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Dysfunctional Conflict In Ordinary People

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In Ordinary People Conrad and Buck were out sailing when Buck drowned. Conrad tries to commit suicide by taking a knife to his wrist. He was hospitalized then was suppose to go to a psychiatrist to get help. Conrad gets into a serious relationship with Jeannine, and starts to get his life back together. By the end of the movie, Beth leaves home after Conrad came home and gave her a hug. Losing Buck was very hard on the family, but especially on Conrad because he was there when it happened. This movie relates in many ways to the chapters we read in class. In this essay I 'm going to compare the movie to conflict, stress, and change.
The Jarretts are having a lot of conflict within their family. They are dealing with dysfunctional conflict which …show more content…

In Ordinary People the family is going through distress which is a negative stress because the family is going through a lose of a son or brother. Losing Buck has caused both major life changes and daily hassles. The major life change was Buck dying that puts a lot of stress on the family and especially on Conrad because he was there in the moment when it happened. The mother and father had a lot of stress because their son died that is very hard on a family. Calvin is handling it a lot better than Beth. Beth is taking it out on Conrad and even on Calvin at the golf course. The family experiences daily hassles because Conrad is constantly thinking about when his brother died and that moment on the boat. At first when Conrad went to the Dr.Berger he didn 't like that and going there caused stressed. This was a chronic stressor because he was didn 't exact believe in it at first, and wasn 't getting anything out of it. He wasn 't able to escape it that was the only thing that could eventually help him. The family experienced external stressor like discomfort because they were around people who were concerned about them and would ask how they are doing. They also were getting frustrated with each other like the time Beth and Calvin were at the golf course they just started yelling at each other they became so frustrated with each that they stormed their different ways. Also there was some internal stressors like Conrad experiences cognitive appraisal because he is …show more content…

The family goes through a lot of change when Buck dies. According, to the Holmes-Rahe Readjustment Scale the death of a close family member like Buck is in the top five of the biggest changes in life. Each member of the family experienced the seven stages of personal change. During the ending stage of emotional standstill Conrad couldn’t believe that he let his brother let go. Conrad kept asking himself “Why did this happen?” Then Conrad was at the denial stage he couldn 't really believe that Buck was gone he kept denying the thought. The third stage that Conrad goes through was anger I think that he experienced this by blaming his brothers death on himself. This is eventually where Conrad tries to commits suicide but dad catches him and he doesn 't succeed. Next Conrad is at the stage of helplessness he just got out of the hospital he doesn’t know what to do anymore and doesn 't care to be on a swim team anymore. Conrad bottoms out by quitting the swim team and punching one of his friends. The sixth stage is experimenting. Conrad was experimenting by going to Dr.Berger to get some help and going out on a date with Jeannine. He was finally getting back into the normal world without any stress about the change in his life. By the end of the movie Conrad is becoming a new person. He is starting to be nice to his family even though his mother didn 't exactly accept it. Conrad was getting the help he needed and was in a serious relationship. That was the stage of

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