Higher Learning

In this essay I will discuss hat It Is Like to counsel the character Remy from the movie "Higher Learning" (Singleton, 1995). I will give an overview of the movie and character, the presenting Issues of the character, my approach and role to counseling the character, and the characters cultural framework Influence on why I chose to Intervene to counsel him. Cultural Skills Students from different countries, races, social and culture background are forced to integrate with each other when they all enroll in Columbus university College. They all have real life issues, such as finance, harassment, personal safety, and self-doubt.

However, the college campus life seems to be causing a problem for everyone evolving around the issue of racism. The students are already under pressure to perform in the classroom, on the track, or in front of their friends, are beginning to face obstacles such as prejudice, and misunderstanding of each other on many deferent levels. Remy Remy character plays an important role to the flow and overall point of racism in the movie. His character is a driving force for the slow transition of how an individual can go from a cracked mental state of mind into a total broken state of mind.

Remy slowly becomes alienated from his peers. Remy at the start has no identity of who he is so he's very confused and lost. Remy is taking a close look at his diverse peers, trying to find ways to be the same or similar with the hopes of becoming accepted to a social group he can be comfortable with. He comes in as an engineering major, and a son of a "survivalist" father who use to abuse him. Remy throughout the movie shifts from alienated loner to a motivated Nazi skinhead. At this point Remy has given up trying to fit in until the Nazi leader Scott befriends him.

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They Immediately alcove him to their circle without hesitation, to which Remy says thanks and shaves his head. Remy further starts to fall Into a pit of frustration and self-hate, due to the advice given by the Nazi leader Scott who brainwashes Remy Into thinking that the world needs to be taken over by "White America" therefore this Is where the character Remy starts to display mental disorder Like symptoms. Presenting Issues/ My Approach In the movie, Remy displayed many different emotions ranging from crying, emptiness, self-inflicting behavior and a high need to fit In.

However, when he did not it in he felt hopelessness and alone so he turned towards a reckless group of people people that accepted gave him a new way of thinking. As a counselor my approach to Remy would be compared to dealing with an individual with Borderline Personality Disorder issues. According to the Journal "Symptoms of borderline personality disorder predict interpersonal (but not independent) stressful life events in a community sample of older adults", Individuals with borderline personality disorder can often experience stressful life events at a higher frequency than those without it.

Only borderline personality pathology was related to an increase in the frequency of interpersonal stressful life events. Three specific symptoms of this disorder were connected with unstable interpersonal relationships, impulsively, and chronic feelings of emptiness (Powers, 2013). So looking at how BAD can have a direct correlation between stressful events in life and past issues, it is easy to see how Remy could be seen for this disorder. The initially start of the sessions with Remy would revolve around first breaking down the barriers of his past issues with his abusive father.

But as a counselor one would have to ask does childhood abuse have a connection with Borderline Personality Disorder or their characteristics? Although childhood abuse, BAD traits, and internal and external symptoms were all correlated, the connection between childhood abuse and BAD traits stems from findings that are consistent with the widely held assumption that childhood abuse causes BAD, and they suggest that BAD traits show in adults as they get older ( Broadleaved, 2013).

So once again as a counselor, asking Remy questions about his childhood could give him answers as to why he feels these emotions apart from dealing with the issues of not fitting in and his feelings of emptiness. Because his father was a "survivalist" which focuses around the belief that eventually society will collapse through social or political disorder and only the self-sufficient will be able to survive. The skills that survivalists have are some such as wilderness survival, first aid and self-defense with either weapons or hand-to-hand combat.

So seeing that his father was abusive, he could very much have desensitizing Remy with this belief that he had, which possibly dead to the abuse as his father's way of making him stronger. My reason for Intervention My reason for Intervention for Remy looking at his cultural framework, is that many children grow up in homes that are strict, have military backgrounds, violence and other matters that can damage a child even Just by witnessing or living through it. In the movie, Remy stated "Were going to war man this is the opening stage of World War 3" (Singleton, 1995).

Remy felt that he was in a race war when in fact he's really in a war with himself and the fact that he feels that he has no purpose in the world, ex.'s lost. My intervention process would rely on getting him to focus on the point that he initially went to school as an engineer and he should finish and become what he started out to be. Getting him to realize healthy choices and advantages of getting his degree from college in engineering and the opportunities that are ahead for him that could make a huge impact in his life is the angle that would be taken.

In order to help Remy, he would have to realize his self-worth instead of believing the views that his father raised him in. Remy believes at this point in what his Nazi leader friend Scott as instilled in him which is "White Power", a reality that his race has to take over to is proved to be useful with dealing with BAD. Implementing DEBT in the treatment of college students with complex issues, including suicidal ideation, severe depression, and BAD features.

DEBT is a principle-based treatment that is flexible enough to apply to the severe and complicated issues increasingly seen across an individual. DEBT focuses on teaching skills such as, emotion regulation, distress and tolerance that are developmentally relevant to college students. DEBT was designed for chronically suicidal individuals which suggest that chronically suicidal students are more likely to benefit from comprehensive treatment approaches and may actually experience positive effects with very brief forms of treatment.

College students with BAD traits differs from community BAD individuals, and the treatment targets of DEBT can be altered to address college students' specific clinical needs. For example, college students are less likely than community BAD individuals to engage in recurrent suicidal threats suggesting that DEBT treatment for this population may focus more on kills acquisition than stabilizing an individual (Pictorials, 2012). Conclusion In my opinion of treating Remy, this type of therapy can benefit him in many ways.

In the movie he started to commit suicide in his room when he thought to himself life would be better dead. However, he did not do it which at that point I would intervene before that point and get him on track to thinking in a different mindset. In the movie Remy ended up sadly committing suicide shooting himself in the head after he shot a few students from a rooftop. The point of mental health counselors in our field is to et to the root of the issue before it gets to that point with the hope of getting the client on track to a healthy way of thinking.

Remy would have been a very interesting character to counsel due to the fact he had childhood issues which lead to even bigger adult issues. The attitude of his father believe it or not reflected in his behavior with the "survive by any means necessary mentality'. However, Remy was not strong enough mentally which Scott the Nazi leader preyed on Remy as his puppet to mold him into what he wanted him to be. As a counselor we have to member that we do not know what state a client's mind is in mentally so we have to be careful ourselves in our approach to make sure we do no further harm.

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