Instruction
Wizard of Oz – Nursing Process
“The Wizard of Oz” features Dorothy, the main character, setting off on a challenging journey to find her way back to Kansas through the Great Wizard of Oz. Along the way Dorothy is seen meeting and having a variety of encounters with different characters, including Scarecrow, the Tin-Man, as well as The Cowardly Lion (Thompson, 2015). Scarecrow and the Tin-Man do not have a brain and a heart, respectively, while The Cowardly Lion does not have any form courage. Having acknowledged that their problems, they become friends with Dorothy, who convinces them to accompany her to the wizard. Nursing wise, the film portrays the theme of psychiatric or mental health problems. Consequently, this essay utilizes the problem, etiology, and signs and symptoms (PES) format to diagnose the four characters cum clients.
Dorothy’s firsthand experience with Dr. Oz and each of the other characters reveals that she suffers from schizophrenia. In particular, she interprets reality abnormally as evidenced her hallucinating, having delusions, identify with disordered thinking, while at the same time, demonstrating impaired daily functioning. While scientists are yet to establish the exact etiology or cause of schizophrenia, recent studies suggest that it results from a combination of environmental, physical, and psychological, in addition to genetic factors (Lloyd et al., 2017). For instance, stressful life has been found to trigger this condition. In this context, Dorothy’s past traumatic experiences and significant family history show that her mother could hallucinate every day, both her parents are deceased, she had no option but to live with her uncle and aunt, who paid little to know attention to her problems. As a result, she finds comfort in Toto, her dog. When her neighbor threatens to kill Toto, this act triggers her psychosis condition, forcing her to flee Kansas.
The Cowardly Lion, Tin-Man, and Scarecrow have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), antisocial personality disorder (APD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While the name suggests his cowardice, the lion suffers from anxiety as witnessed in his low self-esteem, as well as restricted emotional expressiveness. He is not only afraid and frightened at his own shadow but also feels embarrassed and ashamed of his inability to venture out. The main symptom of anxiety is feeling inadequate, shy or unsure, and seeing oneself as a failure (Mangolini et al., 2017). In response to his condition, Dr. Oz treats the lion by giving him an award of courage, which means he is challenged to understand his true qualities of courage and optimistic.
ASD is characterized by poor social skills as demonstrated by Scarecrow. These skills include unusual interest in things, being asocial, and under reaction to the five senses (Park et al., 2016)). Based on the Scarecrow’s belief that his brain was not returned following a series of surgeries, he feels that he cannot function intelligently. Therefore, treatment for Scarecrow would involve activities that improves his ability to function properly in society. Finally, Tin-Man suffers from ASPD because he is socially irresponsible, engages in guiltless behavior, and tends to be exploitative. This diagnosis is informed by his confession that he is heartless. According to Black (2015), ASPD’s is caused by co-occurring mental health disorders and related comorbidities. Concisely, this suggests that Tin-Man’s addictive disorders and repetitive psychiatric conditions have made him to lack care and empathy for others.
References
Black, D. (2015). The natural history of antisocial personality disorder. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 60(7), 309-314.
Lloyd, J., Lloyd, H., Fitzpatrick, R., & Peters, M. (2017). Treatment outcomes in schizophrenia: Qualitative study of the views of family carers. BMC Psychiatry, 17, 266. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-017-1418-8
Mangolini, V., Andrade, L., Lotufo-Neto, F., Wang, Y. (2019). Treatment of anxiety disorders in clinical practice: A critical overview of recent systematic evidence. Clinics, 74, e1316.
Park, H., Lee, J., Moon, H., Lee, D., Kim, B., Kim, J. Kim, D., Paek, S. (2016). A short review on the current understanding of autism spectrum disorders. Experimental Neurobiology, 25(1), 1-13.
Thompson, M. (2015). Wizard of Oz nursing process. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0DnJywEFdKNug_1bTny6xc7Wb7_Ke16P