Social Influence of the Film

Social Influence of the Film

It has made people change their mindset on relationships. They get to know that abuse does not have to be physical. It can be emotional. In this case, the victim suffered coercive control, which is manipulation and exploitation to gain domination and control over someone’s life quietly.

Synopsis of the film

“Dirty John Series” is an American original crime series that gets its basis on the podcast by Christopher Goddard, which got to premier on 25th November 2018 on Bravo. Those outside the United States got to access it through Netflix on 14th February 2019. It gets its basis is on the connection between Debra Newell and Meehan, who met on a site online for people over the age of 50 years. Their marriage was secret in Las Vegas and after only two months of dating. Meehan was charismatic, attractive, and delightful. He swept off Debra in a whirlwind of romance. Meehan lied to Debra, telling her that he was an anesthesiologist. A revelation that came later came after she found out that he used to wear medical scrubs as a disguise. (Dibdin, 2019)

Debra’s asked for their nephew (Shad) known as Toby in the film to help in investigating their mother’s lover after they found suspicions of his activities. They were also displeased at the fast-tracked relationship. In their study, they discovered that Meehan was an ex-convict who had stolen anesthetics in a hospital he worked before serving the jail. Also, it got found that some women had ordered restraining orders against him for his violent behavior. There were also cases reported of him stealing money, threatening women and extorting people by using their naked photos.

Debra’s daughters enlightened their mother with their discoveries prompting her to split up with him in 2016. After the splitting up, Meehan begun harassments aimed at Deborah, threatening to torch down her car and release her nude photos he had in possession. This mayhem increased on the night Meehan attempted to abduct Terra by grabbing her from the rear and cut her on the arms using a knife. This dispute escalated when he unsuccessfully tried to get her into his car, prompting a resistance from Terra that ended with Terra stabbing him to death with his knife. Terra got arrested and later released upon receiving questioning from the police after they asserted that she acted out of self-defense.

The Main Character

The main character in this film is Debra Newell, whose real name is Connie Britton. She is an interior designer and owner of a design company called Madeira. She gets seen to have a perfect life as she is successful, beautiful and lives in Newport Beach, which is one of California’s most desirable coastal cities. The only thing missing in her life is love. She has divorced four times. She also has two daughters, Terra and Veronic. His new husband draws her deeper and deeper into his lies, and she gets manipulated psychologically. (Goffard, 2017)

Presentation of the Mental Status Finding of the Character

My conclusion is that Debra suffered from General Anxiety Disorder. Anxiety is a situation where one undergoes a feeling of worry and self-consciousness about their surroundings. From the case of the character, she had social phobia. She was under the constant impression that someone was watching her movements and judging her behavior.

The DSM-5 criteria state that one must experience five or more symptoms during the same two-week period of observation. According to the film, I believe that the victim (Debra Newell) suffered from an anxiety disorder. This condition is a disorder where the victim gets feelings of worry or fear that are strong enough to interfere with daily activities. Debra fears to be stalked and therefore books hotels using her assistant’s name, she starts wearing wigs to hide her identity and rents different cars to enable that she is safe. From the text, we see that the character was excessively worried about her privacy. This worry comes after her loss of trust after a camera stalked her in her room. Deborah gets concerned about her identity in public that she walks with her face covered fearing the possibility of being spotted. Additionally, She had impaired concentration, was edgy in her activity, irritability, and restlessness.

One theory of approaching this situation is through functional assessment. It refers to a continuous collaborative process that combines observing, asking meaningful questions, listening to family stories, and analyzing behaviors within naturally occurring everyday routines and activities across multiple situations and settings. It gets seen that after separation with Meehan, Debra changed in her behavioral aspects. She started wearing wigs to disguise her identity. This behavior was probably to prevent Meehan from recognizing her. She also used her assistant’s name when checking into hotels. This hiding of character helped primarily in preventing Meehan from tracking her movement or even stalking her. Her interpersonal functioning got altered as well; she started using her money, which she had been secretly withdrawing from her paycheck. She also rented different cars all as part of her elaborate safety planning. The public could, therefore, not recognize her easily. (Herzog, 2018)

According to Doctor Richard, some of the approaches to treating anxiety include seeking psychotherapy. This therapy will help one not to think about the mental abuse or even dwell on it. Staying alert will help in being careful in what information you pass to people as it could get used to assist in stalking you. Cognitive-behavioral therapy will teach one to recognize the pattern changes in their thinking and behaviors that trigger this anxiety. Like Deborah, Many people with this condition do not realize them to seek help. In her case, change of behavior and mood was due to the previous events in her life and did not raise a medical alarm. She thought she was taking precautionary measures by behaving differently. Maintaining communication with your support system will help the victim in getting the necessary support from the people who care and love them. In this case, the character could try to seek medical attention since her case was getting out of hand to the extent of her booking hotels in her assistant’s name. This behavior shows signs of advanced anxiety, and medication could help her calm her mind down. (Nicolaou, 2019)

Staying involved and maintaining contact with the support system which will address the issue of isolation. Additionally, staying alert will help in avoiding monitoring activities from stalkers. Talking to an expert will help in coming up with the best ways to overcome the diagnosis.