Case Conceptualization Lars and the Real Girl - Essay Example

? Case Conceptualization Case Conceptualization The film Lars and the Real Girl is a fable-style movie that speaks of the life of a painfully shy man, Lars whose mother, died at his birth leaving him chronically traumatized, especially of growing up with a depressive and emotionally abusive father. When his father passed on, Lars and his brother Gus got ownership of the family house in which Gus lived with his wife while Lars lived in the house garage. This paper will offer a case conceptualization of the movie “Lars and the Real Girl”. Section 1 Lars’ introvert nature has alienated him from his community, family and colleagues at work as he shuns human communication, unless when utterly necessary. Furthermore, Lars’ interaction with his brother and sister-in-law is restricted to a few occasions when Lars joins the couple for meals. Lars recoils from human contact by sitting alone in his dark cabin. Interestingly, Lars also shuns Margo, who is a similarly shy and somewhat awkward co-worker. However, Lars’ interest in Margo emerges when he becomes bothered by the relationship between Margo and her lover. Lar’s life changes when a male colleague makes him aware of the availability of anatomically correct love doll on the internet. Lars orders the doll, which is customized to his specification. The doll, which Lars names Bianca, is shockingly wheelchair-bound and according to Lars, very shy. Lars introduces the plastic wheelchair-bound woman to his family and townsmen, who all treat Bianca as a normal woman (Jordan, 2010). Gus and Karin’s concern for Lars compel them to take Lars and Bianca to a psychotherapist, Dagmar. The film’s therapeutic reflections emerge through the doll, which is effectual in helping It helps Lars not only to cope with his past and present misgivings of human contact, but also help him heal his past wounds. Section 2 This section examines Lars’ maladaptive patterns that have ultimately led to his present condition. In order to cope with his traumatic past, i.e. his emotionally abusive father, Lars has shielded himself through his introvert nature. Keeping to himself has offered him the solace to deter people from getting close to him and discovering his father’s inadequacies in terms of showing Lars love. Lars has never experienced love as his mother died when giving birth to him, Gus left him, and his father was distant towards him. Perhaps the root of Lars lack of desire for human contact was his feeling of being an outcast when growing up. He is resentful towards himself for his mother’s loss, which he believes is his fault, as well as the reason behind his father’s emotional distance. Through Lars’ displeasure for human contact, he is shielding himself from what he believes always happens when he gets close to an individual, i.e. he is deserted. Furthermore, in choosing a paraplegic doll as a companion, Lars demonstrates his innate feelings towards his true nature as one who is helpless and needs help to go by his life. His detachment is also shown by his wearing gloves to avoid contact, his sleeping in different rooms with Bianca and his lack of loving expressions towards Bianca. It is, hence apparent that Lars simply needs to feel loved and appreciated. In addition, Lars needs a chance to take care of others unlike what he experienced under his father’s care. Section 3 Lars’ peculiar behavior begs the question of how his problem came about and what his experiences were in his family. Lars suffered a miserable upbringing at the hands of his father. The family was quite dysfunctional because, after his mother’s death, Gus left home, leaving Lars with an emotionally abusive father. Lars’ father’s detachment from his children after the death of his wife is the epitome of wrong parenting styles. His detachment towards Lars meant that he blamed Lars for his wife’s death and this eventually rubbed off on Lars making him disengaged from those around him. Lars’ father’s neglect compelled Lars to fend for himself from an early age. This made Lars appreciative of the role of caring for a person, as he later demonstrated through caring for Bianca (Winnicott, 1951). Parenting styles have an innate effect on the child, and when the parent is emotionally unavailable, the child is bound to adopt some peculiar behaviors such as Lars’ excessive shyness, disengagement from human contact and interestingly, his excessive care towards those that seem to need it (wheelchair-bound Bianca). Section 4 This section will answer the question of what Lars’ automatic thought, pathogenic beliefs and distressing, emotional states were and his maladaptive relational patterns exemplified his conflicts. Dagmar’s testing and treatment of Lars’ condition centers on a peaceful, yet rewarding program that ultimately meets the needs of all parties such as Gus’ concern for his brother’s mental state, Lars’ deep fear of the past and its recurrence and the doctor’s need to treat Lars. Dagmar adopts the positive transcendence module where the patient’s current situation is manipulated to achieve optimal results. In doing this, Dagmar implores Gus to accommodate Lars’ relationship with Bianca as means of allowing Lars to open up to human contact, which inevitably occurs as Lars seemingly admits his feelings towards Margo as he allows bodily contact with her during a handshake. Lars’ psychological delusion with regard to his relationship with Bianca speaks to his need for human love. Lars’s persona perceives human contact as a pathway to destruction as people such as his mother, brother and even his father, have left him in the past. Dagmar, therefore, uses simillima as a course of treatment by understanding Lars’ need for the delusion. In her course of treatment, Dagmar identifies a number of conflicts within Lars. These include Lars’ inner conflict and his self-destructive coping mechanisms such as shunning human contact, which is resultant in Lars’ delusional pathology. In addition, Lars’ use of the psychological delusion in an inappropriate manner that misinterprets reality. This is shown by Lars’ perception of Bianca as a normal woman, and his treatment of Bianca in gentlemanly ways as may be expected if Bianca was a real life-form (Winnicott, 1951). Furthermore, Dagmar notes that Lars’ delusional stance serves to the latter’s advantage in terms of deluding him of reality. Lars uses Bianca as a tool to cope with his innate conflict of lacking love. Lars’ previously untreated source of psychodynamic trauma is also evidenced by his delusional relations with his Bianca, as well as his disengagement towards his family. In conclusion, a number of client characteristics are bound to impede the sustenance of a working alliance. These traits include a patient’s dissociation with other people, disengagement from reality and a person’s inability to communicate his/her fears, personal realities and beliefs of themselves and others. Lars’ relational pattern offers a formidable tool in therapeutic relationships as it encourages psychotherapists to adopt patients’ beliefs, adaptive behaviors and other irrational behaviors in the course of treatment. Just, as Dagmar used Lars’ maladaptive pattern (Bianca) in treating Lars, a psychotherapist should also adapt treatment to the individual life of the patient. References Jordan, M. (2010). A psychoanalytic look at Lars and the real girl. Retrieved from http://www.cgjungpage.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=917&Itemid=1 Winnicott, D. W.  (1951). “Transitional objects and transitional phenomena”.  In Playing and Reality (1971: pp. 1-25).  New York: Basic Books. Read More