The Basket Case: Allsion Reynolds

I decided to go with “The Basket Case” character, Allsion Reynolds from the movie, though not as verbal as the other characters her role amongst her peers is significant within the structure of the group. Initial impressions suggest that she may be out of touch with reality as demonstrated by some of her behavior such as the lack of her responses toward her peers though she is obviously very attentive to what is going on around her. Such behaviors as using her dandruff to simulate a snow fall and the concoction that she created as a sandwich by throwing away the meat and then adding Pixie sticks and Captain Crunch cereal to her sandwich suggest a different mentation than one would have expected. As the character developed in the movie it appears …show more content…
For Allison group therapy could be a perfect forum for her to help her breakdown the barriers that she perceives separating her from her peers. By her body language and how she distances herself from the peer group it may be perceived that relating to her peers and feeling somewhat ostracized has become accepted as her social status. The fact that she is in detention without any reason suggests her need to seek socialization though through an inappropriate and inadequate avenue. Group therapy for someone like her would allow her to have a forum to relate to her peers and also again provide some modeling. Without knowing more information on her family and social life individual therapy would be an adjunct to group therapy as she addresses the issues that have brought her to this point in her life. Such as in her rather fatalistic statement “When you grow up, your heart dies.” She does indicate that she is seeing a psychiatrist but does not elaborate on any specifics of her …show more content…
The counselor would be her guide as she explores these new potential solutions. Through this process Allison would initially identify what behaviors she actually wanted to change or viewed as a problem. Her subjective point of view would be critical to change initially versus external perspectives that she is not willing to change and actually may be comfortable with at this point.
As for testing, given the seemingly hundreds of tests available, I am cautious for fear of misinterpretation. I believe that the greater tools are strong listening and interpretation skills by the counselor. There are too many tests that can have the results influenced by environment, mood and other factors that could skew accurate results. The one testing system that I do feel has merit would be the MMPI though this too has its vulnerabilities.
Allison seems, at least based on the limited information we have, to be maladjusted. It would be interesting to know more of her history, what is the true relationship is with her parents. She states that they ignore her but as a self-admitted liar did she say this as she presumed that was the norm for her peer group? Who are her role models? Does she have