Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • Free Essays • My Term Papers • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Psychology Personality Approach Personality Approach In an attempt to identify the personality approach of an incest victim in a recent magazine article, I have estimated that the approach is behavioral/social. Numerous occurrences of childhood incest made Deborah Mays (Bergner, 2000, p. 119) experience a cycle of depression well into her late thirties. Because she was a helpless child subjected to ongoing accounts of physical and mental abuse by her own father, she showed later in life that her inability to control the incest led to bouts of depression. This paper will briefly explore the circumstances surrounding the incest, the emotional trauma Deborah experienced during the time she was being raped by her father, the long-term effects Deborah suffered due to the abuse, and how I determined that the personality approach was behavioral/social. According to Deborah, her trauma did not begin until the time she was eight years old, when her father began to ask her to massage various body parts. He began to force her hands on his penis, and eventually even forced her mouth on it. Deborah’s father never raped her vaginally; rather, he opted to rape her anally. He would threaten her by asking if she knew what knew death was. When she replied in the affirmative, her father indicated that if she ever told anyone about their experiences, he would make his threats of death valid. Deborah was so terrified of his threats that she did not divulge the information for four long years. During the four years Deborah was being raped, she experienced a combination of anxiety and confusion. Every time her mother left for an errand, Deborah became terrified that her father would initiate another sexual encounter. Her anxiety proved accurate. Each night, she began to pray that the Lord would suck the breath out of her. Deborah began to feel as though she was a despicable creature, incapable of being loved. Her confusion was generated by her innocence; Deborah could not mentally comprehend why the incest was occurring, nor do anything to prevent it. By the time she was twelve, Deborah worked up the nerve to tell her mother. Her mother took her to the police station and tried to press charges. Her mother was advised not to file criminal charges, and eventually her father just ignored protective orders and followed the family wherever they moved. When Deborah was fourteen, her father began living with them again. Although the incest did not continue, the emotional suffering did. Deborah again experienced confusion when her mother decided to accept this man back into their household. As an adult, Deborah flip-flops between sanity and depression. At times, she still feels as though she would like to be daddy’s girl; a feeling she lost out on during adolescence. Alternately, she has had dreams of meeting and brutally attacking the man who physically assaulted her at such a tender age. Deborah has been given prescription medicine to assist her with blackouts brought on whenever she recalls the incest. During some of her adult sexual experiences, Deborah has imagined having vaginal intercourse with her father, and has even fantasized about being older and more capable of making him satisfied. She indicates that, at times, she feels like she has been strangely rejected by him. Deborah has felt so abnormal during adulthood, due to her abnormal childhood, that she is utterly uncertain about her decision-making abilities in every aspect of her life. In an attempt to determine which personality approach best describes Deborah Mays, I have selected the behavioral/social approach. Due to the overabundance of incestuous occurrences in Deborah’s life, she experienced mental anguish, instability, and depression. The text Personality (Burger, 2000, p. 10) describes depression as “…developing from experiences with aversive situations over which people have little or no control.” As applicable to Deborah’s situation, it further states, “…exposure to uncontrollable events creates a perception of helplessness that is generalized to other situations and may develop into classic symptoms of depression.” Deborah had no control over her father raping her; she felt helpless, and it eventually led to periods of depression throughout her adult life. Although Deborah did not ask to be raped, her situation later dictated the functions of her adult thought process. In conclusion, Deborah has been fighting bouts of depression throughout her adult life as a result of the incestuous atmosphere that she was forced to accommodate as a young child. Her depression appears to be derived from severe adolescent anxiety and confusion. Because she was made to endure such strenuous circumstances, she was predisposed to depression through her subjection of incest. The combination of incestuous rape, the emotional roller coaster that Deborah experienced because of the occurrences, and the depression that occurred afterward all contribute as identification factors of the behavioral/social approach to Deborah’s personality. She could not prevent the depression she battled as an adult because of the behavior she was subjected to as a child. Bibliography: Bergner, D. (2000, December). The prisoner. Talk Magazine, 119. Burger, J. (2000). Personality (5th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth. Word Count: 818
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