Donna is an African American who lives in Washington DC. Per study done by Cain and Combs-Orme (2005), 67% of African-American mothers reported agreement with very strict, rigid, and authoritarian discipline practices such as hitting, intimidation, pain and belittlement. The way Donna was parented by most of her family members fits the model of the prevailing parenting style of African American families. Donna did not disclose at the initial assessment if she experienced acts of racial discrimination, however, the area where she lives in suggests that she might have. Per Sampson and Wilson (1995), African American children are more like to live in high-crime communities than White children, which increases the chances that either they or a
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Donna’s representation of self is also negative as evidenced by her referring to herself as “odd”. Per Berzoff, Flanagan, and Hertz (2016), an individual in the depressive position begins to understand that the same object and self can be equally good and bad. Donna got “stuck” in that position because she could not develop tolerance of an integrated sense of self and others (Berzoff et al., 2016).
Per Applegate (1993), “false” self develops because a caregiver is not able to provide an infant with the level of care and nurture the infant need and demand the infant’s compliance. He continues, that in response, the infant constructs a compliant “false” self and learns to take care of the other but cut herself of her needs and impulses. Adults with “false” self appear successful but feel that their life has no meaning. Donna’s mother and other caregivers (except her beloved aunt and grandma) were not able to provide her with the nurturing environment Donna needed and denied satisfying her many needs. Donna reported that she was slapped in the face after she shared she wanted to die, that she was also punched in the stomach after her family discovered she had sex with her boyfriend, that her mother’s effort ended her relationship with her girlfriend. The interaction between Donna and her family suggests that family members expected her to always react with anger and be upset and scared. Their favorite family story about Donna getting angry and cutting her mother’s hair off and then, after getting scared, gluing them back
Donna’s representation of self is also negative as evidenced by her referring to herself as “odd”. Per Berzoff, Flanagan, and Hertz (2016), an individual in the depressive position begins to understand that the same object and self can be equally good and bad. Donna got “stuck” in that position because she could not develop tolerance of an integrated sense of self and others (Berzoff et al., 2016).
Per Applegate (1993), “false” self develops because a caregiver is not able to provide an infant with the level of care and nurture the infant need and demand the infant’s compliance. He continues, that in response, the infant constructs a compliant “false” self and learns to take care of the other but cut herself of her needs and impulses. Adults with “false” self appear successful but feel that their life has no meaning. Donna’s mother and other caregivers (except her beloved aunt and grandma) were not able to provide her with the nurturing environment Donna needed and denied satisfying her many needs. Donna reported that she was slapped in the face after she shared she wanted to die, that she was also punched in the stomach after her family discovered she had sex with her boyfriend, that her mother’s effort ended her relationship with her girlfriend. The interaction between Donna and her family suggests that family members expected her to always react with anger and be upset and scared. Their favorite family story about Donna getting angry and cutting her mother’s hair off and then, after getting scared, gluing them back