Recovery Through Conflict Conflict is everywhere, everyone has to deal with conflict in some way, shape, or form everyday. In Judith Guest's, Ordinary People, Conrad has dealt with several major internal conflicts. Even though Conrad was released from the hospital after an attempted suicide, he was not fully recovered. With the help of Dr. Berger and Calvin, Conrad was able to figure out his internal conflicts. In Ordinary People, Judith Guest illustrates that Conrad can go through recovery and change through the communication with Dr.Berger and Calvin. Through Dr.Berger's advice, Conrad was able to heal after coming home from the hospital.. In the first session with Dr.Berger, Conrad told Dr.Berger he wanted more control. Dr.Beger noticed …show more content…
After Beth brought up the topic of Conrad quitting swimming, the family started arguing. Conrad ran up to his room after he told Beth how he felt. Shortly after, Calvin went up to talk to Conrad. Conrad admitted to believing that Beth hates him and Calvin responded with, "Why didn't you tell me you were in trouble?" (Guest 114). Calvin used the word “tell me” and “trouble” to show that he was genuinely worried about Conrad’s health. All of this concern from Calvin helped Conrad communicate better, which in turn made him heal. Additionally, Conrad and Calvin continue to build onto their relationship. After Calvin told Conrad that Beth left for vacation,Conrad told Calvin that he wanted Calvin to be harder on him occasionally, like how Calvin was to Buck. Then Calvin responds with,"He needed it. You didn't. You were always so hard on yourself, I never had the heart. Besides, you were the good kid. The easy one to raise" (Guest 257). Once Calvin told Conrad he was the “good kid” he finally showed to Conrad that he shouldn’t have compared himself to Buck.This helped Conrad get the recognition he needed to recover because he now knows that he doesn’t need to live up to Buck’s name. Calvin was a key factor in helping Conrad recover from his suicide attempt because he was always right by Conrad's