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Essay Instructions: Based on the movie "Reign Over Me" At least one paragragraph (200 words) for each question. 1. Discuss what made Charlie's behavior abnormal. 2. Give at least one example of the film that illustrates the concept that people define "abnormal " based on their own subjective experience. 3. The psychodynamic approach states that many of the things we do and say reflect the ego's attempts to reduce the anxiety created by intrapsychic conflicts. Give at least two examples of defense mechanisms used by one of the characters in the film.(repression,projection,displacement,sublimation, reaction formation, regression, denial, rationalization) 4. The behavioral approach focuses on the role of positive and negative reinforcement and increasing/maintaining behavior. Give at least one example of positive reinforcement and one example of negative reinforcement. Be specific, and make sure that your response clearly conveys your understanding of the concept. 5. Angela (the psychologist) encountered a couple of ethical binds in the film. What were they? Did she behave in an ethical manner? 6. Charlie's distress was long-standing and he was an obvious anguish. By the end of the film, though he has a long way to go, it appears that he will finally be able to start the healing process. Why?

Essay Instructions: The instruction to do the book report:

In this assignment you will have the opportunity to choose and read a book from the suggested reading list, or one of your choice, with instructor's permission, which speaks to performance creation, and wrire a 800-1000 word summary of the book. Your summary should include: 1) the name of the book and 2)author; 3) the author(s) objectives; 4) the author(s) intent; 5) how well the author met her or his objectives, 6) who you would recommend read the book and why.
7) Is the book worth the price tag and why?


I have picked and read the book called “Introduction to Dramatherapy Theatre and Healing Ariadne’s Ball of Thread”, which is written by Sue Jennings.

The publisher is called Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

The price costs 14.95 (in English dollars).

The following are the highlighted summary for each chapter of the book:

Chapter 1:
Dramatherapy is a therapy of optimism; it is a therapy of now and the future; it is able to assist people to move on, rather than perpetually delve into an unhelpful past.

Chapter 2:
The drama has already started in utero when dramatic interactions take place between the mother and her unborn child. This appears to be the core of our early dramatic inheritance.

Chapter 3:

Chapter 4:

My primary goals in all kinds of therapy are:
- to re-skill and empower people through the dramatherapy in order for them more ably manage their own lives.
- to maximize their dramatic functioning which will bring about the self-healing processes and promote greater well-being.

Dramatherapy for young people is about freeing them from imposed malfunction from adults. Inappropriate roles can be placed on them for which they are not equipped.

Other children who have physical damage of any sort also need dramatherapy in order to maximize their dramatic functioning.

Re-working happens when we need to make choices and move on or when we cannot let go of an event or episode that has disturbed us.

Dramatherapy enables us to expand our roles in relation to the world and thus our perception of ourselves and others.

My definition of maturation is the capacity to distinguish everyday and dramatic reality and to be able to move in and out of each appropriately. Within this comprehension of two realities, maturity is also being able to tolerate closeness and differences as well as distance and similarity.

Chapter 5:
The world of the theatre is the microcosm of the world itself, and through this small world of the theatre, we ourselves become connected to the world itself. A cosmological experience in the true sense of the world.

Dramatic re-working of experience is something we all do in our lives as well as we tell tales that have recently happened to us. If a re-working has not taken place at the time, being stuck can create distortion and misperception.

A more distanced form of theatre, constructed in the present, is usually more truthful in helping to resolve such situations and it will also provide choices of outcome.

Chapter 6:
The paradox of this distance is that both actors and audience come closer not just to each other but to the themes and characters of the plot and subplots. Images, metaphors and subtexts resonate for us as we are guided through this theatrical journey being communicated within the dramatic reality.

The paradox of theatrical distancing is that we can come closer to issues that concern us and our lives, both as individuals as well as the world as a whole.

My definition of maturation is the capacity to distinguish everyday and dramatic reality and to be able to move in and out of each appropriately.

People who are described as being borderline or psychotic could be described as people who are trapped in dramatic reality.

If I am confused in my thinking and orientation in role and reality, dramatherapy through playing 'the other' can help me reach some order in my experience.

Chapter 7:
Dramatherapists are applying their theatre skills and processes with people who are usually vulnerable and 'at-risk'. Advanced and long-term training and supervision is essential, in order to protect these populations, and dramatherapists have a responsibility to experience these same theatre processes for themselves.

Please do not go to see the play in order to discuss from just a particular psychological or psychoanalytic point of view; otherwise you will miss many opportunities. In order words, see the play through your wide-angle lens rather than your telescopic lens.

One of the greatest assets you can be to the people with whom you work is to be engender creative energy and artisitic passion on their behalf, without superimposing your own view of world.

Chapter 8:

The following is the book summary from the publisher website
(http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book.php/isbn/9781853021152):

'I am extremely grateful to Sue for opening up the immense possibilities of our work-dramatherapy is a 'therapy of optimism', as this book describes; a therapy that does not simply reach back endlessly into our individual pasts for clues to the present, but states now, in the immediacy of the present, our hopes, fears, needs, desires, thereby weaving us a direct thread to our collective future, as well as our past. As you take hold of the thread of this book, I hope your journey is as exciting and fruitful as mine continues to be.'

- from the foreword by Clare Higgins

Dramatherapy is now well-established and widely used in a variety of settings with diverse groups of people. In this book, Sue Jennings presents a 'healing theatre' approach to dramatherapy, showing how it is part of our total cultural experience of theatre art, and how it can be used to find a bearable means of facing the beast at the heart of the labyrinth.

Challenging received views from psychology and psychotherapy on the theoretical base of dramatherapy, she argues that the dramatic development of the individual is a primary developmental process, which is influential from conception and is shaped by cultural context. She maintains that by participating in drama and theatre as well as exploring our 'dramatic' past, a new pathway to self-knowledge and fulfilment is opened as a viable alternative to conventional practice.

Illustrated with many examples, the book also includes exercises and questionnaires which can be used in practice, with students, or for self-study, illuminating the relationship between theatre and healing, and the theatrical basis of dramatherapy.

Essay Instructions: Literature Review
Identify and locate at least five qualitative research articles on your topic. Try to include as many qualitative articles as possible. Prepare and submit a brief literature review of the articles that you locate. This should be an integrated review, reflecting specific details about the research articles within an organized review that demonstrates your understanding of the existing literature on the topic. Your literature review is expected to describe existing research and knowledge about your topic. Other learners will give you feedback through a peer review of your literature review in u03d1. Post your literature review to u03d1 for peer review.
Within your integrated literature review, be sure to address the following for each of the articles you reviewed:
• Identification of philosophical tradition.
• Identification of setting.
• Identification of research purpose.
• Identification of data collection method.
• Identification of researcher biases.
• Identification of an area or areas that would benefit from expansion or clarification.
Remember, the literature review must be written as an integrated review of the literature, not as five separate article reviews. You might want to organize your literature review by themes or subtopics within your broader topic, or if you have a combination of qualitative and quantitative studies in the review, you might want to organize the literature according to the research approach. Your integrated review should demonstrate some organization other than a discussion of each individual article.





SCORING GUIDE
Use the following scoring guide, along with the project information, for evaluating each learner's work.

Identify and locate at least five qualitative research articles on your topic. Try to include as many qualitative articles as possible. Prepare and submit a brief literature review of the articles that you locate. This should be an integrated review, reflecting specific details about the research articles within an organized review that demonstrates your understanding of the existing literature on the topic. Your literature review is expected to describe existing research and knowledge about your topic. Other learners will give you feedback through a peer review of your literature review in u03d1. Post your literature review to u03d1 for peer review.
Within your integrated literature review, be sure to address the following for each of the articles you reviewed:
• Identification of philosophical tradition.
• Identification of setting.
• Identification of research purpose.
• Identification of data collection method.
• Identification of researcher biases.
• Identification of an area or areas that would benefit from expansion or clarification.
Remember, the literature review must be written as an integrated review of the literature, not as five separate article reviews. You might want to organize your literature review by themes or subtopics within your broader topic, or if you have a combination of qualitative and quantitative studies in the review, you might want to organize the literature according to the research approach. Your integrated review should demonstrate some organization other than a discussion of each individual article.
Note: Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click on the linked resources for helpful writing information.


Checklist Item No Yes Comments
Identifies at least 5 qualitative research articles.
(10%)
Submits an integrated literature review.
(10%)
Includes at least 5 peer-reviewed, qualitative research articles to be used in the Research Proposal project.
(10%)
Describes existing research and knowledge about the chosen topic.
(10%)
Identifies philosophical traditions of research articles within an integrated review.
(10%)
Identifies the settings of research studies reviewed.
(10%)
Identifies the purpose of the research articles reviewed.
(10%)
Identifies the data collection methods of the research studies reviewed.
(10%)
Identifies researcher biases for the studies reviewed.
(10%)
Identifies areas that would benefit from expansion or clarification of the research.
(10%)

















PAPER TOPIC/RESEARCH QUESTIONS

According to Creswell (2007), “we conduct qualitative research because a problem or issue needs to be explored” (pg. 39). Researchers explore a phenomenon because of a “need to study a group or population, identify variables that can be measured, or hear silenced voices” (2007, pg. 40). Researchers ask open-ended questions to allow the participants to tell their stories, and to gain a deeper understanding of the problem (Creswell, 2007). The questions may change during the process, as the researcher gains clarity through the interviews (2007).

10 Qualitative Research Questions: “Experiences of an African American Mom who has experienced the suicide of a Son”

What are the attitudes and perceptions about suicide among AA moms who have experienced the suicide of male child?

How do mom’s who have experienced the suicide of son define religion? Spirituality?

How does religion and spirituality operate in the daily lives of AA mom’s that have experienced the suicide of a male child?

What are common themes in AA community about suicide?

How does suicide “reframe” the mother’s views after the death of a child to suicide?

What is the lived experience of an AA mom who has lost a male child to suicide?

How do AA mom’s who have experienced the suicide of a male child rationalize the suicide to themselves? Family? Friends/Community?

What was the initial response of AA mom’s who have experienced the suicide of a male child?

What kind of support did AA mom’s who have experienced the suicide of a male child seek in the community?

What do AA mom’s who have experienced the death of a male child need from the community? Family? Friends?

Reference:
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Maxwell suggests Nine Arguments for a Qualitative Proposal (Creswell, 2007). They include:

We need to better understand, “The experiences of African American mother’s who have lost a male child to suicide.”

We know little about the dynamics that complicate the death of a child to suicide, specifically in the African American community. There are cultural and spiritual factors that prevent open dialogue about suicide in the African American Community (Gibbs, 1997). It is a community that places a heavy emphasis on spirituality and faith (Carlson & Sperry, 2000). Suicide is viewed as a weakness, and the “unforgiveable” sin (Gibbs, 1997).

I propose to study the real experiences of African American mother’s that have lost a male child to suicide. There are many underlying cultural and spiritual factors that make this dialogue “taboo.” Researchers explore a phenomenon because of a “need to study a group or population, identify variables that can be measured, or hear silenced voices” (2007, pg. 40). Often the voices in suicide are silenced for several reasons. Many family members express shame, denial and betrayal after learning of the suicide (Gibbs, 1997). They do not want to openly discuss the subject, and prefer to just move on with their lives (1997). T

The setting and participants are appropriate for this study and will consist of African American Mother’s who have lost a male child to suicide. The interviews will take place in a natural setting (homes or churches) and will give the researcher an opportunity to talk face-to-face and observe and see the participants living within their own context (Creswell, 2007).

The methods I plan to use will provide the data I need to answer the research questions. Individual focus group interviews, observations, confidential surveys will provide the preliminary data needed to answer the research questions. Creswell (2007) encourages the use of multiple sources of data to assist the qualitative researcher to discover codes, themes, categories and larger dimensions (Creswell, 2007).

Analysis will generate answers to these questions, as the multiple realities of African American mother’s that have experienced the suicide of a male child will be explored to discover trends, themes, and differences. These multiple realities will allow the researcher to uncover physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual barriers that may impede the healing process.

The findings will be validated by the use of triangulation and confirmation data from several sources, allowing participants to review and correct data, allowing other researchers to review data to review procedure and external auditors (Creswell, 2007). It is imperative that researchers allow the participants to accurately tell their own stories and accurately record and transcribe field notes and recordings (Creswell, 2009). Participants will be allowed to review the completed project. Creswell also suggests the use of other of readers, graduate committee members, editorial board members and reviewers (2009).


The study poses no serious ethical problems. The IRB Board will review all necessary documents. All participants will sign a confidentiality agreement, and will have access to review the research. All client information will be kept strictly confidential.

The preliminary results will support the practicability and value of the study. Research themes, codes and categories will emerge and allow African American mother’s who have experienced the suicide of a child to have a voice, and face spiritual, emotional and physical barriers.