Ordinary People - Analysis of Conrad's Self Image

In the beginning of the film, I would think Conrad’s self-concept consists of him thinking that he is alone in the sense that no one can help him cope with what he is going through and what he has already gone through. He is a depressed, sleep-deprived, and once suicidal person who thinks he is responsible for his brother’s death and, as a result, I believe he thinks of himself as having a low-self concept because what he is experiencing or had experienced is because he cannot find, or resort to, any means of “controlling” his issues. Three examples of how Conrad perceives himself in this way are (1) the fact that Conrad goes to see Dr. Berger to gain control of his problems, (2) he rarely interacts with others because he often has flashbacks to his accident, which often led him to a somewhat “vegetative state” when others tried communicating with him, and (3) Conrad never opened up his thoughts or feelings to anyone, in the beginning of the movie, besides his friend Karen, whom he met while in the hospital, because he felt no one could relate to or help him cope with what he was going through. Conrad’s self-concept affected him in a way that when others tried to reach out to him to help him with his issues, he often stayed “bottled up” and would deny the fact he needed any help at all.He wants to live a normal, stress-free life but his experiences have completely reshaped how he chooses to relates to others and how others choose to relate to him and because of this, Conrad often has trouble trying to send his thoughts and feelings to those around him. One way how I think this hinders Conrad in his communication abilities is that when others try to help him take on his problems and they are often shunned or passively listened to, Conrad loses theses resources for help because he does not provide any information or feedback to them whatsoever. In turn, I think his self-concept helps him tremendously when he has his sessions with Dr. Berger. The often nagging and