An Example of Biopsychosocial Assessment (Research Paper Sample)

A Biopsychosocial Assessment
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Biopsychosocial Assessment
Precious is an emotional film based on an abused and humiliated African-American teenager in 1987, whose life is turned around by the concern of an inspirational teacher. Claireece “Precious” Jones, played by Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe, is a sixteen-year-old Afro-American who lives in Harlem. Precious is overweight and has had to grow up in many family settings with severe dysfunction. Although she is in ninth grade, she cannot read or write and her peers ridicule her, saying she is a “fat pig” and a loser. Her mother abuses her physically and verbally, many a time using her as her servant. Precious has one child from her father who has been sexually abusing her since she was a child.
Precious has lived a tumultuous life believing that she does not fit society standards because of her weight, skin color and abuse. She discovers she is pregnant again, and the school principal kicks her out of the school. The principal transfers her to another school “Each One, Teach One” hoping she will change her life. The teacher, Blu Rain, takes Precious under her care. Miss Rain prepares young women to get their GEDs and inspires her students to write their thoughts in journals. Through this process, Precious escapes her reality by fantasizing and imagining situations. In these situations she is a model, celebrity or singer and her fairy godmother gifts her an orange scarf.
Soon enough, Precious meets a social worker, Miss Weiss, who gets to know about the sexual abuse after Precious accidentally tells her. Precious’ mother tells her that her father had AIDS, which brought his death. Soon after, Precious discovers that she is HIV positive. Despite her messy life, Precious is determined to get her GED and does not want her mother involved in her life or her children’s lives.
Everything that Precious has gone through has affected how she perceives things and herself. Children who have been sexual abuse victims manifest dissociative symptoms (Ensink et al., 2017). Precious slips into dissociation, a fantasy world where she is a movie star on the red carpet, during episodes of sexual abuse from her father. The fantasy world she creates protects her from the harsh reality of the abuse. Dissociation interceded the relationship between child sexual abuse and difficulties in internalizing sexualized behavior (Ensink et al., 2017). Dissociation acts as a necessary survival skill for responding to trauma and abuse in a person’s mind. Precious often slipped into dissociation; for example, she took a picture of her mother, imagined it coming to life, and her mother spoke kind and encouraging words to her.
Looking at Precious’ life from a biopsychosocial standpoint, several things to look at such as her biological, psychological and social status. The main biological status with Precious is her weight. She is subject to ridicule and as a result; she turns to food as a way of relieving herself and for comfort. In one scene, she steals a bucket of fried chicken and eats it, then later vomits it all. Childhood abuse contributes to severe symptoms of eating disorders such as weight, shape, and food concerns (Guillaume et al., 2016, p. 4). Precious is not happy with her weight because she stands in front of a mirror and imagines herself as a slim, blue-eyed blonde. She sees herself as what she wants to be rather than who she is in the present.
The next assessment is Precious’ psychology. Precious has experienced sexual and physical abuse from her parents since she was a child. She experiences flashbacks of her past, depression, low self-esteem and problems with socializing. Experiencing negative beliefs about oneself and persistent negative emotional states such as shame are symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) all of which are symptoms that Precious has (American Psychiatric Association, 2021, p. 272). Post Traumatic Stress disorder is the development of psychological reactions because of experiencing one or several traumatic events. Precious has been in many traumatic events such as sexual abuse from her father, physical abuse from her mother and learning that she is HIV positive. Freud’s research believes that distress is caused by parental relationship and early childhood trauma; therefore, the stress and depression that Precious deals which is because of the traumatic experiences she went through with her parents (Schriver, 2014, p. 91). However, Precious does not let her situation break her, and she shows resilience in several ways. She does not play victim and with the help of the social worker and her teacher; she changes her negatives to positives.
From a social standpoint, Precious lives with her unemployed mother who cannot take care of her. The mother devises plans of having social workers provide for her. However, the issue affects Precious because she cannot talk openly to the social worker about her abuse since she believes her mother will attack her. Precious struggles with school and gets suspended after the principal finds out she is pregnant. She also deals with bullying frequently at school and as a result, cannot interact with people. Understanding a person’s development requires one to understand their social environment (Schriver, 2014, p. 81). Cultural background and the environment have a significant role in an individual’s development.
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological system can analyze how cultural factors have influenced Precious’ development by using the microsystems, exosystems, macrosystems, and mesosystems (Christensen, 2016). The microsystem which is her immediate family affects her development. Precious’ immediate family affects how she develops because they have a negative impact in her life. She is sexually abused by her father and physically abused by her mother leaving her emotionally challenges. Although her grandmother takes care of Precious’ child, she does not help Precious because she fears the mother is vengeful.
The exosystem helps understand how the outside situations such as school affect Precious’ family. According to Christensen, the exosystem is the link between a social setting that an individual has no control over and their immediate situation (2016, p. 23). Education serves as an important part in Precious’ life. Education plays a crucial role in Precious’ life. Although the principal suspends her because of her pregnancy, she is referred to another school which allows her to improve her life and that of her children. She learns to read and write and also maintains a bond with her teacher.
The macrosystem analyzes how Precious cannot form meaningful relationships with people. The macrosystem includes the cultural contexts in which the individual lives in (Christensen, 2016, p. 23). Being socially aware and having the ability to create friendships with people are important in an individual’s development. If the environment is safe and allows a person to be comfortable, an individual develops self-confidence. Precious lacked social skills because of being bullied at school.
Using Erikson’s psychosocial developmental theory, we can analyze and understand how physical and sexual abuse has affected Precious’ psychological development. According to Schriver, human development occurs in several steps which allow a person to be psychologically, biologically, and socially ready (2014, p. 99). Precious does not develop socially because of the abuse she faces at home; for example, she tells her neighbor to leave her alone after the neighbor approached her. Precious is struggling with the fifth stage in Erikson’s developmental theory of Identity versus Role confusion (Schriver, 2014, p. 101). In this stage, adolescents deal with deciding on who and what they want. Precious is struggling with her identity and the abuse from her parents and peers. She does not know what she wants to become, and she withdraws herself from reality. Adolescents who cannot define their identity withdraw and get confused or want to be in the crowd without being noticed (Schriver, 2014, p. 101). Throughout the film, Precious’ mother would verbally abuse her and tell her she will amount to nothing. The abuse affects how she ide