The book is about the Jarrett family which consists of Calvin, Beth, and Conrad, their son. Before the book's narrative begins, there is a second Jarrett child, Buck, who dies in a boat accident more than a year before tale is narrated. After Buck's passing, Conrad turned out to be profoundly depressed, accusing himself of his sibling's death. He intends to bring an end to all this through suicide by slashing his wrists . H is effort fails when Calvin discovers him in the bathtub before he dies. Conrad seeks treatment after the ordeal . While seeking therapy, he meet s Karen, a young woman of his generation who also had attempted to kill herself. The activity of the book starts a month after Conrad returns home from the clinic. While he is genuinely relieved, Conrad is in no way, shape, or form fully restored, and in line with his dad, he starts to see a therapist, Dr. Berger. Conrad reveals to Berger that he has a negative attitude towards psychiatry. Yet, he needs Berger to assist him with overseeing others so he can make his dad quit stressing over him. Conrad keeps on seeing Berger, although it is indistinct whether therapy is helping him (Guest, 2008). The tale centers on his family life, it emerges that Conrad is getting progressively estranged from his mom, who is not keen on spoiling him or choosing not to move on. His relationship with his dad is, to some degree, also strained.
“Ordinary People ” is a book that encompasses all the aspects of family life, portraying the effects of tragedy on the basic units of society. It portrays what may befall an upper-middle-class family when disaster strikes , and order becomes a disorder. However, everybody must maintain a disguise of normality for society and one another. It reveals the insight of a family that, because of a tragedy, has transformed into discrete people occupying a shared house, who can not convey their distress adequately. The family's inability to cooperate as a one societal entity through the tragedy takes them down a road in which each one of them experiences an internal breakup, which leads to the family’s break down. The three members of the family are coping in the aftermath of the death of Buck's most adored child. Conrad becomes consumed with depression and guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt and consequential hospitalization. He is searching for help because he wishes to be "in control" of the occurrences around and against him (Guest, 2008). Beth always had a preference for Buck and lacks a mother to child relationship with Conrad. Calvin is trapped between the two desperately trying to keep the family united, but the burden is mounting, and now he has grown to a new reality by himself.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
PTSD and Family Therapy
Conrad is the Identified Patient (IP) in the Jarrett family. He is the youngest one in the family. A high school student who has now recovered out of a four-month treatment in a psychiatric facility following a botched suicide attempt . Conrad shows indications of sadness and PTSD. He experiences difficulty resting as well as has bad dreams from trauma, which may have set off his signs. He reprimands himself over the boat tragedy , which led to the death of his brother Buck. He has lost appetite has almost no social contact with companions . He has difficulty concentrating in class. Additionally, Conrad is floundering in the swimming crew and does not show a decent connection with his parents. Calvin, Conrad's dad, is introduced as he is nodding off in the auditorium close to Conrad’s friend Beth who appears to be substantially more engaged by the play than he is. Calvin gets back, goes immediately to Conrad's room, and inquires as to whether he will see a therapist soon, demonstrating a lot of worry for his prosperity than Beth (Guest, 2008). Unmistakably, from the readers’ first encounter with Calvin, one understand s that there is a distinction inside the marriage, and gender orientation job in the Jarrett family that is not similar to our concept of a customary family. In this family, the mother is at a more significant amount, the guardian than the dad.
Beth, Conrad's mom, who, in the critical relation with her lone boy, is introduced as she disposes of Conrad’s morning meal firmly when he states that he is not hungry. There is an interaction gap and a very overt passive-aggressive aggression from Beth to other family members. The first encounter with our main characters reveals tension exists inside this family. Not only is this family in sorrow, but every member is struggling to connect correctly. There is also an uncomfortable balance of control within its system. The image we have is the complementary work of an extreme mother/delicate parent. Within the family system, the father performs a more considerable amount of common gender-oriented tasks allocated to an "expressive" position, as expected by a compassionate mum. For example, Calvin seems to be the one providing wholehearted support and tender care. The mother of this family is the decision-maker. Issues such as traveling for herself and her husband, and reviewing the expenses after getting back from the trip are Beth’s responsibility. Beth is the one selecting the clothes that her young boy will bring, and also what footwear her husband will wear at Buck’s funeral (Radhakrishnan, 2016). She is against change that will be of help to the family , and h er desire to maintain all this power and authority creates a great deal of tension inside the family.
There are a few subsystems within the complexities of this family. Beth and Buck, the most seasoned kid who had passed away, shared an extraordinary kind of connection, and while Buck is gone, their partnership appears to be part of the new family system. Beth, her mother, and sister tend to have an involving extended family system. They are the ones she is running to anytime she wants to shelter from her own family. Conrad and his father have a different relationship, as compared to Conrad and his mother. Their relationship is beneficiary, unlike Beth and Calvin. A case on this particular connection between Beth and Calvin shows explicitly to us that the family cannot adapt to change. Beth, who desires to sustain all the power under her influence, is not lenient when her husband asks her to have a sound connection with their child Conrad. Beth also serves as the dominant force within the couple's partnership. (Radhakrishnan, 2016).
They are unsure about their relationships, and neither of them has a strong feeling of connection to the family group. Across the traditional pattern, the Jarrett family reveals a detached structure in the way in which they treat Conrad's social and extreme issues. As we have seen, Beth, who is the mother of the family, has the most influence in the family. Calvin, who completes the choices, needs more capacity to keep the family framework flawless. The relationship problems in the family originate from this unfortunate parity power tasks. Generally, this basic family structure is broken and destroys the family because of the absence of a basic family relationship. However, Conrad and Calvin are both willing to work on the relationship issue and looking for intervention from a therapist. The mother, obsessed with control, doesn't endure any alliances between her husband and her child.
Therapy strategies for the Jarrett family and the rehabilitation plan rely on the Structural Family Therapy Theory. It is apparent that the social structure, which includes definitions, roles, and duties within the family, will be modified (Surawicz, 2018). The proposed structure will try to rebuild the relationship between families in situations where there exist different boundaries and responsibilities. The therapist can begin by encouraging Calvin and Beth to understand that Conrad is the regarded patient. Parents will have the chance to take a look at their expectations of professional behavior when approached with issues. Given the fact that change inside the family is daunting for Beth, maintaining the family’s safety and comfort needs a new lead in the family structure who will lead as an example. The transitioning period for the family will require a lot of effort. The new structure will offer Calvin the leverage to encourage the family to be together to cope with Conrad's emotional challenges.
From Beth’s behavior in the novel, restructuring her role means she undeniably feels blamed within the Recovery Paradigm of Structural Family Therapy. Beth does not worry about discussing family problems, so she thinks the same about discussing them with a family professional. She has no trust in what a psychologist can accomplish for her family because she believes that only she solves their problems. She repeatedly says, "This is my family. I would prefer not to change. This is me!” (Guest, 2008). The professional therapist will assess the family at a family gathering and model the social interaction with the restructuring concepts. The family will profit from a variety of daily meetings during daily social affairs, either at lunch or dinner, exploring the way they communicate with each other. The psychiatrist focuses on the tension between Beth and her child, Conrad. The psychiatrist would often concentrate on unbalanced problems within the family, primarily within partners, to streamline the dysfunctional family structure.
“ Ordinary People” is a manifestation of the effects of tragedy and the loss of a beloved one to a family. Like in most societies, the book depicts the trauma and anguish that family members undergo in adjusting to their loss. The author has portrayed the effects of this tragedy in a clear and easy to understand manner, underscoring the need for social and psychiatric support for the affected individuals.
References
Guest, J. (2008). Ordinary People.
Surawicz, B., & Jacobson, B. (2018). Dr. Howard Berger in Ordinary People by Judith Guest. In Doctors in Fiction (pp. 129-131). CRC Press.
Radhakrishnan, C. (2016). Consequences of Family Disintegration in Judith Guest's Ordinary People. Language in India, 16(10).
