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... ly manicured roses blooming along the Burnhams' white picket fence. It also refers to Jane's best friend, Angela, a supermodel in training. American Beauty tells the story of one man's search for happiness. Lester is seeking that happiness, and he believes that happiness lies in Angela Hayes, his daughter Jane's friend. He is excited by the thought that a teenage girls thinks he is hot.
She fuels Lester's sexual fantasies, and he decides to get in shape. Angela is a tease who enjoys leading Lester on. Angela's choice is to change herself from someone who is ordinary, in this case a virgin, to someone special who could make an old man's fantasies come true. Angela makes her choice and offers herself to Lester and reveals that she is still a virgin.
This causes Lester's conscience to get the best of him, and he refuses Angela's offer of her body. He realizes he cannot have sex with a teenager; this ends his fantasy, returning him to adulthood. Angela symbolizes Lester's dream of a perfect life, a life where everything is simple and everyone is beautiful. The thought of sleeping with Angela would bring him these things is found to be a false promise, and he realizes that true happiness comes from the moral decisions that a person makes in his or her life, not the pleasures that he or she indulges, in to relieve his or her daily problems. The balance here is that Angela is chasing empty images of adulthood at the same time Lester is chasing equally empty fantasies about youth. What would lead a man like Lester to have a mid-life crisis?
According to endocrinologist Adrian Dobs of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, the drop in the hormone testosterone is just part of a midlife change but not the whole story. Other hormones change as well, including pituitary and growth hormones and another one called DHEA. There are also psychosocial changes which are, new family dynamics of grown children. There also seems to be a link between low testosterone and depression. Sexual potency also drops with testosterone level; this is where fast cars and affairs can come in. Low testosterone can be tied to a growing sense of figurative and literal impotence and, therefore, tied to doing things to compensate (Fisch man, 47).
Men have extramarital affairs because of their dissatisfaction with the marital relationship, emotional emptiness, need for sexual variety, inability to resist new sexual opportunity. The loss of the high level of passion and desire that existed in the beginning of the relationship may result in boredom or develop into a feeling of indifference towards the partner. Combined with all of the other stresses and complexities of long term relationships, such as financial problems, raising children, job changes, the loss of passion may lead to a desire to rediscover passion in the start of a new relationship. Research indicates that extramarital affairs based solely on desire for new sexual partners is a very small percentage of the total number of affairs.
Of 3, 800 respondents to a questionnaire on this, over 90 % it reported that the affair was based on emotional needs not being met within the marital relationship and not sexually motivated reasons. The desire for a new sexual experience is not the initial motive for looking outside the marriage but comes after the breakdown of the emotional relationship (Layton-Toll, 54 - 55). Statistics on Men's Marital Infidelity. Age at which the average married man is most likely to have an affair: 34 Average age of his lover: 29 How long the affair lasts: 9 months Number of men who say it's okay to cheat if the marriage stinks, but divorce will be too hard on the kids, or the wallet: 1 in 3 The average guy's typical lover: Co-Worker. Second option: Stranger Percentage of married men who'd cheat with a supermodel if they knew they wouldn't get caught: 43.
Supermodel they'd pick: Tyra Banks (Victoria Secrets Model) Percentage of cheating men who get caught: 80 Most common way he slips up: Cell phone bill Hush gift the average guy gives his lover: Jewelry Gift he gives his wife after getting busted: Flowers Cost of a divorce after 5 years of alimony: $ 60, 000 Percentage of women who'd forgive their cheating spouses if they confessed: 78 Number of guys who take off their wedding rings when they go out: 1 in 3 If he gets divorced and doesn't remarry, percentage chance that the average guy will live to see age 65: 60. Percentage chance if he sticks it out with his wife: 90 (Men's Health, 124). On a Meta Analysis Study reported in the American Journal of Public Health, in June 29, 2001, contained information on whether or not there is a greater risk of psychiatric disorders among homosexuals. The studies were conducted from 1990 through 1992. The studies found the following psychiatric disorders to be diagnosed in homosexual men: mood disorders such as major depression and dysthymia, anxiety disorders such as panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, simple phobia, social phobia, agoraphobia, and posttraumatic stress disorder.
alcohol and drug abuse and dependence. The findings noted an elevated risk of some psychiatric disorders and of suicidal symptoms among homosexually active people compared with exclusively heterosexually active people. Additionally, men with same-sex sexual partners had a higher risk of depression and panic than men with opposite-sex partners. These results were also consistent with results of a recent population-based study from the Netherlands in which elevated rates of mood and anxiety disorders were observed among men with same-sex partners. Future studies with larger samples of homosexually active individuals may be able to clarify the importance of both persistence of disorders and HIV status in influencing mental health morbidity in this population. Stresses due to stigmatization and exposure to discriminatory behavior lead to higher rates of mental disorders.
This hypothesis is consistent with the finding that gay men experience discrimination in multiple areas of life and that such discrimination is related to elevated levels of psychologic distress. Another viewpoint is that the higher risk of mental disorders among gay men might be related to the occurrence of victimization and abuse, especially during adolescence. An alternative explanation was offered in this report; it was that homosexual men lead riskier lives, including a higher consumption of alcohol and drugs and higher rates of changing sexual partners which may be consistent with the development of some psychiatric disorders, particularly abnormal substance use (Risk of Psychiatric Disorders Among Individuals Reporting Same-sex Sexual Partners In The National Comorbidity Survey, 16 - 20). Researchers have found that THC, a chemical in marijuana, changes the way in which sensory information gets into and is processed by the hippocampus. The hippocampus is a component of the brain's limbic system that is crucial for learning, memory, and the integration of sensory experiences with emotions and motivations. Investigations have shown that neurons in the information processing system of the hippocampus and the activity of the nerve fibers in this region are suppressed by THC.
In addition, researchers have discovered that learned behaviors, which depend on the hippocampus, also deteriorate with this drug (Marijuana, Online). The use of marijuana gives Lester a reason to act the way he does. In order to overcome family dysfunction, communication and trust need to be worked upon in the family. Spending more time with family members, talking a lot and being open, are some ways of communication that can be dealt with at home.
Family counseling is another way to learn how to reestablish these lines of communication and trust. This does not happen overnight. It takes time and patience. Many of us are so busy living our lives that we take for granted that our loved ones will always be there. We do not take time to appreciate them for who they are and how they make our lives complete. Unfortunately for Lester, he did not realize all the beauty that was part of his life until it was too late, only moments before his death.
Bibliography Bradshaw, J. The Family: A Revolutionary Way of Self-Discovery. Deerfield Beach: Health Communications, 1988. Here, Gregory M. Stigma and Sexual Orientation. San Francisco: Sage Publications, 1998.
Layton-Those, Debbie. 'Extramarital Affairs: What is the Allure?' Extramarital Affairs Forum. October, 1998. Rates, Spencer A. Psychology In The New Millennium.
Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1996. White, Wayne. Psychology Themes and Variations. Stamford: Wadsworth Thompson, 2001. 'Risk of Psychiatric Disorders Among Individuals Reporting Same-sex Sexual Partners In The National Comorbidity Survey. ' American Journal of Public Health 29 June 2001: 11 - 26. Berardinelli, James. 'A Film Review, American Beauty. 's ephemer 15, 1999. [Online] Available web beauty.
html. 'Drug Statistics. ' October 2000. [Online] Available web Ebert, Roger. 'Review, American Beauty. 's ephemer 14, 2001. [Online] Available web beauty. html 'Family Violence Statistics. 's ephemer 18, 2001. [Online] Available web 'How to Survive Infidelity. 's ephemer 14, 2001. [Online] Available web 'Marijuana 13551. ' January 22, 2001. [Online] Available web 'Nationwide Trends 13567. ' February 15, 2001. [Online] Available web Payne, Robert. 'Reel Review, American Beauty. 's ephemer 14, 2001. [Online] Available web United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Marijuana: Facts Parents Need to Know.
Publication No. 98 - 4036. November 1998.
Free research essays on topics related to: marital relationship, anxiety disorders, psychiatric disorders, extramarital affairs, sexual partners
Research essay sample on Psychiatric Disorders Extramarital Affairs
