Mental Disorders In The Film Silver Linings Playbook

Nearly everyone in the world can be classified with some sort of mental or psychological disorder, whether it’s a big “problem” or just something small and rather unnoticable. Since film making became possible, people have been producing movies with a character that has some sort of psychological or mental disorder. Within the last 20 years, American Psycho, Shutter Island, and The Black Swan, have all had strong in their message and meaning in the mental disorder community. American Psycho and The Black Swan deal with borderline personality disorders in both of the main characters, while Shutter Island is more about post traumatic stress disorder and dissociative identity disorder. Movies dealing with characters with mental or psychological disorders are harder to portray, but if they can be portrayed correctly, they are likely to be some of the best movies you have ever seen.

In the film K-Pax, a a middle age man, claiming to be 337 earth years old, is brought into psychiatric institute after he causes a disturbance at a train station. Prott, the patient, experiences a delusion where he believes that he is from the extraterrestrial planet K-Pax and he will return back on July 27, taking one person with him. Prott is delusional, but very intelligent which makes many patients believe his stories, and the doctors question him even more. He shares unknown knowledge surrounding a star system that had never been figured out before. Throughout his time at the mental institute he gives tasks to another patient, each task is proven to be true and works. His psychiatrist Dr. Powell uncovers that Protts true name is Robert Porter, after looking

The mentally ill patient relives experiences of the event, such as having distressing images and memories, upsetting dreams, or flashbacks. After undertaking a punch in the stomach from a pimp named Maurice, Holden is at a high stress level which triggers a connection to

The movie The Soloist was very eye opening and inspirational. An L.A. Times journalist, Steve, comes across a homeless man named Nathaniel playing the violin. He begins talking to him and Nathaniel seems to talk very fast and continuously rambling on. Nathaniel tells Steve he used to attend Julliard and play the cello there. Steve begins to do some research and finds out he is telling the truth. He begins writing a newspaper column on Nathaniel and spends more and more time with him. An elderly woman was moved by the column and gave her cello to Steve to give to Nathaniel but on one condition. It was of great value so it would need to be kept at a shelter called LAMP, and Nathaniel could stay there or go there when he wanted to play it. Nathaniel was reluctant at first, but eventually shows up at the shelter. We see flashbacks of Nathaniel’s past and learn that he often hears voices, which greatly affected his music career causing him to drop out of Julliard. He becomes very attached to Steve as he puts him up in an apartment and gets him his first musical performance. But when Nathaniel finds a paper saying he has schizophrenia

The conditions in Afghanistan created upon the Russian invasion caused much pain and suffering to the citizens of the country. In Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner,” the consequences of this invasion created a harsh environment for the children and adults of Afghanistan. This environment created the development of mental disorders in Amir, Assef, and Sohrab throughout the novel. By examining the mental disorders such as Narcissistic disorder in Assef, the antisocial disorder in Amir and the adjustment disorder in Sohrab, it will be shown how the events in Afghanistan contribute to these characters mental problems.

The film starts with the story of 22 year old Burbank raised Dethy. She is one that is thirsty for fame and attention. She gets thrills being a part of Hollywood’s social life. Sadly, Dethy is a “fame hungry wannabe” who uses drugs as a “socializing help”. She has been trying to “make it” in Hollywood since her mid-teens and has gained nothing but many drug addictions. The hunger for fame and drug use began when Dethy was only a teenager when her doctor diagnosed her with bipolar disorder.

I chose to do my analysis on the character Pat Solitano, from the movie Silver Lining Playbook. This movie is a romantic comedy that takes place in Philadelphia. This movie is about a middle-aged man who has lost everything, his job, his wife, and his house. He has spent the last eight months in a mental institution, and has recently been released to his parents. Upon entry to the mental institution Pat almost beat his wife’s lover to death. So, throughout the entire movie pat is trying to win the affection of his wife back, by trying to better himself, and show her that he has his anger under control. This is difficult because Pat’s wife has placed a restraining order on him, so he can have no actual contact with her. So, she has no

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about one in four American adults suffer from a mental disorder. This means that 57.7 out of 217.8 million people over the age of 18 are ill; never mind that mental illnesses are the leading cause of disability in Canada and the United States. Holden Caulfield, the controversial main character of J.D Salinger’s novel Catcher in the Rye, spends much of the book wandering through the streets of New York City. Kicked out of boarding school for the umpteenth time, he does many odd things: he calls a prostitute, tries to befriend a taxi driver, drinks with middle aged women, and sneaks into his own house in the middle of the night. While many of these things seem outré, some may even go as

exaggerating symptoms and stereotyping individuals with a mental disorder. For example, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Psycho, in which man with schizophrenia murders guests in a hotel, influences viewers to believe that all individuals suffering from schizophrenia are dangerous. However, that is rarely the case (Polatis, 2014). Therefore, it is refreshing to find a movie that accurately portrays the true personality of and individual living with a mental illness. The movie Silver Linings Playbook chronicles the experiences of Pat Solitano, a man suffering from undiagnosed bipolar disorder who was recently released from a psychiatric facility. Although this paper focuses on Pat’s experiences, it is important to note that the film not only takes on the task of portraying bipolar disorder, but also mental illness in general with other major characters suffering from a mixture of psychological or personality disorders. The film opens with Pat at Karel Psychiatric Facility in Baltimore, Maryland. We later learn that Pat was institutionalized for nearly beating to death the man with whom he caught his wife Nikki cheating on him. The rest of the film details

Some of the characters in this film did have psychological disorders. However, not all of the disorders that were shown were demonstrated accurately through the characters. Starting with Pat Solitano who has Bipolar Disorder, he tends to have manic episodes of being in a very energetic state and suddenly dropping to a depressed state. For instance, after hearing his wedding song, he became super energetic and upset by tearing his house down trying to find his wedding video. This connects to the fact that he reads all the books his ex-wife teaches and goes on long runs with garbage bags over his clothes to help him lose weight faster. The end goal for him was to change himself to be with Nikki. Having increased activity levels, a goal-directed

The portrayal of people being sickly creatures has been used in Hollywood film for a very long time. This has been in the endeavor of putting the viewing public in the shoes of the patient and entertain them with over the top portrayals of disease. For patients that are women in particular this has been achieved by defining them along the lines of vague terms such as them being over emotional and unstable. Despite the advancement experienced by the society, women have not yet fully seen the goal of equality realize fruition. With the expansion of the psychiatric and psychological terminologies, there now additional ways via which mental illness can be ascribed as a weakness for men and women portrayed in Hollywood film. This is best

The Movie is about Pat Solantano a man who has lost everything. After spending eight months in an institution moves back in with his parents. Pat is determined to better himself in order to get his wife back. In the process Pat meets Tiffany, who has her own Problems. Tiffany promises

“My sister’s voice was like mountain water in a silver pitcher,” (Bloom 87). In “Silver Water” the author tells the story through Violet, giving her first hand experience, having a sister with a mental illness. Mayo Clinic defines mental illness as “disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior.” Violet begins the story talking about how she likes to remember her sister, Rose and then goes on to tell how Rose’s character changes from having a mental illness throughout the rest of the story. In “Silver Water,” the author Amy Bloom uses Violet to tell the story of her sister Rose’s life, and show the affects a mental illness has on a person.

Shutter Island portrays multiple mental illnesses in the main character as well as in supporting characters. One might call it an abnormal psychology “goldmine.” It takes place at a water-bound psychiatric facility, Shutter Island, housing the criminally insane. The plot is about a man who refers to himself as Teddy. He believes he and his partner are detectives, on the island, to investigate the disappearance of a patient. He is also in search of a patient named Andrew Laeddis, who Teddy believes murdered his wife. The detective becomes paranoid that the facility is treating the patients unfairly and performing experimental lobotomies. The delusion goes on for several months, Teddy never realizing he is actually a patient, until he is brought back to reality at the climax of the movie. His delusion ends. He realizes he’s a patient for a very short amount of time before he goes back to believing he’s a detective. The delusion starts all over again. Throughout most of the film, viewers see his delusion as a reality, until the twist at the end when it is revealed that he is actually a patient.

Mental illness is not a joke. It is an unseen killer that attacks it host from within. Instead of giving them a fever or throwing up, it attacks the brain making them see in red or blue. It can take in all sorts of forms from depression, anoxic, to addiction, each can be deadly. So how does one relieve themselves from these pains? From taking pills, throwing up your own meals, to talking a blade to your wrist, giving yourself a rush as the blood pours out? Self-treatment for your pains can only go so far, eventually someone will find out, and then ship you off to the loony bin.