"Dead Scared" Essay Sample

There several many things that may make one stressed, traumatized, addicted to substance abuse, depression and many other psychological sufferings than force one to seek counseling. As a result, psychology professional play a crucial role in helping victims overcome these fears, additions, and cop with a situation or circumstance. Also, psychologists are also mandated for assessing, diagnosing and treating patients with severe psychological symptoms such as panic attacks, depression, and other worse cases. In this regard, therefore, this paper endeavors to explore the characteristics of psychological victims and how they have been diagnosed with David DeMello's book "Dead Scare".

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Diagnosis of Fred

David DeMello introduces two Characters in chapter one of his book. One the character Fred is a victim of panic attacks according to Dr. Philip Nickerson who is the psychiatrist or rather a psychology doctor (DeMello, 2006, p. 1). Dr. Nickerson and Fred have had several sessions before this particular one that indicated Fred condition has worsened. According to Nickerson, the reason for the increased panic attacks Fred experienced is because of fear that 'they might not go away', something that Fred has no clue of what to do.

From the story, therefore, the patient, Fred, is a male in his twenties. He is a college student and works part-time in the locality. Dr. Nickerson has assumed that the cause of the panic attack is fear. His client is afraid of something that both parties are trying to figure out (DeMello, 2006, pp. 2-3).

As the conversation continues, Dr. Nickerson realizes that Fred is afraid of failure, especially in things that he is good at. For this reason, whenever the test results are brought back, Fred panics because he does not expect to fail. He confesses that he has never scored anything short of A in his exams (DeMello, 2006, pp. 5-9).

After the diagnosis, Dr. Nickerson, recommend Fred to do to doing something that he is not good at, and something that will make him experience how failure feeling. Thus, he recommends basketball for starters and if the experiment fails to opt for another more challenging task.

Troy Diagnosis

In chapter five of DeMello's book, Dead Scare, Troy is a noble man that ends up in ruin as a result of his flaw. Troy is stubborn and self-centred (DeMello, 2006, p. 23). In his little world, he thinks people and everything revolves around him. Troy ruined the chance for Cory to win a football scholarship. He did this because according to him, the whites would not allow his son to play. Unfortunately for him, the world had changed, but Troy did not want to believe this. Troy is not a bad person, though some of his actions and parts of his speech may be termed cruel. He has qualities that are likeable and admirable. To his family, he is a responsible father and a good provider. He is described being a funny character, passionate and his stories are fascinating as he tells them. His family, unfortunately, learns about his soft side and his true caring nature after his tragic death, it is only that he did not know how to show this (DeMello, 2006, p. 25).

Throughout the counseling session with Dr Nickerson, Troy confesses to feeling worthless of his life. Ever since the day he missed the scholarship, he feels sorry for himself and also helpless especially his life. According to Dr. Nickerson's diagnosis, Troy is depressed, and he is sorry for himself because he could not leave to his parents' expectations. While Fred was afraid of failure, Troy was a victim of failure.

The people around Troy tried to show him that the world was indeed changed. They also tried to make him realize that Cory had a better chance of achieving his dreams than himself. Rose, Troy's wife tried to show him that many colored boys had been seen playing ball recently. Cory also tried to explain to his father how a black man, Hank Aaron had become a baseball player. Troy would have none of this; Cory even thought his father was against him out of resentment. To Rose, Troy tells her that he cared enough not to allow his son to get hurt. From this, he killed Cory's dream from his disappointments and the desire to ensure he was protected. The wrestling of movies inside him is what makes Troy a complex and tragic character (DeMello, 2006, pp. 23-26).

Troy's complexities go deep and even manifests from his good and admirable qualities. Through the play, it is quite clear that it is easy to feel anger, respect and pity towards Troy. Troy is trying to help his son but in a fractured way, which shows that he cares for him. His bad relationship with his son Cory is traced back to his own relationship with his father who was not pleasant. Troy hated his father because he was mean; he did not show him love but kept his family just as a show of responsibility, a character which he picked from his father (DeMello, 2006). Were it not for his good characteristics that were able to counter balance his bad ones; we would view Troy as an antagonist who ruined his family intentionally. We rather view him as a tragic hero who is faced with lost opportunities as a result of discrimination being a black man among whites.

In conclusion, both characters of the story have sophisticated traits, and their reaction to the view of failure affect them severely. As introduced, the objective of the essay was to explore the traits of two characters in DeMello's book, "Dead Scare", and diagnosis them. As discussed, Fred who was the first character is afraid of failure and thus suffers from panic attacks. According to Dr. Nickerson diagnosis, his fear to fail in what he is good at is what causes the panic attacks. For treatment, Nickerson recommends Fred to participate in activities that he is not good at as a way of helping him understand how failure feels like. Troy, on the other hand, is a black father and a husband who failed to secure a baseball scholarship because he felt he would not be given a chance and this makes him get depressed and his life to feel worthless. He is diagnosed with depression, and socialism and finding something that makes him feel good is recommended for his treatment.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY DeMello, D. (2006). Dead Scare. Denver, Colorado: Outskirts Press, Inc.