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Ptsd In A Streetcar Named Desire

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This is Dr. Makayla Chamzuk writing from the Westlock Medical Clinic in regards to patient Blanche DuBois of whom I have been analyzing for the previous month. Through analyzing Miss Dubois’s behavior and attitude I have concluded to diagnose my patient with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder.) PTSD is the exposure to trauma from single events that involve death, and individuals tend to avoid anything that reminds them of the event. According to the information provided from the Canadian Mental Health Associate website, this disorder causes intrusive symptoms such as re-experiencing traumatic events and can make the patient feel very nervous or “on edge” constantly or when experiencing stressful events. Multiple traumatic events and situations Blanche has been exposed to has made her susceptible to this mental disorder, I am …show more content…

All cases of PTSD relatively are triggered by a disturbing part of one’s life. For Blanche, her trauma was witnessing the death of her husband. The story begins when Blanche, in scene six is recalling this with Mitch and she tells him she witnessed her husband with another man and for a while avoids the issue rather than confronting him. One night the three of them went to the casino and in the middle of the Varsouviana Blanche told Allan that he “disgusts” her. A few moments after Blanche’s confrontation with Allen she hears a gunshot and runs to see what the disturbance was all about and devastatingly enough, it was Allen who stuck a revolver in his mouth and fired, blowing the back of his head off. Blanche not only witnessed this tragic event but after a few sessions of talking with her, she revealed that she felt as though she was the one to blame and it would have been no difference if she, in fact, was the one that pulled the trigger that fateful

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An example of a women dealing with PTSD is shown in the story The Train, by Mariette Kalinowski. “At times, when she was consumed by the tightness of Iraq and barely conscious on the train, she wondered if what she was feeling was ever her own, as though she were living someone else’s memories, transforming into another person.” (63) The protagonist is trying to recall what happened during her deployment. She recalls parts of what happened in Iraq but not all.

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Post-traumatic stress disorder, often referred to as PTSD is a mental health disease that people develop after experiencing and or witnessing a traumatic event in their life. When diagnosed with PTSD your personality can drastically change. In the book A Separate Peace, the author John Knowles establishes a character, Elwin Lepellier to be a prime candidate for post-traumatic stress disorder. Lepellier appears to have PTSD due to the many symptoms he was expressing.

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In the essay by David Finkel, "Invisibly Waunted" defines PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder) as " a mental health condition triggered by some type of a terror, or traumatic brain injury - As my own definition I'll say that PTSD is a severe mental state . Where the person has like a dejavú, with a traumatic event and that makes them mentally ill, because it affects that person behavior and personality and they can't control the way the feel. They need medical assistance and therapists but mostly their family love and support through that situation. David Finkel cites "Emory, shot in the head, is still draped across his back, and the blood flowing out of Emory's head is still riveting into his mouth." The principal character of the essay,

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but she been drinking to keep her nerves intact. Another example is the part where she talked about how she haven’t lost weight every since Stella left. But she lied since she had been stressful due to her drinking a lot. 7) Why does Blanche claim she has come to New Orleans? Do you believe her?

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For instance, war veterans sometimes cannot view fireworks as it induces fear in them due to the sound of the explosions seeming like gun shots. In Slaughterhouse-Five, author Kurt Vonnegut, a former soldier in World War II, explores the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder by identifying the underlying causes, highlighting the impacts and symptoms of PTSD, and evaluating coping mechanisms. During a time period where post-traumatic stress disorder was still incredibly controversial, Vonnegut utilized the character of Billy Pilgrim to identify the causes of PTSD. The mental disorder can have many causes as explained in the article “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” in which the National Institute of Mental Health states, “Not everyone with PTSD has been through a dangerous event.

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Many literary criticisms have been written about Blanche and how she tends to lie about everything in her life. “Blanche disguises her desperation with lies- about drinking, her age, her reasons for coming to New Orleans, her sexual experience.” (Dace n.p.). Dace clearly describes Blanche as a liar and describes the fact how she lied about everything from the smallest thing, like her age to something as big as the reason why she went to New Orleans. “... in spite of the fact she’s somewhat older than I.

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Desire can be defined as a strong feeling of wanting or wishing for something. The something could be an object, idea, or an event. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche Dubois believes that the opposite of death is desire. Logically speaking, the real opposite of death is life; so why does Blanche believe that it’s desire? Possibly because she relates desire to life it’s self.

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Stanley takes advantage of Blanche using his assertion and Blanche’s vulnerability due to her mental state and high level of intoxication. After the attack, Blanche’s already diminished mental state continues to deteriorate, leading her into

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PTSD is a reaction to being exposed to an event which is outside the range of normal human experience. Everyone reacts differently to different situations and it doesn't have to be a life threatening experience for someone to respond in this way. PTSD affects hundreds of thousands of people who have been exposed to violent events such as rape, domestic violence, child abuse, war, accidents, natural disasters and political torture. A lot of people go through PTSD without even noticing it. PTSD needs special treatment, and if you don't get it treated it could get worse.

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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder develops in some people who have gone through distressing, dangerous, or startling events. According to Psychology Today, the symptoms of the disorder can range from mild to severe, but often include flashbacks to the event, nightmares, and or stressful thoughts. Furthermore, sexual assault accounts for the highest PTSD rates in both men and women, yet on screen, it is normally depicted as a war-driven disorder. In the film, Charlie suffers from PTSD due

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To hide her true self, Blanche restored to duplicity, coupled with her voracious desire and ubiquitous deception caused her a breakdown. In the following paragraphs, there will be more events that led Blanche to such end. One of the things that led Blanche to her downfall is the past. The past, where she was the reason why she lost her husband, Alan, he

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The fragility of Blanche’s mental state is evident when her paper

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She never recovers from the devastating death of her young husband, indirectly caused by the nature of his sexual desire. The death of her relatives are instrumental in reducing her to poverty, as do the desires, the costly “epic fornications” of her forebears. Her own promiscuous sexual desire destroys her reputation and her professional career. (Henthorne ) The death of her relatives leaves deep scars on Blanche’s soul, but even deeper scares are

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Tennessee Williams wrote “A Streetcar Named Desire” (Williams, 1947) It is based in New Orleans a new cosmopolitan city which is poor but has raffish charm. The past is representing old south in America 1900’s and present is representing new America post world war 2 in 1940’s. Past and present are intertwined throughout the play in the characters Stanley, Blanche, Stella and mitch. Gender roles show that males are the dominant and rule the house which Stanley is prime example as he brings home food and we learn of one time when he got cross and he smashed the light bulbs.

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Psychologist Sigmund Freud developed an idea that there is more than one aspect to the human psyche. The human psyche rather is structured into three separate parts including: id, ego, and superego. In a similar manner, Tennessee Williams has three main characters in his Southern Gothic play, A Streetcar Named Desire. In addition to the human psyche as the three mentioned categories, Freud introduced psychoanalysis, which is the belief that people could be cured through developing their unconscious thoughts or motivations into their conscious decisions, receiving insight (McLeod). Characters are shaped by their thoughts and actions, as this is present in A Streetcar Named Desire.

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