Comparison of Theorists Essay Meredith Grey PDF

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Comparing the psychoanalytic theory to Meredith Grey's, from Grey's Anatomy on ABC, life, and relationships to show how the theory applies to her....

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Comparison of Theorists – Applied to Meredith Grey

Stephanie Sherman College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Grand Canyon University PSY 255: Personality Psychology Kevin Salcido October 24, 2021

2 “Grey’s Anatomy” is a very popular television series that is produced by ABC and debuted in the year 2005. It has run for 17 full seasons, with the 18th season airing currently, and is produced by Shonda Rhimes, who also produces a spin-off of “Grey’s Anatomy” called “Station 19” (ABC Entertainment, 2021). The main character in the show is Doctor Meredith Grey. Meredith begins the series as a surgical intern at Seattle Grace Hospital where she is seen navigating the world alongside other surgical interns and their mentors (Britannica, 2018). Demographics Meredith Grey is a fictional character on the television series “Grey’s Anatomy.” Meredith was born in the year 1978, she is a young Caucasian female and is the daughter of Ellis Grey, a well-known surgeon, and Thatcher Grey, an alcoholic with a secret family. The show takes place in Seattle, Washington at Seattle Grace Hospital, Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital and Grey Sloan Memorial. Meredith grew up spending a lot of time at Seattle Grace Hospital while her mother was completing her surgical residency. Meredith knew from a very young age that she wanted to follow her mother into surgery when she was older. Her mother however, disapproved of Meredith’s decision to become a surgeon saying she did not have what it takes to be a surgeon. After completing medical school, Meredith was placed at Seattle Grace Hospital to complete her surgical internship. Meredith later married Derek Shepard, and they ended up having three children together, Zola, Bailey, and Ellis (Rhimes, 2005-present). History As a young child, Meredith was raised primarily by her mother after the age of five, when her mother left her father. When Meredith was young, she carried a small doll around with her everywhere, Anatomy Jane, the doll had removable organs. It was at this point in time, around age three, that Meredith showed an interest in medicine. Meredith and her mother moved to

3 Boston shortly after she left her father to so that her mother could complete a fellowship program at Mass General Hospital. Her mother also found out, shortly before moving to Boston, that she was pregnant with the man’s baby she was having an affair with, Richard Webber. After moving to Boston her mother gave birth to a baby girl and gave her up for adoption (Rhimes, 2005present). Meredith did not understand why her father left her life until she was an adult. In one episode of Grey’s Anatomy Meredith was talking to her mother, at the assisted living home where her mother lived due to her severe Alzheimer’s diagnosis, it was then that she found out that her mother had had an affair with someone at work. Meredith’s mother often did not know that she was speaking to Meredith because her Alzheimer’s disease was so advanced, Ellis thought Meredith was one of her friends from college, she still believed that Meredith was five years old (Rhimes, 2005-present). Presenting Problem Meredith Grey was unable to form and keep lasting romantic relationships for a period of time as an adult due to being traumatized as a young child by the feeling of abandonment she developed when her father left her life. Meredith was in her mid-twenties before she ended up seeing her father again after he left when she was only five years old. Her relationship with Derek Shepard started as a fling in a bar and then advanced to something more substantial after some time. Meredith and Derek had a very difficult relationship at the beginning because Derek was hiding secrets from Meredith. One of which was that Derek was still married to a woman he had found in bed with his best friend. Once Derek and Meredith moved past all their problems, they began to have a very strong relationship up until Derek’s horrific car crash that ended with his death (Rhimes, 2005-present).

4 Analysis of Problem The view that Adler takes of psychoanalytic theory suggests that the problems Meredith Grey has in her relationships could be explained by her need to strive for superiority. The feeling Meredith gained as a child when her family was torn apart is what began her feelings of inferiority because she was a young child and looked to the adults in her life to show her what was acceptable behavior. However, with this feeling of inferiority in her life, it gave her the will to push through and fight for what she wanted for her future in medicine. Adler believed the first few years of a person’s life were valuable to how their personality formed, and he believed the individual's parental influence had an impact on their personality as well. When an individual has too much attention from their parents that individual cannot grow to have independence or even make decisions of their own. In the case of Meredith Grey, it was the opposite, she did not have enough attention, instead, she was given the freedom to make her decisions on her own, which lead to neglect from her parents. When an individual is given too much freedom as a young child and their parent fails to give them the attention they need, the individual can grow to be untrusting with new relationships, they also have problems maintaining close personal relationships (Burger, 2019). Alternative Analysis of the Problem According to Carl Jung relationships grow from inside of an individual. The woman has an unconscious image of what her partner looks like inside of her, and a man has the same inside of himself. So, when a person fits into someone’s standards of what their partner should look like and be that is when they would want to develop a stronger relationship with them. If an individual has a negative outlook on relationships because of what they were exposed to growing up, then they would have a harder time dealing with the relationship. The shadow, dark side of a

5 person’s personality, holds our repressed feelings and thought. It could be said that the shadow in Meredith Grey’s life is what was holding her back from having strong meaningful relationships with the one’s around her (Burger, 2019).

6 References ABC Entertainment (Ed.). (2021). About Grey's anatomy TV show series. ABC. Retrieved October 23, 2021, from https://abc.com/shows/greys-anatomy/about-the-show. Burger, J. M. (2019). Personality (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth-Thomson Learning. ISBN-13: 9781337559010 Britannica, T. E. of E. (Ed.). (2018). Grey's anatomy. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved October 23, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Greys-Anatomy. Rhimes, S. (Producer). (2005-present). Grey's Anatomy [TV Series]. ABC....