The Scarlet Witch & Her Family Ziv Go CSUSM NURS 480 Family Assessment ISSUU Visual report
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Who is the scarlet witch? Wanda Maximoff, also known as the Scarlet Witch, is a character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). She is one of the Avengers and possesses the power of chaos magic. In the Disney+ TV show WandaVision, it is revealed that Wanda obtained her powers after interacting with the Mind Stone, granting her telekinesis, telepathy, and the ability to alter reality.
Wanda’s control over reality is the basis of the WandaVision series. After losing the love of her life, Vision, when fighting against Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Wanda subconsciously altered the reality of the town that they were to move into in order to fulfill her needs and desires. In this reality, Wanda passively causes people to live like they did in the sitcoms that she used to watch as a child with her family.
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Wanda Wanda, 28, created The Hex as a way to cope with the loss of Vision. In doing so, she hijacked the lives of all the people in the town of Westview in order to live a ‘normal’ life with her loved ones. In The Hex, she freely controls the time, area of influence, and the thoughts of all the people within it. As she accelerates the flow of time within The Hex, the time period changes based on the various sitcom shows that she watched as a child. According to Erikson’s psychosocial stages, coping with Vision’s sudden death puts Wanda in the Intimacy vs. isolation stage.
Vision At the time of his death, Vision was 3 years old. Despite his age, Vision is a fully developed adult since that is how he was programmed. In the WandaVision series, the Vision that we see is false as he is created through Wanda’s sheer will. Outside of The Hex, this Vision does not exist. Regardless of being a false Vision, he carries the same personality as the real one, except for his memories. Once he realizes the truth behind The Hex, Vision faces internal conflict as he does not believe in the morality of the situation but he also loves Wanda. With this, he is in the Intimacy vs. isolation stage.
Tommy
Billy
Thomas was born due to Wanda’s power over reality in The Hex. He possesses Wanda’s deceased brother Pietro’s ability to move extremely quick. Due to The Hex’s volatile nature, we observe Tommy and his brother age from newborns to school-aged children as time within the altered reality moves differently than in the real world. This puts Tommy in the Industry vs. inferiority Erikson psychosocial stage.
Like his twin brother, Billy was born in The Hex and does not exist outside of it. Moreover, he inherited Wanda’s psionic powers and has the ability of telepathy and telekinesis. Billy and Tommy age rapidly throughout each episode. Near the finale of WandaVision, we see that he is in the Industry vs. inferiority Erikson psychosocial stage like his twin brother.
Duvall’s Developmental Stages The flow of time within The Hex is not constant, so each episode may show a different family developmental stage. In the beginning, a married couple without children (stage 1) is depicted. Near the end of the series, a family with school-aged children (stage 4) is shown. The earlier stages are not depicted as much as stage 4, so the show depicts Wanda and Vision collaborating together to promote the growth of their children. In one instance, Wanda, Vision, Billy, and Tommy all dress up as their comic book portrayals to go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.
Communication Practices Wanda and Vision openly communicate with each other, and they both actively listen to each other when making decisions. Throughout WandaVision, we see the couple complement each others’ dynamics. Both Wanda and Vision have the power of telepathy so they can read each other nonverbally. Wanda has some issues communicating clearly with Tommy and Billy due to their existence relying solely on her power over The Hex.
Strengths ●
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Wanda shows true love towards Vision. She is so devoted to him that she created another version of him after he died in Infinity War just so that she could live a life with him. This version of Vision holds the same emotions that the true Vision has, so he loves Wanda just as much. Wanda and Vision are just as devoted to Tommy and Billy as they are to each other. Both Wanda and Vision’s powers are derived from the Mind Stone, which connects them even further. Wanda’s psionic powers and Vision’s physical prowess and intellect enable them to protect their family.
Weaknesses ●
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Wanda does not have complete control over her chaos magic, so The Hex poses a threat to the safety of those around her. Wanda’s emotional stability is threatened by the death of Vision. Her psionic powers are partly affected by her emotions. The Vision created within The Hex has an internal conflict with himself as he struggles to determine what is morally correct in his situation. Furthermore, he does not possess the memories that the true Vision has, so this sets him back. Agatha Harkness, Wanda’s neighbor, poses a threat to the integrity of Wanda’s family.
Family Systems Theory
Wanda’s coping mechanism for dealing with the loss of Vision has a direct effect on the lives of those around her within The Hex. Her immense emotions cause her to subconsciously manifest new, potent powers that make her inadvertently take over an entire town of people. The four key concepts of the Family Systems Theory include (Kaakinen et al., 2018).: 1. 2. 3. 4.
All parts of the system are interconnected. a. Wanda and Vision’s participation in their hostage community causes Wanda to manifest their twins into existence. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. a. In her feud against Agatha Harkness, Wanda was losing when she was on her own. When Vision, Tommy, and Billy showed up, the tables were turned. All systems have borders between the system and their environment. a. The Hex has its own physical boundaries and Wanda has the ability to expand or contract it at will. Systems can be broken down further into subsystems. a. Wanda, Vision, Billy, and Tommy create subsystems within their own family based on what they believe is correct. Tommy and Billy obey Wanda to an extent because they have their own moral compass.
Interventions Assess the strengths and deficiencies of the family system. Consider using Family Systems Nursing to focus on the entire family as a unit of care (Ackley et al., 2020). A systematic review of the Family Systems Nursing literature found that when the focus was on both the individual and the family as a unit, improvements across cognitive, emotional, and behavioral domains were found, including enhanced understanding and coping, improved emotional well-being for the family and the individual, and improved interactions among family members (Östlund & Persson, 2014).
Provide family support interventions in situations in which caregiving is involved in the family (Ackley et al., 2020).
Provide education to clients regarding active coping strategies to use in situations involving chronic illnesses (Ackley et al., 2020).
A comprehensive review of caregiving literature in both the fields of aging and developmental disabilities revealed that family-support interventions improved participant well-being, improved service access and satisfaction, reduced caregiver burden, and delayed institutional placement (Heller, Gibbons, & Fisher, 2015).
Mindfulness-based activities and cognitive behavioral therapy strategies can improve emotional, behavioral, and cognitive functioning in individuals experiencing various stressors (Gu et al, 2015).
Outcomes Wanda verbalizes knowledge and understanding of the erratic nature of her psionic abilities as well as the ineffectiveness of creating a false reality to cope with the loss of Vision.
Wanda and Vision will provide support and assistance to Billy and Tommy as needed.
Wanda and Vision will collectively identify the need for support and seek for support from fellow Avengers.
References
Ackley, B. J., Ladwig, G. B., Flynn, M. M. B., Martinez-Kratz, M. R., & Zanotti, M. (2020). Nursing diagnosis handbook: An evidence-based guide to planning care. Elsevier. Bergström, T., Seikkula, J., Alakare, B., Mäki, P., Köngäs-Saviaro, P., Taskila, J. J., ... & Aaltonen, J. (2018). The family-oriented open dialogue approach in the treatment of first-episode psychosis: Nineteen–year outcomes. Psychiatry research, 270, 168-175. Kaakinen, J. R., Coehlo, D. P., Steele, R., & Robinson, M. (2018). Family health nursing: Theory, practice, and research. F.A. Davis Company. Moore, J. (2021). 4 Developing to Bridge the Gap Between Pediatric and Adult Psychiatric Care. Transition-Age Youth Mental Health Care: Bridging the Gap Between Pediatric and Adult Psychiatric Care, 61.
Images
Slide 1 - https://images.app.goo.gl/n9L8g7vJgpq8ZLjC9 Slide 2 - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9140560/ Slide 3,4 - https://www.themarysue.com/wandavision-twins/ Slide 3,5 - https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Vision/Chaos_Magic_Recreation Slide 6 - https://twitter.com/shivamchatak/status/1367944727375482880 Slide 9 - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/arts/television/wandavision-review.html