Title
Psychodynamic psychologists believe that everything that we do or say today is directly, and infallibly, linked to the events that we have encountered in our past. In the journey from the cradle to the grave our minds process and internalize the environments we encounter; these experiences often imprint themselves in our conscience, thereby changing our behavior and attitude towards the outside world. When peering into what makes someone the way they are as an adult, his or her childhood is likely considered to a great extent. If a child is brought up with exceeding encouragement and endorsement, they will most likely have good prospects. However, if someone is abused in adolescence they will exhibit adverse traits in maturity. Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” depicts an aspirant named Willy Loman whose over exaggerated, and rather impractical, goals for his future fill his mind …show more content…
Soon after his brother, Ben, left for Alaska in search of the man without success (Miller, 1435). When confronted with difficult times, like those of Willy’s childhood, the human brain tries to cope with and rationalize these experiences to keep feelings of guilt, loss, and anxiety from consuming our lives. To do this it employs numerous defense mechanisms. One such mechanism is repression which is seen in Willy as he seems mostly unscathed by the departure of both his father and brother. Repression is a process used by an individual to push memories of disturbing or threatening instances into the unconscious so that they don’t become conscious and observable. Untamed, these memories can cause severe psychological disorders such as “anxiety states, phobias, obsessions, or hysteria” (McLeod, “Defense Mechanisms”). Only a limited amount of information regarding Willy’s early childhood is ever revealed; however, the past that he has pushed away resurfaces itself through his disorderly
Psychodynamic psychologists believe that everything that we do or say today is directly, and infallibly, linked to the events that we have encountered in our past. In the journey from the cradle to the grave our minds process and internalize the environments we encounter; these experiences often imprint themselves in our conscience, thereby changing our behavior and attitude towards the outside world. When peering into what makes someone the way they are as an adult, his or her childhood is likely considered to a great extent. If a child is brought up with exceeding encouragement and endorsement, they will most likely have good prospects. However, if someone is abused in adolescence they will exhibit adverse traits in maturity. Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” depicts an aspirant named Willy Loman whose over exaggerated, and rather impractical, goals for his future fill his mind …show more content…
Soon after his brother, Ben, left for Alaska in search of the man without success (Miller, 1435). When confronted with difficult times, like those of Willy’s childhood, the human brain tries to cope with and rationalize these experiences to keep feelings of guilt, loss, and anxiety from consuming our lives. To do this it employs numerous defense mechanisms. One such mechanism is repression which is seen in Willy as he seems mostly unscathed by the departure of both his father and brother. Repression is a process used by an individual to push memories of disturbing or threatening instances into the unconscious so that they don’t become conscious and observable. Untamed, these memories can cause severe psychological disorders such as “anxiety states, phobias, obsessions, or hysteria” (McLeod, “Defense Mechanisms”). Only a limited amount of information regarding Willy’s early childhood is ever revealed; however, the past that he has pushed away resurfaces itself through his disorderly