Traumatic Childhood in The Glass Castle Essay Example

The Glass Castle is a self-based novel written by Jeanette Walls about her experiences through childhood and growing up in poverty as well as going through mentally and physically straining situations. Walls shares about her family members and people around her who have and continue to shape who she is as a person and how she views the world. For this case study, I picked Jeanette’s father, Rex Walls. Rex is being diagnosed with alcoholism, an addiction over the consumption of alcoholic substances, as well as bipolar disorder, a mental condition concerning the abnormal changes of mood. In this paper, different treatments will be explored for Rex’s issue.
To start with the diagnoses, we can start by discovering that Rex Walls had a very traumatic childhood and start to live that could have largely contributed to his future addiction and mental health issues. Highly ranked research database National Insitute of Mental Health (NIMH) explained in their Substance Use of Co-Occurring Mental Disorders article, “Researchers have found that about half of the individuals who experience a SUD [substance use disorder] during their lives will also experience a co-occurring mental disorder” (NIMH, 2021). This example shows how an already occurring addiction can contribute to a mental disorder. It also emphasizes the risk factor that Rex was at, whether the bipolar or alcohol issues showed up first, for the second problem to come up after that. Jeanette Wall’s The Glass Castle also does a great way of showing the possible trauma that Rex’s mother, Erma, could have placed upon him when he was a young boy. The reader is shown this after Jeanette explains to Rex how Erma had touched Brian inappropriately and Rex replied ““Brian’s a man, he can take it,” he said. “I don’t want to hear another word of this. Do you hear me?””(The Glass Castle, 2005, p.148). This quotation helps to imply the background knowledge needed to show the impact that Erma could have had on her son. While the Walls family was at her house, she drank aggressively as well as mentally, physically, and sexually, abused the Walls children which proves that the same could have happened to Rex when he was living under her roof. Additional proof that Rex could have been affected by his traumatic childhood can be shown in the PBS coverage of Childhood trauma impacts millions of Americans, and it’s having devastating consequences when Nadine Burk Harris explains “When we experience something stressful, our body releases stress hormones. Prolonged activation of the biological stress response, that can lead to long-term health problems, changes in the way the brain structure and function, changes in our immune system, our hormonal system, and even the way our DNA is read and transcribed,” This helps to add that traumatic experiences can change the mental health of young adolescents very easily. Overall, the NIMH and PBS research as well as the first-hand experience of Jeanette Walls when she was a child helps to show the possible beginning of the mental health issues that Rex had during the later periods of his life. 
Using the background information that we were given about the effects of early life trauma and mental health issues, we can diagnose Rex Walls with bipolar disorder, a mental health disorder that causes abnormal changes in mood and energy levels, and alcoholism, alcohol-based addiction. Starting with the bestselling novel The Glass Castle written by Jeanette Walls, Jeanette shares that Rex was “It looked like she [Rose Mary Walls, Jeanette’s mom] might slip from Dad’s [Rex Walls] grasp or pull him out the window. Lori turned to Brian and me. “Come on.” We ran inside and up the stairs and help on to Dad’s legs so that Mom’s weight wouldn’t drag him through the window as well” (The Glass Castle, 2005, p.71-72). In this part of the novel, Rex grows very angry with Rose Mary very suddenly, and he begins to dangle her out of a window. He is also depicted showing these aggressive actions followed by abnormal mood raises several other times in the novel. This is a very commonly shown sign of bipolar disorder, which helps to diagnose him. Additionally, Rex can also be shown having an extremely abusive relationship with alcoholic substances throughout the novel. Later in the story, Jeanette recalls “So I was surprised when, on the day I turned ten, Dad took me outside to the back patio and asked what I wanted most in the world. “Do you think maybe you could stop drinking?” Dad said nothing” (The Glass Castle, 2005, p. 116). This piece of writing shows how severe Rex’s alcohol issue is. It had affected the family so much, that Jeanette asked for it to go away, and when Rex tried to get rid of it, he realized that the addiction became too much for him to easily get over. Rex was not able to effectively treat his disorders on his own without any professional help. These two excerpts from The Glass Castle give evidence explained by Jeanette Walls that can help to diagnose Rex effectively.
After accurately being able to diagnose Rex, a treatment plan can now be provided. Going back to the NIMH’s article covering “Substance Use of Co-Occurring Mental Disorders”, the reader can use their possible listing of effective treatments of patients with addictions as well as mental health disorders to find “Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): DBT uses concepts of mindfulness and acceptance or being aware of and attentive to the current situation and emotional state. DBT also teaches skills that can help control intense emotions, reduce self-destructive behaviors (e.g., suicide attempts, thoughts, or urges; self-harm; and drug use), and improve relationships.” Out of all the possible therapy listed, DBT would be the most useful for Rex because a large community does not have to be involved, which could help to avoid shame, and it could help him to avoid aggressive behaviors of his that have hurt others around him in the past. Rehabilitation could also be a helpful form of treatment for Rex because it would separate him from his family and all other possible factors in his environment that have distracted him or overly stressed him out in the past. All in all, the NIMH and PBS were able to provide an extremely specific and possibly effective way to help Rex with his bipolar and alcoholic tendencies. 
After using first-hand evidence from Jeanette Walls, research-based data from the NIMH, and a research report covering children being raised in poverty, an effective plan was able to be created to accurately diagnose and treat Rex Walls with alcoholism and bipolar disorder based on past and current life experiences that he endured.