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The Queen’s Gambit: A Portrayal of Childhood Trauma

 Shreaya Malhotra 

At a cursory glance, the Queen’s Gambit seems like a coming of age story of a girl finding her footing in the male-dominated world of chess. While that is the major theme of the limited series, this story’s foundation is laid and driven by harrowing childhood trauma and addiction. 

Beth Harmon, the story’s protagonist, is just a young girl when she loses both her parents and is put up in an orphanage. Her father left Beth and her mother to start a new family due to her mother’s deteriorating mental health. Following that, her mother eventually decides to take her own life by crashing into a truck, all while Beth was still in the car with her. We see through recurrent flashbacks, Beth’s mother asking Beth to close her eyes before colliding into the oncoming vehicle. 


 PTSD is defined as a disorder that occurs when an individual undergoes traumatic events, like when Beth experienced a car crash that took the life of her own mother. These include symptoms like intense nightmares, flashbacks and detachment from other people (“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder”, 2019). This post explores the portrayal of addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder through Beth’s life story in the show “The Queen’s Gambit”.


One of the more ‘famous’ symptoms of PTSD in the show can be illustrated through Beth’s flashbacks of her mother’s accident. Throughout the show, we see glimpses of the accident presented as intrusive thoughts during vulnerable moments of Beth’s life. The trauma of her mother’s death and her transfer to an orphanage in which the children alienate her, introduces her to the world of addiction and chess. The children are given green pills that “calm” the children down and Beth becomes addicted to these drugs and uses them to avoid the trauma of her mother’s suicide. Additionally, in Beth’s case, it makes it easier for her to visualize chess pieces on the ceiling, with chess being introduced to her by her only other friend, Mr. Schaibel. 

The green pills presuppose Beth’s further addiction to drugs and alcohol, as childhood trauma and stress are factors that fuel addiction (Simmons and Suárez, 2016). Beth also becomes obsessed with chess, as it is almost a gift from Mr. Schaibel, an adult who cared for her during her formative years. Later when Beth finally forms a meaningful relationship with her foster mother Alma, who supports her chess competitions as they bring in a source of income. When she dies during Beth’s competition, it strengthens her alcohol and drug dependence as she had lost, once again, a supportive adult in her life. Through this instance it is highlighted how Beth turns to substances as an active coping mechanism against the instances that remind her of her childhood. Here, it is interesting to note how substances act as a coping mechanism and reinforce avoidant strategies, and how these avoidant strategies may further reinforce the development of PTSD (Simmons and Suárez, 2016).


Despite her success with chess, we see a characteristic symptom of PTSD- alterations in cognitions and mood (“What is Post-traumatic Stress Disorder?”, 2020). This affects a person’s cognition about oneself and of other people. Beth demeans herself and it is illustrated when she is playing against a state champion when she says, “Come on you ugly piece of trash, you can beat that f*cker”. The low self-esteem she possesses is a well-observed symptom in people who have undergone severe childhood trauma (Ekinci and Kandemir, 2014). Along with this maladaptive cognition about herself, Beth maintains a high level of distrust with other people as well- another characteristic symptom of PTSD (Hepp et. al, 2021). This is highlighted when she is hesitant to trust Benny, a U.S. chess champion to mentor her. When she trusts him and she loses an important chess match against Borgov, she turns to drugs and alcohol as her coping. Her general distrust and reflection of her guard always being up is highlighted when she says that the chess board is predictable and that she can dominate it. According to her, if she gets hurt then she only has herself to blame. Through this we see how she distrusts external scenarios and other people and is extremely precarious with new situations (Hepp et. al, 2021). 


Despite Beth’s childhood trauma, her substance addictions and constant traumatic life-events re-enforcing the two, it was shown how social support can help play an important factor in mitigating PTSD symptoms and its associated substance abuse (Gros et. al). During her final chess match with Borgov, Beth’s friends and associates were there to support her during her victory, which subsequently led to her flushing her drugs and regaining trust amongst her peers. The show leaves us with an optimistic note about the importance of social support during PTSD. While the recovery from PTSD is not always this linear and is accompanied with extensive therapy and medication when required, The Queen’s Gambit provides a detailed insight into the symptoms of PTSD. 


References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). What is posttraumatic stress disorder? What Is PTSD? Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd#:~:text=People%20with%20PTSD%20have%20intense,or%20estranged%20from%20other%20people. 

Ekinci, S., & Kandemir, H. (2014). Childhood trauma in the lives of substance dependent patients: The relationship between depression, anxiety and self-esteem. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hasan-Kandemir/publication/268987578_Childhood_trauma_in_the_lives_of_substance-dependent_patients_The_relationship_between_depression_anxiety_and_self-esteem/links/556da22c08aec22683063532/Childhood-trauma-in-the-lives-of-substance-dependent-patients-The-relationship-between-depression-anxiety-and-self-esteem.pdf

Hepp, J., Schmitz, S.E., Urbild, J. et al. Childhood maltreatment is associated with distrust and negatively biased emotion processing. bord personal disord emot dysregul 8, 5 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-020-00143-5

National Institute of Medical Health. (2019). Post-traumatic stress disorder. National Institute of Mental Health. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd 

Simmons, S., & Suárez L. (2016). Substance Abuse and Trauma. Define_me. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.childpsych.theclinics.com/article/S1056-4993(16)30057-8/fulltext#relatedArticles 



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