Question

Write a paper of approximately 750 words that discusses the following:

Identify a character with which you are familiar: either a character from a movie, book, or a historical figure and describe his or her personality and any relevant background information.

Analyze this person using the different stages of development and perspectives of human nature learned so far in this course.

Describe which counseling modality you would use to work with this individual if he or she were your client.

Answer 1

If a historical figure like Adolf Hitler is considered, his personality can be analysed in very many ways. The reason is the different shades he had to himself and the personality he exhibited to the people of the time. He was a German politician who was the leader of Nazi Party. As a dictator, he initiated World War II in Europe with the invasion of Poland in September 1939, and was central to the Holocaust. This involved the deaths of 11 million people, including the mass murder of an estimated six million Jews. With defeat on the horizon, he committed suicide along with his wife on April 30, 1945 in Berlin.

Everyone’s personality is a culmination of unique characters, which lead to us differentiating ourselves from others. Adolf Hitler is unique because of the way he led his political agendas. He was often described as cruel, inhuman and insatiable greed for power. He was a smart and loving child in his school days. The death of his younger brother from measles had greatly impacted him. He then changed from being a confident and outgoing personality to a morose, detached and sullen boy who often picked on fights with in his school and family.

It is often said that his youth was controlled by his strong-personality father until his death. His interests were initially to pursue arts but he failed in his attempts to get into a college of his choice. During the WW, he served the army as an Austrian. He was temporary blinded by the mustard gas attack. In the year 1923, he attempted an unsuccessful armed uprising in Munich and was imprisoned for 9 months. He initiated the WW II whereby millions of people were killed included Jews, Slaves, Blacks, physically mad mentally ill people and homosexuals. The manner in which his childhood progressed may have left deep psychological and emotional wounds on his personality. Being led by an authoritarian parenting can have devastating impact on the way an individual turns up as an adult.

A psychodynamic approach can therefore help uplifting the spirits of such a individual, since it would assist in resolving the unexplored and unresolved past conflicts that remained unaddressed at the time. Proper closure gives a deep intra-psychic satisfaction to people and helps them to overcome their old wounds a way that is therapeutic in nature. Psychodynamic along with other therapeutic techniques to correct the coping mechanisms, such as SBT could be utilised to challenge, confront and thereafter change the distorted thoughts, belief systems and perspectives.