Donna’s Psychological Analysis

Donna’s Psychological Analysis

Question One

Donna seems to have deep underlying problems in her subconscious. Her childhood seems to have been traumatizing, having had no connections with their biological parents when she was younger. Although her parents have been in constant communication all through her life, she has never lived with both of them under the same roof. Even though she does not admit it, Donna could have been yearning for a close-knitted family. The only people who have loved her and cared for her genuinely are either dead or are about to die. Her grandmother is dying of Alzheimer’s disease, and her aunt Bea, her babysitter and caregiver as a child, died when Donna was only five years old. Donna thinks that it was brave of her not to cry during her aunt’s funeral. However, keeping the grief bottled up in her could be part of the reason why she needs psychotherapy. According to Donna, she has been physically assaulted by both her mother and aunt when she tried to express her innate feelings. As a result, Donna feels misunderstood by most members of her family. Family is part of the things that a child holds dear while growing up. Donna, however, does not feel connected to most members of the extended family, her mother included. The fact that Donna’s mother arrived for the counseling session late is evidence of a disconnect between her and her daughter.

After being raped and having the accused person go scot-free, Donna has had her emotional health attacked. She already has scars from the past that continue to haunt her and the rape ordeal only worsened the situation. Donna, therefore, qualifies for a psychodynamic approach to her counseling sessions. Donna’s subconscious mind still carries a lot of painful memories from her childhood, and these memories have shaped the individual she has become. According to the psychodynamic theory, the experiences stored in the subconscious mind are often the triggers of the behaviors that people exhibit (Basham et al., 2016). The theory states that nothing happens accidentally, even a slip of the tongue. All human actions are triggered by something in the subconscious.

Question Two

Socio-cultural issues that could be affecting Donna could also be a reason why she is suffering psychologically. One of the issues that could be the cause of her psychological problems could be the child-rearing practices she has gone through in her childhood. Both of Dona’s parents have been alive all her life, but they have not been present to raise their daughter. Instead, Donna grew up with her aunt and her grandmother. Although Donna is close to her father, he does not devote a lot of his time to being apparent. Her mother, on the other hand, does not behave like a mother. She continues to live as if she does not have a child. As a result, Donna may feel unwanted by her parents, and this could be a cause for her depression. Her mother is recorded to have been physically violent with Donna, raising an issue with the kind of parenting that Donna has had as a child.

The second socio-cultural issue that could have affected Donna’s psychological health is family structure. Most children are shaped by the cohesiveness (or lack of it) of their families (Basham et al., 2016). Donna is a member of a large extended family, but it seems dysfunctional. Her mother is barely present in her life as Auntie Bea was the one who took care of Donna when she was young. Her father lives around the block, but Donna has never lived with both her parents under one roof. The broken family structure could also be a reason for Donna’s depression.

Cross-cultural issues that may be present with Donna’s case

Cross-cultural issues in psychology are the cultural factors that influence a person’s behavior. Some cultures may stress on individualism while others are keen on collectivism (Basham et al., 2016). The environment that a person is exposed to determines how they approach life, the kind of values they uphold, and the characteristics that each person upholds. In the case of Donna, she has an environment that seems to push her towards individualism. The factors in her environment seem to be pushing her to be self-alienated; the reason why she feels like nobody understands her.

One of the issues in cross-cultural psychology that seems to affect Donna is child development. Donna did not get the chance to grow up like a normal child, surrounded by love and care from her immediate family. Other than her late aunt and dying grandmother, Donna has never had anyone taking genuine care of her. When her aunt died, Donna did not cry. Psychologically, a child is expected to be overcome with grief when she loses someone dear to her. However, Donna was taught to suppress her feelings from a tender age. Suppressing feelings does not mean that a person is brave; it causes emotional damage, especially if the person feels like they have nobody they can trust to understand them (Thyer, 2017).

The second cross-cultural aspect of psychology that could have affected Donna is family and social relationships. Donna’s family is large but is not close-knit. The family members are more oriented towards pursuing individual goals. Donna has been raised to believe that each person is supposed to live their individual lives. Her parents live separately, and everyone in her neighborhood seems to be living their own lives. Donna feels more alienated because she is attracted to girls, and her mother seems to be against it. Donna’s mother is working hard to break up any romantic relationship that Donna would have with a girl. She does not seem to understand Donna’s need for identity. Coupled with the psychological trauma that Donna has endured since her childhood, it is hard for her to nurture her psychological health.

Question Three

Objections relation theory is a branch of the psychoanalytic theory of psychology. The approach emphasizes on the inter-personal relationships, especially between the mother and the child.

The word object, in theory, is used to refer to a person who is the focus of the emotional attention of another person on the family. For instance, in a relationship between a mother and her child, the mother is the object of the child’s affection. Relations, in theory, are the relationships that an individual has with other members of the family, especially the residue of past relationships that continue to affect a person ion their present life. The theory is focused on understanding the inner perceptions of the self and how an individual manifests himself in interpersonal relationships.

D.W. Winnicott is one of the major contributors to the object relations theory. He was a pediatrician and spent a lot of time observing how children related to their parents. He discussed that the way parents relate to their children has a direct effect on the quality of parental care that the child gets. His three major points were that holding the infant, mother, and the child living together and both parents living together with the child were the three lapses that would assure satisfactory parenting (Søndergaard, 2017). The absence of one or all stages of the parenting and bonding stages could have a detrimental effect on the child.

Donna did not have all the three lapses in her life. Since she was born, her mother does not seem to have had maternal instincts. For this reason, there wasn’t much physical holding between Donna and her mother. According to Winnicott, holding an infant offers both physical and psychological comfort (Søndergaard, 2017). As a child, Dona did not get to live with her mother. Until she was five years old, Donna lived with her aunt and her grandmother. Donna did not get to live with both her parents under the same roof, even though her parents have been in contact all through Donna’s life. Her father and grandfather lived within the block, but he never lived with Donna and her mother. Donna does not show a lot of true self characteristics in her current behavior. True self characteristics are the parts of a person that feel creative, spontaneous, and real. Donna has more of a false self-personality because her life and character are built on compliance.

Question Four

The inter-subjective theory of psychology proposes that each individual has a unique way of organizing their principles (Mascolo, 2016). Their uniqueness ion organizing principles shape their experiences as individuals. When handling Donna’s case, inter-subjectivity might come in handy as a way to condition Donna’s mind to know that she can rely on me to get help. For Dona, I am a new experience in her life, and it is my responsibility to ensure that our interaction has a positive impact on her. If I approach her problems in ways to suggest that I do not understand her or anything close to how her mother would handle her situation, she will have negative experiences that will hinder her healing process.

Question Five

The contemporary relational theory in psychology discusses that the primary need in the life of a human being is having strong and real mutual connections with other human beings. The theory discusses that broken relationships between human beings are the source of psychological problems. Donna craves to have genuine relationships with people who understand her. All the relationships she has had in the past, especially with her family members, have caused her pain because none of the family members seem to understand her. In her quest for identity, Donna has lost relationships with people who should have a significant impact on her life, such as her mother and some of her friends. Tapping into the contemporary relational theory would ensure that the relationship Donna establishes with me will give her the comfort of having at least one person who understands her. Proper application of this theory will ensure that she opens up to me. The first step to helping a person with a psychological problem is allowing letting them feel comfortable sharing their story with you. In this case, I am sure that if Donna realizes she can have a genuine relationship with me will enable her to talk about her issues, and we shall find a solution for her.

References

Basham, K., Byers, D. S., Heller, N. R., Hertz, M., Kumaria, S., Mattei, L., … & Shilkret, C. J. (2016). Inside out and outside in: Psychodynamic clinical theory and psychopathology in contemporary multicultural contexts. Rowman & Littlefield.

Mascolo, M. F. (2016). Beyond objectivity and subjectivity: The intersubjective foundations of psychological science. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 50(4), 543-554.

Søndergaard, H. P. (2017). ‘Janet vs. Freud’on Traumatization: A Critique of the Theory of Structural Dissociation from an Object Relations Perspective. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 33(3), 418-421.

Thyer, B. A. (2017). It is time to delink psychodynamic theory from the definition of clinical social work. Clinical Social Work Journal, 45(4), 364-366.