One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Essay

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Pages: 4

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

1. List 2 diagnosis you saw in the movie and what symptoms were you aware of?

Martini appears to be suffering from disorganized schizophrenia. He sometimes stares into space seemingly detached from reality, and he is disorganized in his thinking and behavior. Martini sees things that are not actually present which is evident during the basketball game. He appeared to be hallucinating as he passed the ball into the fence stating, “Catch it, catch it!” Martini also hallucinates while he is playing poker. McMurphy tries to rein him in by telling him to pay attention to the “real” people as Martini fixates on his hallucination.

Billy appeared to have generalized anxiety disorder as evidenced by stuttering more often when
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Regression: Cheswick demonstrates a regressive defense mechanism when he begins to act out when Nurse Ratchett does not allow him to have his cigarettes. He becomes angry but also becomes pouty, almost as if he is throwing a tantrum like a child.
Avoidance: The patients would sometimes avoid Nurse Ratchett’s questions during group sessions in fear that she would retaliate.
Denial: Denial was evident when one of the patient’s had stated that McMurphy had escaped, but Dale stated that he was “Upstairs” and is “As meek as a lamb.” The patient was hopeful that McMurphy was alright, but in fact he wasn’t.
Rationalization: McMurphy seems to rationalize his behavior to the doctor when he first arrives at the psych ward. The doctor mentions that he has had five arrests for assault; In turn, McMurphy tries to justify his actions by stating, “Five fights. Rocky Marciano has 40 and he’s a