Psych 3290: Group Project Template

Group Name:_________________________________________________________________ Group Members: __________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________

Film/ Book: _________________________________ Author: __________________________ Child Character: ____________________________________________Age: ______________

CASE SUMMARY Note: Case Summaries should be written in paragraph form with complete sentences and correct punctuation

1. Summarize the characters exposure to traumatic stressor(s) in terms of type, age at onset(s), frequency, duration and severity. GIVE EXAMPLES All of the traumatic stressors s viewed in the movie occur while Toby is an adolescent emotional and physical abuse are the most dominate forms of abuse shown in the movie and the all happen between Toby and Dwight. Domestic Violence 1957 Tobys mother was beaten by her boyfriend so the two of them left town and headed to Utah. Toby is adolescence around the age of thirteen, but the frequency, duration and severity of the abuse is unknown at the beginning of the movie. Neglect Tobys mother way of dealing with things was to run away from them, always moving and never providing Toby with a stable home life. At the beginning of the movie we saw the two of them heading to Utah and shortly after Carolines boyfriend Roy catches up with them Caroline is seen package the two of them up to move once again this time to Seattle. While in school Toby joins the basketball team, Dwight refuses to buy him the proper shoes for him to participate in so Toby is forced to practice on his bear feet but doing games he must have shoes and so he has to wear his dress shoes which makes him slide all of the court not giving him the proper support or grip need to play basketball. Toby is shown sliding all of the court during one of his games, which is dangerous, putting others and himself in harms way. This is a form of neglect because Dwight is not providing Toby with the right things to help

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provide needed care. Neglect is not a frequent form of abuse shown in Tobys life but the duration does last a long time because Toby never receives gym shoes so he can play basketball the severity of this abuse is not that high because basketball is just a extracurricular activity. Physical Abuse Physical abuse is shown for the first time between Dwight and Toby about Toby gets into a fight with a kid know as the town homosexual. After dinner while on the porch Dwight his teaching Toby how to defend himself but it quickly turns into a way for Dwight to slap around and hit on Toby. This event last for just for a little bit and does not seem to happen often. The severity is not that high because Toby quickly learns how to use what Dwight taught him against him. Toby took Dwights car out for a joy ride and the next day Dwight found out from a man in town about it. When he got home Toby was in bed sick she jumped on top of him and started slapping him and punching him in the back when he finished he kicked him in his side. This was only the second time we witnessed physical abuse and it did not last the long but the severity of it was really high leaving bruises on his body. When Toby is brushing his teeth before bed Dwight comes in and becomes upset that he left the top of the toothpaste once again, he reminds Toby that it is his house and his rules, Toby does not react so Dwight starts pushing him around and reminds him that his real farther is not around to make up the rules. Once again the abuse does not last long and the severity is mild but it is becoming more frequent. The last Physical abuse we see comes after Toby finds out she got into a private school Dwight becomes very jealous and begins to taunt Toby the taunting quickly because physical after Dwight notices that Toby threw away a empty jar of mustard. Dwight takes the jar and starts to shove it into Tobys face till he says it is not empty. When Dwight ask Toby one last time if it was really empty he says yes so Dwight punches him in the face, after that the two of them go at it destroying the kitchen. Dwight pushes Toby to the ground and starts stomping on him and chocking him. This event last for a while before Tobys mom hits Dwight over the head. At this point the physical abuse has become very frequent and the severity is very high Dwight was almost at the point of killing Toby and would have if Caroline did not come in and stop him. Emotional Abuse After Christmas while Toby is still an adolescence, Toby moves to concrete with Carolines boyfriend Dwight on their way to Dwights, Dwight emotional abuses Toby by belittling, taunting and being verbal hostile towards him. Dwight tells him if he pulls that hotshot behavior towards him he would pop his head like a zit. This emotional abuse last the whole trip to concrete, with a high level of severity, as Toby appears to be more afraid then ever before.

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After moving to concrete Dwight makes Toby cut his hair into a buzz cut, doing so is a form of rejection to who Toby is by not allowing him to have his own personal style. This event occurred just days after Toby moved in with Dwight showing that emotional abuse is very frequent in Dwights and Tobys relationship. The Severity of this emotional abuse is low but allows Dwight to show Toby who has the power in their relationship. The duration last just as long as it takes for Toby to get his hair cut and a little after while it takes time for Toby to get use to his new look. Dwight often brings up that Toby father is married to a rich women and brings up the fact that his father wanted nothing to do with him because he never calls are write. This is a form of belittling Toby. Dwight brings up Tobys father very often it is something that does not last long but the severity is high because Toby does show signs of being help by his father not having a presence in his life. Taunting is shown when Dwight tells Toby he will get him a new bots scout uniform but a few days later it turns out he only got him a used uniform that is old and way too big for Toby, while he got himself a brand new uniform. Toby finds himself to be embarrassed and no longer what to be apart of the program. Dwight gets him to go by telling him his mom would be disappointed if he did not go. The duration is not long nor is the severity or frequency of this form of emotional abuse.

2. Give examples of how each of the Core Concepts of Childhood Traumatic Stress are demonstrated within the novel /film through the character, supporting characters (e.g. family) and/or child serving systems.

3. Identify characters developmental stage(s) at the time stressor(s) occurred noting which developmental tasks and/or biological processes might be impacted. All developmental phases the child has progressed through since onset of the stressor should be explored (e.g. if stressor occurred in preschool but the story opens with the child as an adolescent, document or hypothesize about what happened in the intervening stages). If the childs developmental trajectory is NOT askew and the child is asymptomatic, give a rationale for this finding. If child is young at beginning of the story/film and it concludes there, hypothesize how the childs later developmental phases might be impacted.

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During the time of Tobys Stressors Toby is in the stage of an adolescent. The movie does cover of a span of about five years but during that time Toby seems to be in the same developmental phase of his life, which is adolescences. Because of the tractmtic stressors later own in Tobys life he might have problems developing positive relationship, identifying his own sexual role and setting attainable goals. While living in Seattle Toby begins to hang out with the wrong crowed of people leading him to skip school and when he does attend in is often sent to the office. At this time Toby is at the developmental stage of adolescence and should be able to develop a sense of self and personal identity with the ability to achieve new and more mature relations with others. But because of never being able to build a stable relationship with other people besides his mother, Toby lacks the ability to form mature relationships with other people leading him to hang out with people who have negative influences on his life. Throughout the whole move Toby is always saying that he wants to do better but his actions does not match the goals that he desires to accomplish because of the traumatic stress in Tobys life he was never able to learn how to deal with problem are set goals, his only example what his mother who was always known for running away and leaving her problems behind. Because of this Toby can lack the ability to acquire a set of values as a way to guide his behavior and development. At this time Toby should have a set of beliefs and values to help use as a guide in his life. During the movie Toby becomes friends with Arthur the town homosexual one day the two of them were sitting playing the piano singing when they finished Arthur leaned over and kissed Toby. Toby was unsure how to react so the two of them just started to sing again and act like nothing happened. Carolines abusive relationships and the negative male relationship Toby has had in his life could effect how Toby identifies what his sexual role/ identity is. During adolescent Toby should be able to mange his sexuality but the lack of positive relationships in Tobys life have a impact on being able to set attitudes about what it means to be male or female and it effects his ability to incorporate values about his sexual behavior and attitude.

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4. Describe relevant risk and resiliency factors found in the story/film that impacted the childs response to the stressor(s)

5. Illustrate how elements in the childs environment impacted the childs response to the stressor(s) using Bronfenbrenners model. Be sure to address each of the levels and give as many concrete examples as you can find at each level.

6. Discuss how child-serving systems (e.g. education, medical, social service, and legal) responded or did not respond to the child and family regarding the stressor(s).

Psych 3290: Group Project Template

7. Outline relevant symptoms displayed by character and discuss potential DSM-IV diagnoses. Identify examples of evidence that the child does or does not meet criteria for the diagnosis. For example, if PTSD is a potential diagnosis, list the Criterion an event and any examples of re-experiencing, avoidance and hyper arousal found (or alluded to) in the story/film.

Create a PowerPoint presentation of the highlights of the Case Summary for class. Choose the most important/interesting information to present; your group WILL NOT has time to present the entire Case Summary in the time available.