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Analysis Of The Movie ' Silver Linings Playbook '

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In the movie Silver Linings Playbook, we follow Pat Solitano Jr., a man recently released from a mental institution (Cohen et al., 2012). He is a Caucasian male, likely in his early to mid-thirties and of Italian descent. He was a high school history teacher, living with his wife, Nikki, an English teacher. Upon finding his wife in the shower with another man, he nearly beats the man to death leading him to be sent to a psychiatric facility for eight months with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. In this essay I will support the diagnosis of a Bipolar I disorder. A diagnosis of Bipolar I disorder, has specific criteria in the DSM-V that have to be met. I will be listing the criteria and through examples of Pat’s actions, thoughts and behaviours, he meets the criteria. As per the requirements in the DSM-V, in order to diagnose someone with Bipolar I, they need to have had at least one manic episode (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). A manic episode is one that lasts for a minimum of one week would require hospitalization or have psychotic symptoms. This is differentiated from a hypomanic episode in that, for hypomania, the symptoms last four or fewer days, doesn’t require hospitalization and does not include psychotic feature. I will distinguish between the two using the presence of psychotic symptoms. Pat’s psychotic symptoms can be seen as both delusions and hallucinations (Cohen et al., 2012). His delusions are shown very early on in the movie; he is completely

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