Lord Of The Flies Case Study

Ryan Irwin                                                                                                                        October 5, 2011

LOTF Case Study

I. Case History

1.   Background Information

They are split into two groups, biguns and littluns. The littluns are generally under ten and the biguns are generally over ten. Ralph, Jack, Simon, Piggy, and Roger are the oldest. Jack and Ralph are the leaders. They are all male and piggy is over weight and has asthma. They are all from high-class families in London. Not all of them get along; there are generally two groups, the hunters led by Jack and the Rest that follow Ralph. Piggy has problems in the past because he lives with his aunt and he listens to everything she says, he is not very independent.

2.   Description of the Presenting Problem

Most of the boys are suffering from fear. When a child is scared of something they always look for their mother to comfort them, but when the boys are on an island together most civility is lost. Some of the boys have a severe fear of the so-called “beastie” for an exception of a few boys. The one who is not affected by this fear at all is Simon. He wanders around at night in the forest without being scared. Others with lower fear levels are Jack, Ralph, and Roger. The boys have all developed a fake fear of a beast in the forest. Every time the wind brushes a tree or a stick falls off a tree, their fight/flight is triggered and most of them chose flight except Jack, Ralph and Simon.

        

3.   My Diagnosis

Since the boys are young and they are used to their parents comforting them, they get very freaked out by what they fear. They are all taking the low road as opposed to the high road because they are so scared and convinced that there is a beastie and there is no one except other kids telling you that it is not real. The signal is being sent straight to their amygdala (where fearful memories are stored) from their eyes and then to their hypothalamus, which triggers their fight or flight. It was quite simple to figure out what was wrong with the boys, they are used to having parents comforting them but when there alone the fear is doubled.

II. Intervention

I suggest the victim learns more about the island and realizes that there could no way be a beastie on the island (make up proof to make them feel safe even if their was a beast). Placebo’s could work or get them to think about the peaceful and happy things on the island. Some of the boys mostly the younger ones are having nightmares. They are very scared of the beastie and they all dream of it. The littluns are spreading the fear to the others by talking about it. They should think about positive things before going to sleep and try not to think about the beastie all day.