Ordinary People Essays - English-language Films, Lake Forest

Ordinary People Psychology 490 Ordinary People provides a poignant and insightful look inside a family in crisis. Families come in many forms and are a complex structure comprised of individuals. When families are functioning properly, they work together toward common goals. And when families are in dysfunction, it can be a painfully detrimental experience that can either bring them closer together or drive them further apart, sometimes permanently. In terms of Walshs Dimensions, the family depicted in Ordinary People is identified through the factual element. The obvious family crisis of Buckys death has placed great strain on the family. The familys status comes into play at this point in terms of how the Mother likes to keep up appearances. She is intent on getting things back to normal if only to keep the status quo. The birth order also seems to come into play as both Conrad and his father express to the psychiatrist, Dr. Berger, that the Mother loved Bucky more because he was the eldest and first born child. From the standpoint of the individual element, each member deals with their feelings in different ways. It becomes apparent the both Mother and Conrad (initially) are incapable of dealing with their emotions. Mother glazes over her emotions so well that she becomes unable to feel love. She did not even visit her son Conrad in the psychiatric hospital the entire four months he was there following his suicide attempt. F ather overcompensates perhaps where Mother is lacking in this department. All three are using defense mechanisms in order to avoid pain or conflict. Systemically, the family is far from homeostasis. Although grief is a difficult process, it is still in fact a process, whereas the family needs to move on and adjust. This has not been able to happen perhaps because of their lack of communication. The extent of any real communication is usually an outburst. And to this end, from an ethical sense, the outburst is followed by a party symbolically walking away, representing their many unsettled accounts. They appear to stay together out of obligation more than happiness. According to McMasters Model of Family Functioning, the family must be looked at as a whole in order to understand behavior and patterns shape the behavior therein. This is mainly the problem with this family, as it seems each in acting in isolation. In this instance, the Hazardous Task Area would be in effect as a result of the boating accident resulting in Buckys death. The Jarrett family is faced with a problem of an affective nature, and I do not think they implemented any problem solving techniques. Beth was in denial that any real problem existed with her behavior and was resistant to change. From that starting point it would have been almost impossible to find solutions or alternatives. The communication was masked and indirect, at least until the end when Beth decides to leave; this is when Calvin and Conrad begin to have open and effective dialogue, complete and with expression. The Jarretts have clearly been able to master the provision of resources role, and some parts of personal development and management of family systems. However, the implementation of these areas has only been successful where the surface is concerned. It seems all emotional progress stopped when Bucky died, if it was ever truly there to begin with. The familial roles are misaligned, especially where Beth is concerned. She, as mother, is supposed to show support and nurturance but finds herself unwilling or unable to do so. Additionally, the family did not display a normal affective response to Buckys death. At his funeral, Calvin noted that Beth was more concerned with what he was wearing than with facing her loss. He also points out that neither Beth nor Conrad cried at the ceremony. Their involvement with one another seems devoid of feelings and more of an intellectual nature. In accordance with the Family Life Cycle perspective, the Jarretts are going through a major unpredictable life event. Conrad begins to seek help to deal with this emotional transition by seeing Dr. Berger. Initially he requests a pill to cure him as he, like Beth, does to want to feel anything. What he fails to realize