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    Celie Case Study

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    Celie shows symptoms of PTSD from years of rape and abuse by her stepfather and husband. She experiences feelings of numbness, fear around men, and detachment from others. Her trauma has caused her to lose attraction to men and grow closer to women instead. While Celie still struggles with PTSD symptoms, spending time with her friend Shug helped her gain strength and start to cope with her trauma through building confidence. Therapy focusing on relaxation and stress management could have further helped Celie process her experiences and learn healthy coping skills.

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    Celie Case Study

    Uploaded by

    api-491885108
    319 views8 pages
    Celie shows symptoms of PTSD from years of rape and abuse by her stepfather and husband. She experiences feelings of numbness, fear around men, and detachment from others. Her trauma has caused her to lose attraction to men and grow closer to women instead. While Celie still struggles with PTSD symptoms, spending time with her friend Shug helped her gain strength and start to cope with her trauma through building confidence. Therapy focusing on relaxation and stress management could have further helped Celie process her experiences and learn healthy coping skills.

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    Celie shows symptoms of PTSD from years of rape and abuse by her stepfather and husband. She experiences feelings of numbness, fear around men, and detachment from others. Her trauma has caused her to lose attraction to men and grow closer to women instead. While Celie still struggles with PTSD symptoms, spending time with her friend Shug helped her gain strength and start to cope with her trauma through building confidence. Therapy focusing on relaxation and stress management could have further helped Celie process her experiences and learn healthy coping skills.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    319 views8 pages

    Celie Case Study

    Uploaded by

    api-491885108
    Celie shows symptoms of PTSD from years of rape and abuse by her stepfather and husband. She experiences feelings of numbness, fear around men, and detachment from others. Her trauma has caused her to lose attraction to men and grow closer to women instead. While Celie still struggles with PTSD symptoms, spending time with her friend Shug helped her gain strength and start to cope with her trauma through building confidence. Therapy focusing on relaxation and stress management could have further helped Celie process her experiences and learn healthy coping skills.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 8

    Celie

    The Color Purple by Alice


    walker: A Case Study
    Celie
    African-American Woman, Presents as Lesbian, Married, Mother, Sister, Pant Maker

    Celie is the protagonist of the novel The Color Purple and is introduced to the story
    as a 14 year old girl living with her mother, father, and siblings. She is a responsible young
    teenager who took on the role of a mother at a very young age after her mother died. This
    can reveal her nurturing senses and reliant personality. She was constantly raped and
    abused by her stepfather, who she knew as her biological father, and ended up pregnant.
    Her children were taken from her by her stepfather and it had a defeating effect on her
    mentally. She thought to herself, “He took it while I was sleeping. Kilt it out there in the
    woods. Kill this one too, if he can,” (Walker 2). She has an extremely close relationship
    with her sister Nettie whom she married Mr.___ in place for. “She scared. But I say I’ll take
    care of you. With God help,” (Walker 3). She has a huge heart and is willing to support the
    people around her even if they don’t deserve it from her.
    Medical History: Celie constantly has bad thoughts
    about herself and her image and compares herself to
    others continuously. Sometimes she finds herself
    feeling nothing at all or feels extreme anger. “Naw, I
    think I feel better if I kill him, I say. I feels sickish.
    Numb, now,” (Walker 143). In addition, she has given
    birth twice to her stepfather’s children.

    Family History: The father that Celie had grown up


    to know was not actually her biological father. “My
    daddy lynch… Pa not pa,” (Walker 176). He raped her

    Celie’s History
    continuously from a young age and took advantage of
    her mother’s illness. Celie’s mother was mentally sick
    and gave birth until she passed away. “... she was
    pregnant a third time, though her mental health was
    no better. Every year thereafter, she was pregnant,
    every year she became weaker and more mentally
    unstable, until many years after she married the
    stranger, she died,” (Walker 174). Her mother
    suffered from many unspecified mental illnesses.

    Symptoms: Celie always had poor thoughts about


    herself and could never live up to the image in her
    head of what she should be. “I hate the way I look, I
    hate the way I’m dress,” (Walker 72). She also is
    apprehensive around many different men.
    Demographic Data: Celie was taken out of elementary school at a
    young age and never got the opportunity to get proper education.
    “The first time I got big Pa took me out of school. He never care
    that I love it,” (Walker 9). She married to Mr.___ despite his
    interests in Nettie, her little sister, and despite her own interests.
    Celie is attracted to women, especially Shug Avery, she does not
    feel a connection with men.

    Celie’s
    Behavior and Social Situation: Celie has been isolated from
    society for the majority of her life and Mr.___ takes a huge role in
    this. “Mr.___ didn’t want me to come. Wives don’t go to places like

    Physiological
    that, he say,” (Walker 71). She does not have many intimate
    relationships due to her lack of exposure. She is successful in
    housework and sewing clothes but not so strong in being able to
    fight and stand up for herself.

    History Family: Celie has grown up with a rough home life. Her biological
    father was lynched when she was young and grew up with her
    stepfather and mentally ill mother who passed away. “My daddy
    lynch. My mama crazy. All my little half brothers and sisters no kin
    to me. My children not my sister and brother. Pa not pa,” (Walker
    176). She is close with her sister Nettie and helped to care for her
    other half siblings growing up. Her children are Adam and Olivia
    who are cared for by Samuel and his wife Corrine, who ended up
    passing away.
    PTSD & Depression: PTSD stands for post traumatic
    stress disorder. This is found in people who have
    encountered or watched an irreversibly terrifying event
    and have difficulty recovering. “Some symptoms can
    include a depressed mood, anxiety, and avoidance of
    situations that relate to past trauma” (What Is
    Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?). Treatments may
    include therapy and medication.

    How PTSD Presents in Celie: Celie shows symptoms of


    PTSD because she constantly to have depressive and
    negative thoughts about herself. “Before I know it, tears

    Presenting
    meet under my chin… I love looking at Shug. But Shug
    don’t love looking at but one of us. Him,” (Walker 72).
    Celie is no longer attracted to men because she has
    been abused and raped all of her life. It is now hard for

    Problem: PTSD
    her to find comfort in them. Celie is abused whenever
    her husband feels like it which causes anxiety in her
    when she sees him. “I say to myself, Celie, you a tree.
    That’s how come I know trees fear man,” (Walker 22).

    Thoughts and Feelings: I think that Celie deserves to be


    happy and should not have to live her life in fear and
    deal with constant anxiety around her husband or any
    men. I feel deeply for Celie because we read from her
    standpoint and see how much this affects her thoughts
    even about herself on a daily basis.
    PTSD: PTSD is a disorder that affects people in different ways
    depending on the severity of the traumatic event that was
    experienced. “The DSM-5 reclassified PTSD as a Trauma- and
    Stressor-Related Disorder instead of an Anxiety Disorder”
    (Watkins). Celie was raped and abused since she was around 14
    years old. She experienced stress and fear around her stepfather
    and her husband who abused and raped her. Celie lost her
    attraction for men out of fear of them and grew a stronger
    attraction towards women who felt more like a comforting figure
    to her. “Even though the danger has passed, your nervous system
    is ‘stuck,’ unable to return to its normal state of balance and you’re

    Diagnosis
    unable to move on from the event” (Melinda).

    Symptoms: Celie experiences feeling numb and unconnected to


    others. People with PTSD may feel, “sadness, fear or anger; and
    they may feel detached or estranged from other people,” (What Is
    Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?). Celie described in her letter, “ …
    every time I got mad, or start to feel mad, I got sick. Felt like
    throwing up. Terrible feeling. Then I start to feel nothing at all,”
    (Walker 41). Any time that her husband would come around her
    she would feel uncomfortable and stressed because of the way
    she has been treated. Lastly, when she and her husband would
    sleep together she felt no connection to him. When describing
    sleeping with Mr.___ to Shug she says, “ … I don’t like it at all… Most
    times I pretend I ain’t there. He never know the difference. Just do
    his business, get off, go to sleep,” (Walker 76).
    Celie: Speaking with a therapist or psychologist who is
    experienced in mental health would have been a great way
    to help Celie gather coping skills for her position.
    Treatments of PTSD include medication and therapy which
    consists of trauma-focussed interventions and
    non-trauma-focussed interventions. A non-trauma-focussed
    intervention is what I believe would’ve benefitted Celie
    significantly. This treatment includes “relaxation, stress
    inoculation training (SIT), and interpersonal therapy”
    (Watkins). This would’ve been a great opportunity for Celie

    Intervention
    to take a step back from her life for a moment and realize
    what she really deserves. She would understand that not all
    men are bad and that she can stand up for herself in order to
    not live in this everyday fear. Having Shug around was a
    major contribution to her growth out of her severe PTSD,
    although I believe it still may be there, Shug acted as a
    therapist and mentor. She gave her a source of comfort and
    having those trustworthy people in life is essential to
    controlling these anxious, depressed, and fearful thoughts
    and feelings. She guided Celie to face her fear and build her
    strength. PTSD typically lasts months to years, however,
    they may last a lifetime, but Celie towards the end of the
    book was blooming out of this disorder through strength
    and confidence.
    Works Cited
    Walker, Alice. The Color Purple: by Alice Walker. Y. Yanagisawa, 1986.

    “What Is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?” What Is PTSD?, www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd.

    Watkins, Laura E, et al. “Treating PTSD: A Review of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy Interventions.” Frontiers in
    Behavioral Neuroscience, Frontiers Media S.A., 2
    Nov.2018,www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6224348/.
    Melinda. “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).” HelpGuide.org,
    www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/ptsd-symptoms-self-help-treatment.htm.

    SparkNotes, SparkNotes, www.sparknotes.com/lit/purple/quotes/character/mr-/.

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