Dependent On Alcohol example essay topic

Running head: FILM CRITIQUE PAPER Film Critique Paper Spring Semester 2003 (A) Film description: When a Man Loves a Woman is an exploration of a woman's struggle with alcoholism and the effect of the disease on her family. Meg Ryan stars as Alice Green, a school counselor, whose long-concealed drinking habit worsens, threatening her marriage and family life. Andy Garcia stars as her husband, Michael Green, who is an airline pilot. Although Alice is lighthearted and loving, she is often reckless and, when drunk, even neglects her children, nine-year-old daughter Jess (Tina Major ino), from a previous marriage, and four-year-old daughter Casey (Mae Whitman), whose father is Michael.

After a heart-wrenching incident with her oldest daughter she seeks help, but the road to recovery is a long one and her husband must help in a way he does not know how. They all must learn how to be a family again. (B) What DSM diagnosis does the film portray? How accurately is this diagnosis portrayed?

Axis I 291.8 Alcohol Withdrawal 303.90 Alcohol Dependence with Physiological Dependence; Sustained Remission Axis II V 71.09 No diagnosis Axis None Axis IV None Axis V GAF = 45 (on admission) GAF = 80 (current) In my opinion, the diagnosis is portrayed very truthfully. To begin, one knows that Alice has been drinking for many years from a conversation she and her husband have while on vacation. Thus, she meets the criteria for having been impaired for at least twelve months. Secondly, Alice had withdrawal symptoms when she quit drinking. This is seen when she first enters the clinic and becomes very sick from not being able to have any alcohol. She suffered from autonomic over-activity, sleeplessness, vomiting, and anxiety.

Moreover, her symptoms caused clinically important distress and were not the result of a general medical condition nor better explained by a different mental disorder. Thirdly, Alice tried to quit drinking but was unsuccessful. She began to hide bottles of Vodka around the house so that she could drink without anyone seeing or knowing. Also, when she threw her Vodka bottles away, she wrapped them in paper to prevent anyone from seeing them in the trashcan. Lastly, at the end of the movie, Alice is considered to be in sustained remission since she made it one year without having any alcohol. (C) Would a lay person who sees this film be better informed- or more likely to be misinformed- about the diagnosis?

This movie offers exceptional insight into the problems alcoholism creates for both the sufferer and those close to them. In my opinion, anyone who sees this movie will be better informed regarding the diagnosis of Alcohol Dependence. (D) If the general public's understanding of people who suffer from this disorder were limited to what they learned from watching this film, what do you see as possible ramifications? People would think that all alcoholics hit their children, drink vodka to prevent others from smelling alcohol on their breathe, have problems in their marital relationship, and have to go to a clinic to be helped. The consequences of this could be awful. For example, no one would be considered an alcoholic who did not have to go to a clinic for help.

Moreover, all alcoholics would be thought to have abused their children. In addition, people who drank moderately but had marital problems might be considered alcoholics. Thus, one can see how this could lead to erroneous thoughts and beliefs. (E) What did you learn from seeing this film? I learned how addicting alcohol could be.

The scenes of Alice going through withdrawals shocked me. I never knew that a human body could get so dependent on alcohol that not having it actually made the body "sick" to the extent shown in the film. Moreover, I was surprised to find out that alcoholics can drink all day and continue to function somewhat. During the scene whereupon Alice is talking to the AA members, she said that she had to be high (have alcohol in her body) to do anything. It was sad to believe that some people are so scared of life that they have to get drunk to even face it. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and found it to be very educational.