal recovery, it does in no way encourage reconciliation; rather, “makes a safe and distinct contribution to post-relationship/post-crisis therapy for abused women by promoting the practice of a specific moral quality as a way of integrating the past traumatic experience with current positive, empowering moral choices” (Astin, 1993; Frankl, 1969; Reed, 1998).
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children Affected by Sexual Abuse and Trauma. Retrieved from http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/trauma.pdf 201507102201371109825492Child Welfare Information Gateway 2012 Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children Affected by Sexual Abuse and Trauma
Most people have experienced some form of violence in their family. Many of these dramatic events involve children becoming victims of abuse. In the movie “Precious” an African American sixteen year old female is tormented by her parents. Precious is the victim of several different form of abuse including: sexual, neglect, psychological, and physical. She is pregnant with her second child, both her children biological parent is her own father, who constantly rapes her. Precious’s mother is envious of her daughter because of the sexual relationship he has with his daughter. This creates conflict among them resulting in physical and psychological abuse. Precious escapes from realty by imaging herself as a glamourous star. With the help of her
According to Lisa Ware, "One promising treatment for families who have a history of child maltreatment is parent-child interaction therapy". This type of therapy focuses on the interactions that the child and the parent have. It coaches the parents in how to interact with their child the proper way. Along with interaction therapy, the child and parents are also given separate therapy. The child’s therapy is centered on the abuse they received, their social and academic skills, and teaching ways of relaxation and anger management. While the therapy for the parents are more concerned with finding ways so that the parents can interact with their children in the right way. The therapy gives the parents proper techniques for controlling their anger and allows them to identify how they view abuse. These examples of techniques practiced in therapy have shown promising results, but there are many different forms of therapy that also work. When dealing with individuals and families who suffered from abuse or were the one's abusing, the therapy needs to be fitted to the specific needs of the individuals as well as the whole family. If a child suffers from a certain problem, it is the job of the therapist to focus on ways to help the child with that specific problem. A generalized therapy plan to help everyone with their problems will not work because each individual experiences different things when faced with abuse, which is why the therapy needs to be specific to the needs of the