Running head: SNOW WHITE

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves Nicholos Joseph AP Psychology

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Fairytale Summary A king and queen ruled over a distant land, and were honored, amicable rulers. However, the queens life was marked by sadness because she still had not been able to have a child. One day, the queen was working outside, and a bird pecked her finger; the queen wished the drop of blood would become for her a daughter. Soon after this, the queen6 had her wish granted she gave birth to a girl with skin white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black ass ebony. She named her daughter Snow White, but she died after giving birth to this daughter. The kind married a new woman, but she was cruel and unkind. She was also able to harness dark magic. She often recited Mirror, mirror on the wall, whos the fairest of them all? Every time this was recited, the mirror replied, Though O Queen, art the fairest of all. This response greatly pleased the queen. However, one day, the queen asked this question, but the mirror said that though the queen was indeed fair, Snow White was even fairer than her. The Queen became jealous and forced her hunter to execute Snow White to be killed, and requested that her heart be brought as proof of her death. However, when the huntsman took Snow White into the forest to be killed, he was unable to perform the act he let her go, and gave the Queen the heart of a boar. Snow White was left alone in the forest, and had no idea what to do. She became afraid and started running for the entire day until she came upon a small house and went inside to rest. The house was small and tidy; everything was in sets of seven. When night fell, the owners of

Nicholos Joseph Psychology AP 19 April 2013 SNOW WHITE the house returned home the seven dwarves. Each of them asked whod tampered with their belongings; the seventh dwarf found Snow White in his bed. They found her extremely beautiful. She recounted the story of how her stepmother tried to kill her, and the dwarves were sympathetic. The dwarves said that if she kept the house tidy, they would allow her to stay with them. She lived happily with the dwarves. The wicked Queen believed she had eaten Snow Whites heart; consequently, she felt she was now the most beautiful woman. She once again asked the mirror who was the fairest of all, and it replied that Snow White with the seven dwarves was still many times fairer. The Queen thought of a plan to become the fairest woman she would make a poisoned apple. She disguised herself as an old woman and set out to find Snow White. Snow White was initially afraid to allow the woman in, but she eventually consented once the woman had cut the apple. Snow White ate the apple, and immediately died. The Queen returned to the castle, and the mirror replied that she was indeed the fairest woman. She finally felt pleased. The dwarves found Snow White dead and were going to bury her; however, they felt she was so beautiful that they instead created her a glass coffin. A prince came upon these woods and requested to take Snow Whites coffin. The dwarves would not give him to coffin, but eventually gave in and felt pity for the young prince. When they were moving the coffin, the piece of the apple came out, and she was alive once again. The prince planned to marry Snow White. The prince and Snow White were married, and the evil Queen was banished from the kingdom due to her actions (Grimm, J., & Grimm, W.). 3

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Queen* Symptoms The Queen is beautiful, but she is also narcissistic and cruel. The queen envies Snow Whites beauty and tries to have her killed her perceived sense of self-importance motivates her to drastic means. She will do anything to ensure that she is indeed the fairest women in the entire kingdom. Diagnosis The Queen has Narcissistic Personality Disorder (Myers, 337). She has an unwarranted sense of self-importance she truly thinks that she is the center of the universe. In addition, she has a mirror on the wall and asks it Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? in order to inflate this self-important character. All of these symptoms and characteristics indicate the she does have Narcissistic Personality Disorder (DSM-IV). Treatment The Queen needs to alter the way she views the world and receive treatment from a cognitive approach. First, she needs exposure to other beautiful people in order to decrease the self-importance she always places upon herself. Instead of continuing to think irrational thoughts and be motivated to kill others to remain at the top, she needs to learn to value the importance of others and how they can, in fact, be beautiful as well. By Rational Emotive Therapy, this could be achieved. Instead of constantly wanting to be the fairest woman, the Queen could undergo psychotherapy treatments to understand that

Nicholos Joseph Psychology AP 19 April 2013 SNOW WHITE other individuals are worthy of care and respect, and eventually, would no longer have an unwarranted feeling of self-importance. Snow White* Symptoms Snow White often regresses into a state of mind that does not match with the situation she is in. For instance, in the forest, when she is alone, she begins to think that she is in a grave situation and starts running a sudden altered state of mind from her previously happy state. Diagnosis Snow White suffers from Disorganized Thinking Schizophrenia (DSM-IV). In the situation in the woods, her thinking becomes fragmented and she falsely believes that she is in a dangerous situation though there is no impending danger. She has a breakdown in selective attention instead of stopping and trying to comprehend the situation she is in, Snow White begins to overreact and run due to the circumstances. She is unable to understand that there is not truly any danger presented to her. Treatment Snow White should be treated by the cognitive approach by Rational Emotive Therapy. Her thoughts about the world should be changed Snow White automatically associated the situation she was in with a dangerous one rather than trying to realize there was not really any danger present. In order to fix this, she should be taught to think through her situations rationally, and not automatically assume she is in any form of danger. 5

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References Association, A. P. (n.d.). Narcissistic Personality Disorder. In DSM-IV (4th ed.). Retrieved from http://behavenet.com/ Association, A. P. (n.d.). Schizophrenia. In DSM-IV (4th ed.). Retrieved from http://behavenet.com/ Grimm, J., & Grimm, W. (n.d.). Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Toronto: DLTKs Sites. Retrieved from http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/snowwhite/story.htm Myers, D. G. (2001). Psychology (6th ed., pp. 531-565). New York: Worth Publishers.