Providing a Diagnosis: Virginia Woolf
“The Hours” is based on the Pulitzer winning novel by Michael Cunningham.
The movie and the book follows Virginia Woolf and two fictional characters , Laura Brown and
Clarissa Vaughan. These three women 's experiences are interwoven by feelings of not belonging in their idealistic worlds and yearning to be liberated from their trite existence. The story begins in 1923 in the countryside of Richmond with Virginia Woolf, writing her critically acclaimed novel Mrs. Dalloway. Against her adjuration her husband Leonard moves her to the countryside to seek tranquility to ease her disturbed mental state, while she longs for the bustling of London. Virginia is too disheartened to prepare for a lunch
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Woolf speaks of hearing voices and has a flat affect which would lead to a diagnosis of Schizophrenia. Virginia Woolf 's primary diagnosis is Schizoaffective Disorder. Schizoaffective disorder is blend of schizophrenia and depression where symptoms of both diseases are concurrently. (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Patients may suffer from schizophrenic symptoms such as paranoia and audio hallucinations and depression symptoms such as suicidal thoughts and hopelessness …show more content…
Patients are given a prescription of medications that reduce psychotic symptoms and antidepressants (2011). Schizoaffective disorder is a amalgamation of mood and cognitive disturbances. This was evident in the manner that interacted with her household help and sister. She was anxious whenever she had to give orders to her cook therefore, she had difficulty establishing a sense of control in her household. Treating schizoaffective disorder pharmacologically may be complicated because the individual may be too depressed or suffering from paranoia about the medication. Virginia may have benefited from medication because she had a support system that could assistance in compliance. When the patient takes the medications as prescribed the symptoms of paranoia , hopelessness and lack of concentration can be
5). While Schizophrenia has been most commonly treated with the use of anti-psychotic medications for decades, cognitive therapy provides an alternative and cognitive psychologist would undoubtedly disagree with Elizabeth’s mother’s decision to medicate her. The way a cognitive psychologist would treat Elizabeth is by the use of therapy and encouraging her to talk about her behaviors and problems as they do not believe that Schizophrenia “is a biological illness that one either has or does not have” (Freeman, 2014, para. 7) and instead the symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions simply represent the patient’s thoughts and feelings (Freeman, 2014). For example, “an individual troubled by hearing voices will be helped to understand what’s triggering these voices, and to develop a more confident, empowering relationship with them” (Freeman, 2014, para.
Classical antipsychotic treatments are commonly used to treat schizophrenic patients with major positive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as Thorazine, Haldol, and Stelazine (Gleitman et al., 2011). Antipsychotic treatments are usually administered with a variety of psychosocial treatments including social skills training, vocational rehabilitation, supported employment, family therapy, or individual therapy (Barlow & Durand, 2014). This is to reduce relapse and help the patient improve their skills in deficits and comply in consuming the
My patient Gerald –according to the video- is diagnosed with a textbook case schizophrenia. He exhibits paranoid thinking and his speech is disorganized, his thoughts are loosely connected, and he has formed delusions, he exhibits mood disturbances, and exhibits disordered behaviors (Schizophrenia: Gerald, Part 1). The goal for Gerald is multi-factorial; first, it is important to place into context that Gerald’s schizophrenia is refractory to pharmacological management. Due to Gerald’s complex presentation of multiple symptoms, the goal for the interaction is improved m...
woman she once knew. Both women only see the figure they imagine to be as the setting shows us this, in the end making them believe there is freedom through perseverance but ends in only despair.
1966 was a turning point in American history. It was the height of the Space Race as well as the Vietnam War. In the entertainment industry, The Beatles had released the album Revolver, the show Star Trek premiered on television, and the play Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? was adapted to film. This film was controversial for several reasons, including its depiction of violence and drinking, as well as its theme of sexuality. For a movie to take on such bold scenes and topics requires other bold cinematic choices as well. These choices included casting glamorous actors and actresses in not so glamorous roles, filming in black and white as opposed to color, and using unique cinematic film shots in various scenes. The choices that the filmmakers
According to Gamble and Brennan (2000), the effectiveness of medication for schizophrenia to relieve patients from psychotic symptoms is limited. Although patients have adequate medication, some received little or no benefit from it and almost half of them still experience psychotic symptoms. They are also more likely to suffer relapse (Gamble and Brennan, 2000). Furthermore, Valmaggia, et al. (2005) found that 50% of patients who fully adhere to anti-psychotic medication regimes still have ongoing positi...
People today are not completely educated about schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects millions from country to country. In today’s up and coming world, men and women over the age of eighteen that suffer from schizophrenia, has developed to 1.1% (“Schizophrenia” 1). Schizophrenia, on average, begins between the ages of sixteen and thirty, and men normally accumulate the disease before women. With the mental disorder, “positive” and negative symptoms occur. “Positive” symptoms include: hallucinations, messy speech, delusions, and catatonic behavior. Negative symptoms include: loss of interest and drive, roller coaster emotions, the difficulty to extract obvious hints, and come across as being in a mood that is difficult to understand, such as depression (Frankenburg 1).
...ected over another because it has less chance of damaging a diseased liver, worsening a heart condition, or affecting a patient’s high blood pressure. For all the benefits that anti-psychotic drugs provide, clearly they are far from ideal. Some patients will show marked improvement with drugs, while others might be helped only a little, if at all. Ideally, drugs soon will be developed to treat successfully the whole range os schizophrenia symptoms. Roughly one third of schizophrenic patients make a complete recovery and have no further recurrence, one third have recurrent episodes of the illness, and one third deteriorate into chronic schizophrenia with severe disability (Kass, 206).
The initial diagnosis of Schizoaffective Disorder can be somewhat confusing. Many patients and loved ones wonder, “What does that mean?” “How is it different than Schizophrenia?” We’re here to break it down for you. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) Schizoaffective Disorder is classified as: An uninterrupted period of illness during which there is a Major Mood Episode (Major Depressive or Manic) concurrent with the Criterion A of Schizophrenia. The Major Depressive Episode must include Criterion A1. Depressed mood. Delusions or hallucinations for 2 or more weeks in the absence of a Major Mood Episode (Depressive or Manic) during the lifetime duration of the illness. Symptoms that meet criteria for a Major Mood Episode are present for the majority of the total duration of the active and residual portions of the illness. The disturbance is not attributable to the effects of a substance or another medical condition.
... about things and develop a critical thinking, such as in the alienating subject as well as accepting a black person into the white society in the 1960’s.
The novel is essentially about women. Women from different periods, of different ages, and oddly the same in various aspects. We get to know women that apparently lead perfect lives, considering the external aspect, and all of them come to a moment in their lives when they stumble upon the superficiality of their days and face their disturbed inner selves. The fates of the three characters cross because of the fact that Laura is reading exactly the book Virginia wrote, while Clarissa Vaughan appears to be a kind of living breathing Clarissa Dalloway.
Work Cited Woolf, Virginia. A. Mrs. Dalloway. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc., 2005.
Clarissa Dalloway, the central character in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, is a complex figure whose relations with other women reveal as much about her personality as do her own musings. By focusing at length on several characters, all of whom are in some way connected to Clarissa, Woolf expertly portrays the ways females interact: sometimes drawing upon one another for things which they cannot get from men; other times, turning on each other out of jealousy and insecurity.
George is an intelligent character and his education shoes when he speaks. His intelligence is displayed with his eloquent way of speaking.
Throughout her life Virginia Woolf became increasingly interested in the topic of women and fiction, which is highly reflected in her writing. To understand her piece, A Room of One’s Own Room, her reader must understand her. Born in early 1882, Woolf was brought into an extremely literature driven, middle-class family in London. Her father was an editor to a major newspaper company and eventually began his own newspaper business in his later life. While her mother was a typical Victorian house-wife. As a child, Woolf was surrounded by literature. One of her favorite pastimes was listening to her mother read to her. As Woolf grew older, she was educated by her mother, and eventually a tutor. Due to her father’s position, there was always famous writers over the house interacting with the young Virginia and the Woolf’s large house library.