Media Critique - Grade: B PDF

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Running head: MEDIA CRITQUE OF OWN HUNT FROM GREYS ANATOMY

Media Critique of Owen Hunt from Greys Anatomy Haley Daughtry Kennesaw State University

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Running head: MEDIA CRITQUE OF OWN HUNT FROM GREYS ANATOMY

Media Critique of Owen Hunt from Greys Anatomy After watching and re watching one of my favorite TV shows, I have decided to do my Media Critique from Greys Anatomy on a character named Owen Hunt. Owen is one of the main characters and a surgeon at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. After years of Army deployment, he beings to show symptoms of what I believe appears to be Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Owens symptoms include the following: nightmares, insomnia, psychological stress to external cues, distressing memories/flashbacks, avoidance of (certain) conversations, irritability, and reckless behavior. One major scene that stands out the most in when Owen and his fiancé, Christina Yang, are trying to sleep one night. The fan above them is slowly spinning which begins to remind Owen of a helicopter. After moments of staring at the fan and having flashbacks to the Army, he unconsciously begins to choke Christina until she finally “wakes him” from this state of mind. This to me, shows what seems to be a pretty clear indication of PTSD. Keeping in mind this is not the only symptom he portrays of PTSD this is just one major episode. While doing a differential diagnosis one may also believe that Owen Hunt has Acute Distress Disorder or possibly an Adjustment Disorder. Owen has been exposed to such horrific events during deployment that meet the criteria for Trauma which could easily lead to a diagnosis of PTSD or Acute Distress Disorder right off. He not only has directly experienced traumatic events but has also witnessed his peers experience Trauma. One, being his closest friend, Teddy, who was also deployed at the same time Owen was. Over the course of the season of Grey’s Anatomy one may begin to realize that his symptoms have lasted for months along with the occurrence of these symptoms not rearing to a head for over a month are his return home from deployment. The reasoning behind why I feel Acute Distress Disorder doesn’t fit for Owen is due to the fact that he doesn’t present nine or more symptoms from the categories or

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Running head: MEDIA CRITQUE OF OWN HUNT FROM GREYS ANATOMY

Intrusion, Negative Mood, Dissociation, Avoidance, and Arousal. He fits less than nine but more than one which leads me to continue to believe that a diagnosis of PTSD best fits Owen Hunt. I also believe that an Adjustment Disorder does not fit Own specifically do to the timeline that an Adjustment Disorder falls in the category of occurring immediately after the occurrence of a traumatic stressor. An Adjustment Disorder is also said to terminate after six months after the termination of the stressor. Let’s focus though on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Distress Disorder. To give a better look at the difference in PTSD and Acute Distress disorder let’s take a look at the Criterion from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). Diagnostic Criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder 309.81 (F43.10): 

“Exposure to actual of threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence in one (or more) ways.”

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“Presence of one (or more) intrusions symptoms associated with the traumatic event(s), beginning after the traumatic event(s) occurred.”

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“Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the traumatic event(s), beginning after the traumatic event(s) occurred.”

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“Negative alterations in cognitions and mood associated with the traumatic event(s) beginning or worsening after the traumatic event(s) occurred.”

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“Marked alterations in arousal and reactivity associated with the traumatic event(s), beginning or worsening after the traumatic event(s) occurred.”

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“Duration of the disturbances above is more than 1 month after the traumatic event(s)”

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Running head: MEDIA CRITQUE OF OWN HUNT FROM GREYS ANATOMY

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“The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning”

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“The disturbance is not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance or another medical condition.” (DSM-5, 2013, p.271-272)

Diagnostic Criteria for Acute Stress Disorder 308.3 (F43.0): 

“Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence.”

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“Presence of nine (or more) symptoms from any of the five categories of intrusion, negative mood, dissociation, avoidance, and arousal, beginning or worsening after the traumatic event(s) occurred.”

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“Duration of the disturbance is 3 days to 1 month after trauma exposure.”

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“The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.”

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“The disturbance is not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance or another medical condition and is not better explained by brief psychotic disorder.” (DSM-5, 2013, p.280-281)

Again, the major difference that stands out to be in the two allowing me to make a diagnosis of PTSD is the duration of the disturbance after the traumatic event(s). In PTSD the duration is more than one month after the traumatic event(s), and in Acute Distress Disorder the duration is 3 days to one month after exposure. While watching the show, you are not told how

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Running head: MEDIA CRITQUE OF OWN HUNT FROM GREYS ANATOMY

long after the traumatic event(s) the disturbance occurred. This is left up to the viewer to decide but based off the serious of events that happened between Owens return from deployment and the beginning of disturbance one can quickly make a clear assumption the Criterion best fits for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The media piece also provided a diagnosis of PTSD. A diagnosis that I could not agree more with. Throughout the show his best friend Teddy, his fiancé Christina, and Christina’s best friend, Meredith, talk on multiple occasions about Owens PTSD and how they can help him overcome this as he does not want to go see anyone to get help. The producer, Shonda Rhimes, does a great job with the signs and symptoms portrayed with PTSD within the character of Owen Hunt. The media piece, I believe, does a great job at portraying evidence of Owen having PTSD based on my understanding of the disorder from in class discussions, the textbook, and my additional reading from the DSM-5. Throughout the show there appears to be a few biopsychosocial aspects that play a role in the occurrence of Owen’s diagnosis of PTSD. Not only does Army deployment play a role in the rising of the disorder but I believe that the amount of Trauma he sees at work on a daily basis and the stress that goes into his relationship with Christina Yang plays a major role, too. As most military deployments are very similar Owen obviously experiences major Trauma to not only himself but to lots of fellow Army men and close friends. The show does not elaborate too much on what all he witnessed but does tend to give small flashbacks of scenes from his deployment. The rest is left up to our imagination based off his change in personality when he arrives back to Seattle. The different traumas he hears about and assists with on a daily basis as work cause him to have lots of flashbacks to things he may have seen during deployment. These flashbacks cause him to have breakdowns, irritability, and leads to avoidance of conversations with coworkers and

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Running head: MEDIA CRITQUE OF OWN HUNT FROM GREYS ANATOMY

especially his fiancé, Christina. Lastly, the stress of his relationship with Christina also leads to the added distress of his PTSD. Owen most definitely portrays distress, deviance, dysfunction, and danger throughout his disorder. Though we do not know any information about Owens family/cultural life we can not conclude that there is not any sort of cultural contexts that play into his PTSD. Considering we do not know much information about the show producer, Shonda Rhimes, I have no reason to believe that there is bias within the perspective of Owen having PTSD. I do believe though that her reasoning for adding this disorder into her show is to attract a larger viewing audience. I believe she may have felt adding scenes from Owens Army deployment and the issues he faced when he returned home would attract more than just a group of “medical” fanatics. For those interested in a little bit more information on Owen and the disturbances arousing his PTSD the Los Angeles Times article ‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Wartime memories overwhelm Owen does an incredible job giving a little insight for one who does not have time to watch the show but want’s some brief background. Also, below is a link to an episode of one of Owen’s moments of disturbance.

Link to an Episode: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XpBzz0JAiQ.

References

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Running head: MEDIA CRITQUE OF OWN HUNT FROM GREYS ANATOMY

“'Grey's Anatomy': Wartime Memories Overwhelm Owen.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2010, 9:49AM, latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2010/03/greys-anatomywartime-memories-overwhelm-owen.html.

COforever1. “Grey's Anatomy 6x18 - Owen Sleepless Night.” YouTube, YouTube, 25 Mar. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XpBzz0JAiQ.

DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICALMANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS[PDF]. (2013). American Psychiatric Association....