First Person Psychology Paper

Professor Pamela Lemons

By

Terry Frandsen Salt Lake Community College

Leahs Story First Person Paper2

This is a story of a child. This story begins from before she was a twinkle in her parents eyes up to the age of 18. It talks of trials, triumphs and adventures, as well as her human development stages. Her name is Leah. Here is her story. There was a young woman named Sandra. She was popular and very beautiful. She fell in love with a handsome man named Carter. Carter was the brother of her best friend in high school. He was a very charming man and talented in music. Soon after they started dating they fell in love and got married. Carter had an opportunity to play in a club in Las Vegas, so they moved there. This was a very big change from living in the farm country of Idaho. They immediately created a union and the first stages of conception happened; two gametes met (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap.1, pg. 43), and a Zygote was formed (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap.1, pg.44) with two X chromosomes, soon to be called daughter. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 1, pg.47) This was not to be an easy pregnancy however. During the critical period of her babys development, she was very ill and threw up almost constantly for the first five months. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 2, pg.7576) Fortunately, this did not affect her growing fetus. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 2, pg. 60) Her marriage to Carter became terrifying within a very short

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period of time. Sandra experienced emotional and physical trauma during her pregnancy. She found herself in a very abusive marriage. Before long, Carter had gone; leaving her badly beaten and nine months pregnant. Sandra called her parents; they came for her and brought her home to Idaho. Despite all of these events, her baby girl was born healthy. Nature had been kind and Leah was a very strong and healthy baby. (StassenBerger, 2010, Chap. 1, pg. 5) Her doctor was extremely pleased with Leahs progress and found her to be in the norms for her age. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 3, pg. 86-87) Leahs mom got a job working swing shift for Mountain Bell. The offer was in Salt Lake City. Sandra didnt know who to trust with her newborn, given she would be working all night; so she left Leah to live with her Grandparents. This arrangement lasted for the first four years of her life. Fortunately, Leah had landed in a very nurturing environment to be raised in. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 2, pg. 71) Her grandparents still had four children at home, so Leah found herself during this sensitive time of her life, (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 1, pg. 5-6) being taught the many splendored things of lifehow to catch frogs and snakes, how to ride horses, and round up chickens. Leah also had a very vivacious and easy going temperament which was formed early and continued to bloom throughout her life. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 4, pg. 134) She was spoken to as if

she was an adult and learned to speak well at a very young age due to the

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fast-mapping going on within her. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 5, pg. 179) She also developed gross motor skills right on target for her age, walking well within 12 months (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 3, pg. 95) and riding a horse (with the help of her Grandfather) by the age of three! Leahs mom would come to visit her on weekends and every other chance she could get. One day, Sandra, who had been working in Utah now for over three years, came to see her daughter. Leah didnt know her mom; she was experiencing what seemed to be stranger wariness although she was well past that period of her development. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 4, pg. 125) This shook Sandra up and she decided it was time to take her daughter home with her to Utah soon. Several months went by and the time had come for Sandra to take Leah home with her. When she arrived and announced her intentions, Grandma went crazy with fear and grief. She threw Leah in the car and drove to town to her mothers home to hold up. It became a very traumatizing day for everyone involved. According to the Eriksons developmental theory of trust vs. mistrust, this event could have changed Leah in a multitude of ways, and, in fact it did. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap.4, pg.131) One of Sandras sisters, Alta, literally had to steal Leah from her Grandmothers home and thrust her into the arms of her mother. Sandra ran with her daughter, back to Salt Lake. Leahs life was changed, forever.

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Leah found herself living in a one bedroom apartment as an only child, rather than an open environment of the farm where she had four older siblings. This was a very traumatic event for the little girl. She experienced emotional and environmental shock and became very depressed for awhile. Leah had had proximal parenting of her Grandma and was quite lost without her. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap.4 pg. 136) Thanks to Leahs resilience (Stassen-Berger 2010, Chap. 7, Chap. 8 pg. 276) she accommodated to her new environment. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 3, pg. 106 ) Her adjustment was advanced by the excitement at the arrival of her new dad, Richard. Sandra had met a man who wanted to marry her adopt her little 4 year old daughter. Soon after the marriage, her mom gave Leah the great news; she was going to have a baby sister. Although her parents didnt have any genetic counseling, Staci was born without incident. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 2 pg. 53) According to the Apgar scale, she appeared perfect in every way. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 2, pg.63) Leah was delighted to have a sibling again. Along with having two loving parents and a new little sister, Leah began school. According to Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory of development, Staci was stuck in the Anal stage for and extended period of time. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 4, pg. 126) Staci resisted potty training until she was almost 5 years old. She also had a very insecure attachment to her mother;(StassenBerger 2010, Chap. 4, pg. 143) possibly due to the financial stress their

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parents were under or possibly from their mothers controlling behaviors. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 4, pg. 144, Table 4.5) Staci and Leah were drawn to Rich more and more, and often experienced separation anxiety when their father went to work.(Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 4, pg. 125) These stresses were eventually overcome and the family moved into a new and larger home. Both sisters seemed to adjust to the new school and neighborhood. Leah formed strong bonds with her peer group; friendship began to be important to her. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 8, pg. 292) By age 8, Leah could clearly understand that she was a girl but always preferred to play with the boys. She resisted gender roles and differences, probably from growing up on the farm and learning to play the boy way. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 6, pg. 221) Clearly she was a rough and tumble tom-boy. Life seemed fun again, like when Leah was a young child. She became very athletic as well as competitive academically. At age 11, partially due to the high level of physical activity, Leah had a very healthy BMI (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 7, pg. 236) It was also at a time when her myelination was at an all time high so her physical activities were at peak performance. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 7, pg. 243) Here is where Leah and Staci differed. Leah was an outdoor girl from the moment she could walk. Staci on the other hand was allowed to watch television for extensive amounts of time, and her idea of play was electronic

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games. Staci, as a result, became very overweight at a very young age. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 7, pg. 236) When Leah was about 13, it was determined she had Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 7 pg. 263) Since Attention Deficit Disorder was not a commonly diagnosed disorder at the time, Leah was given no medications or coping instructions. Instead, she was often reprimanded severely for her lack of concentration. Sandra had a very authoritarian parenting style which added to the friction and growing difficulties between her and her oldest daughter. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 6, pg. 211) Due to the embarrassment of this apparent difference between her and her peers, she compensated by becoming very dominant and aggressive. Many kids feared or respected her; but most would not be her friend. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 8. Pg 293) Not only was there a great deal of difficulty between Leah and her mom, but her Dad had apparently had a drinking problem for the better part of their family lives. Dad was good at hiding it from Staci and Leah, but it had become quite a long-term nightmare for Sandra. When Leah reached age 14, her parents went through a very bitter divorce, leaving Leah and Staci with a mother on the verge of a nervous breakdown and a family in a very high stress situation. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 8, pg. 287) Consequently, and partially due to her age, Leah found herself very self-conscious of her body image, oftentimes participating in anorexic

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behaviors. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 9, pg. 318) Her self- confidence was at an all-time low. At age 15, Leah began to seek out people that would be accepting of her. She found her clique of friends in the group of undesirables that skipped school and did drugs. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 10, pg. 356) She would sneak out at night and party with her older friends. She had truly found great examples for deviancy training and took to it like a duck in water. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 10, 357) It seemed like she would be wide awake at night and incredibly tired during the morning, suffering what many teenagers endure called

eveningness. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 9, pg 312) Although Leah slept through most of her morning classes and skipped most of her afternoon classes, she still held a surprising GPA of 3.49. With her father gone (and still drinking), her mother struggling financially and emotionally, she found herself in a very dysfunctional family situation. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap.8, pg 286) Leah didnt know how to get it together. Suicidal ideation was common for her and the idea was often comforting. (Stassen-Berger, 2010, Chap. 7, pg. 286) Drugs became paramount to Leah. Trying to drown the pain of feeling abandoned by her father, and the stress of dealing with her mother she became careless and reckless in her decisions. Leahs brain was in overdrive, turbo charged, you might say she just went wild. (Stassen-Berger 2010, Chap. 9, pg. 324) Her friends were older and their opinion of her was very

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important at the time. Her adolescent egocentrism made her self-conscious and she did anything to fit in. (Stassen-Berger 2010, Chap 9, pg. 326) Leah began running away regularly and became a juvenile delinquent, landing in juvenile detention often over a short period time. (Stassen-Berger 2010, Chap. 10, pg. 370) Her home life with her mother was an emotional nightmare and she had terrible identity confusion. (Stassen-Berger 2010, Chap. 10, pg 348) Leah knew she had to do something different and soon or things would not turn out well for her. She determined she had to get away from her mother. Leah made a deal with her probation officer and her mom. If Leah could get her diploma, she could become an emancipated minor. When Leah began her junior year in high school, she doubled her efforts academically. She attended summer classes in order to complete her senior credits and to graduate as soon as possible. Drugs were still an everyday part of her life but she was determined to gain her freedom from the craziness that had become her home life. With her 17th birthday just on the horizon, she graduated high school a year early and applied to become and emancipated minor. Once she received her diploma her emancipation was granted and she began her new life as a young adult. Leahs story is not a unique story. She had many events occur in her life that many or most kids go through in their life. She found her own way of

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coping with her stressors and difficulties. Although her life got even wilder after her emancipation Leah chose to see events as gifts in her life and continues to do so. The story isnt over, but its turning out well so far

Reference
Stassen-Berger, K. (2010). Invitation to the Life Span. Worth Publishers.