Film Summary
Precious is a 2009 drama film directed by Lee Daniels. The plot is based on the 1996 novel ‘Push’ by the American author and performance poet Sapphira. Claireece Jones, referred to throughout the film as precious, was played by actress Gabourey SidibĂ©, who debuted in this role. The movie revolves around a girl who lives with her abusive mother, Monique, and her incestuous father, Rodney. The family lives in the New York ghetto of Harlem and survives on welfare as their mother faces unemployment. Throughout Precious, on several occasions, viewers witness the trauma and its impact on Precious’s life. These traumatic events include sexual, verbal, physical, and emotional abuse. Precious, as a result of traumatic experiences and environments, suffers from a variety of personality disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
History of Trauma
Claireece Precious Jones is a 16-year-old black American woman. Her general appearance is normal, and she dresses decently according to what she can afford. Precious is a victim of various psychological traumas and anxieties; she faces constant child abuse, rape, domestic violence, incest, and physical and mental violence (Reavis et al., 2013). Her father constantly harasses the girl, and mother forces her to have sex with her stepfather, resulting in Claireece getting pregnant twice. Claireece suffers from an eating disorder and often runs away from her real-life trauma into a world of imagination where she is loved and cared for. In reality, she is terrorized by mother and has no friends, and people make fun of her for being overweight.
PTSD Symptoms
Currently, the two main medical diagnostic guidelines, DSM-5 TR, and ICD-11 formulate the following criteria to conclude that a person is suffering from PTSD. Encounter a situation that threatens life or health is the leading cause of the development of PTSD (Eth, 2020). At the same time, PTSD can develop in a case where a person has become a victim of such an event, and if he was a witness to it, or if a similar event happened to their loved ones (Eth, 2020). Precious’s PTSD develops as a result of childhood trauma and the abusive attitude of others. The main symptoms of the disorder are involuntary intrusive and disturbing memories of the event, distressing experiences, flashbacks, nightmares, or a physical reaction in situations that are reminiscent of the event (Kivimäki, 2021). Claireece denies everything that happens to her and blames the environment for excessive cruelty. Patients try to avoid thoughts and memories about the event or anything that might remind them.
There is a violation of thinking and emotional state as a result of the experienced event. Inability to remember essential aspects of what happened, negative thoughts and beliefs about oneself and the world around (Torres, 2020). The quality of the mother/daughter relationship is a potential post-traumatic factor. Temperamental factors influence acute stress responses in response to complex relationships between them. Precious has very unproductive coping skills and low and negative self-esteem. They often have low moods and negative emotions, decreased interest in the world around them, feelings of isolation and alienation, and a reduced ability to experience positive emotions.
Medical considerations
Increased Levels of Stress Hormones
In the event of danger, the human body releases stress hormones such as adrenaline to switch to active mode and somehow evade the threat. People living with PTSD continue to produce many stress hormones even when the danger is no longer around (Causes, 2020). It can cause hyperarousal and emotional changes and can also cause long-term adverse health effects, including migraines, pain, and an increased risk of heart, lung, and digestive problems. Against the background of post-traumatic disorder, the girl experiences an eating disorder and suffers from obesity, which also harms the heroine’s health.
Changes in the Functioning of the Brain
Trauma-induced stress can wreak havoc on the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in the mechanisms of emotion and memory. Disorders in the hippocampus can interfere with the proper processing of memories and dreams, so the anxiety they cause does not decrease over time (Causes, 2020). Such changes may explain the increased levels of fear and anxiety, memory, and recall problems suffered by people with PTSD. The patient is functionally illiterate, that is, with severely limited reading and writing skills but mathematically gifted.
Stressors
In the case of Claireece, the development of PTSD occurred for a variety of multiple reasons, including both personal experiences and evidence of traumatic events and environments. At the age of three, she was raped by her father, and the abuse continued throughout her life. Pregnancy as a result of incest becomes another traumatic event for the heroine. As a result of this father’s attitude towards the girl, whose mother hated her and accused Claireece of stealing her man. Precious shows negative emotions and avoidance when it comes to remembering the reasons behind her second pregnancy and talking to the school authorities about it.
The heroine is not accepted in society, and often she becomes the main victim of bullying, which is also of great importance in the development of PTSD. Precious, as a result, becomes aggressive towards the society that oppresses her: when she is in the classroom, she suddenly attacks a classmate. The girl develops problems with aggression as a defense mechanism against all traumatic events in her life (Kolk, 2005). It can also reflect the mother’s behavior towards her: she is constantly insulted by her mother, morally and physically insulted, and beaten.
Potential Treatment Plan for PTSD
Approaches to the treatment of PTSD can be divided into two groups: medication and psychotherapy. Often methods of both groups are used in different combinations. To date, there are no medications specifically designed to treat PTSD. Still, many drugs have worked well for other conditions, such as depression and anxiety disorders, and have been shown to be effective in treating the symptoms of PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder, 2022). Regarding psychotherapeutic methods, several approaches demonstrate the greatest (and research-confirmed) effectiveness.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and eye movement desensitization and processing (EMDR) appear to be the most effective tools for treating patients with PTSD. CBT can be done individually or in groups and is often combined with several other exercises, such as writing therapy and stress management (the latter is only recommended for adults) (Khan et al., 2018). According to the World Health Organization guidelines and intervention strategy, antidepressants (SSRIs and TCAs) should not be used as first-line treatment in adults (Khan et al., 2018). They should not be used at all in children and adolescents. Finally, and most importantly, healthcare professionals, in order to communicate effectively with patients who may be in situations similar to Precious ‘, must be able to deal with such complex individuals with the necessary care and empathy and provide them with an unbiased listening space.
The very first and most important step is often the acknowledgment of the traumatic experience, which opens up opportunities for conversation and subsequent rethinking. In the film, Claireece’s healing journey begins when the social worker arranges for another meeting between Precious and her mother, in which she confronts her mother. The devastating effect of trauma on the psyche is mainly due to the fact that the traumatic event is completely knocked out of the normal course of life, so it is essential to build it into a personal history.
References
Causes – Post-traumatic stress disorder. NHS. (2020). Web.
Eth, S. (2020). Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). American Psychiatric Association. Web.
Khan, A. M., Dar, S., Ahmed, R., Bachu, R., Adnan, M., & Kotapati, V. P. (2018). Cognitive behavioral therapy versus eye movement desensitization and reprocessing in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Cureus. Web.
Kivimäki, V. (2021). Experiencing trauma before trauma: Posttraumatic Memories, nightmares and flashbacks among Finnish soldiers. Palgrave Studies in the History of Experience, 89–117. Web.
Kolk, B. A. (2005). Developmental trauma disorder: Toward a rational diagnosis for children with complex trauma histories. Psychiatric Annals, 35(5), 401–408. Web.
Post-traumatic stress disorder. National Institute of Mental Health. (2022). Web.
Reavis, J. A., Looman, J., Franco, K. A., & Rojas, B. (2013). Adverse childhood experiences and adult criminality: How long must we live before we possess our own lives? The Permanente Journal, 17(2), 44–48. Web.
Torres, F. (2020). What is posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? American Psychiatric Association. Web.