Pat Solitano's Presentation Of Psychological Disorders In A Film

Once he was released, Pat lived with his parents since his wife still had a restraining order on him. In various scenes, we see ways in which Pat is expansive in his thoughts about getting back together with his wife, Nikki. He also became extremely joyful when he felt like things were going in a step in the right direction on his mission to win back his wife, and grew particularly irritable otherwise. Scarred by the moment he found Nikki having an affair with their wedding song playing, Pat develops hallucinations about the song causing him to hear it even when it wasn’t on. Hearing the song, whether it was actually playing or only playing in his head enraged Pat, causing him to experience a manic episode. Pat’s excessive optimism about getting back together with his wife caused him to have irrational thoughts, which drove him to make poor judgments and partake in reckless behavior like when he broke his

Based on class lectures (Trainor, 2014), I would diagnose Pat with Bipolar I disorder. The main requirement for this diagnosis is a Manic episode. One manic episode is described when Pat caught his wife and another man having an affair. He beat the man, and then he was arrested and taken to the hospital. He remained in the hospital for several months. Prior to this event, he felt that his wife and the

Based on this, we saw how Tiffany and Pat’s unconscious affects their disorders in a psychodynamic perspective. Their genetics, childhood experiences, and Big Five personality traits explain the biological and trait perspectives of their disorder. Finally, the sociocultural perspectives on their disorders are the effects of their environmental experiences, and look at the environmental factors. I believe the theoretical approaches can be used to look at Pat and Tiffany’s personalities by accurately giving a description of who they are, and why they are who they

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

Psychological disorders are very real and present in many people we come in contact with daily, however, are very rarely talked about. Learning about these disorders can help us to understand others and ourselves better by telling us why we do and think the things we do. One effective way that we can observe and learn about psychological disorders is through movies. “Mommie Dearest” was directed by Frank Perry. It is centered around the actress Joan Crawford, who suffered from various psychological disorders. Joan’s daughter, Christina, wrote a book about her mother and her many problems and it was later turned into a movie. It is very effective to use movie analysis as a way of learning, especially in psychology, because it provides a great way to observe without distractions. When you’re looking at disorders, it’s difficult to find a person who has many of these disorders and will allow you to observe them. Psychological disorders can be split into two major groups, personality disorders and mood disorders. Personality disorders are patterns of traits that can get in the way of your social or work life and may interrupt the individual’s normal lifestyle. Mood disorders are inconsistent and unreliable changes in mood by the affected individual. (Rathus, 1998). With all of this being said, it brings me to my point that I will be talking about for the rest of this essay. Joan Crawford demonstrates the personality disorders of histrionic, narcissism, and OCPD. When it comes to mood disorders, Joan demonstrates bipolar disorder.

In the movie Mommie Dearest Joan Crawford shows many different types of personality disorders. Personality disorders are a deeply engrained or maladaptive pattern of behavior of a specified kind, typically they occur by the time one reaches adolescents and causes difficulty in personal relationships or society. Studying these psychological disorders can help us to identify and properly treat these abnormal functions that we acquire as we grow older. One way to learn how to identify these disorders is through movie analysis. When you are able to recognize these disorders through a movie they stick out in the real world much more. The disorders that I analyzed that Joan Crawford had were, Bipolar, Borderline, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Narcissism.

Though the movie centers around Bob Wiley, each and every one of the characters' disorders are shown. Bob's major disorder is his dependent personality disorder. The disorder is a long-term condition in which people depend too much on others to meet their emotional and physical needs. Bob has always been dependent on his therapists. This is shown when he previous therapist refers him to Dr. Marvin. Bob’s attachment to his therapist is very stressful for the therapist. This is scene throughout the film while Dr. Marvin nears breaking down. It is also evident when Bob’s old therapist is leaving his practice. It is obvious that Bob was the cause of that. Bob is dependent on Dr. Marvin. This is seen as he tries to desperately call him after only about a day after Dr. Marvin goes on vacation, and then even fakes his own suicide to find out where the doctor was.

Mental disorders have long been the Achilles heel of the medical world. With each case having some degree of uniqueness, physicians are often unable to fully treat these types of conditions with just a generalized medication or textbook treatment option. There are many competing theories as to how one falls ill to a mental disorder. Some claim that it occurs solely through chemical imbalances within a person’s brain, while others see it as a more wholistic problem that is the result of an endless possibility of differing factors. Through the characterization found within “Superstar” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” and the data shown in studies done by the Medical University of Lublin, it becomes evident that seemingly internal disorders, such as anorexia and hysteria, are caused, in reality, by the need for social control that develops in response to purely external factors such as daunting expectations or stressful lifestyle.

There are two different kind of disorders, personality disorders and psychological disorders. Psychological disorders are illnesses that an individual experiences as episodes. Personality disorders are enduring traits that are major components of the individual's personality (Rathus, 2010). No matter what kind of disorder a person may possess their lives are affected everyday by them, it takes over their body and consumes them as a person. Disorders are often misunderstood. You do not have the ability to make a split second decisions and then continue life without that disorder, it will take lots of counseling. While we are not trained psychologist everyone can learn or identify disorders in popular movies or television shows. In the movie, Mommie Dearest, directed by Frank Perry, Joan Crawford possesses several of these disorders including bipolar, borderline personality disorder, obsessive compulsive personality disorder and narcissistic.

From the video, Diaries of a Broken Mind, Tilly was/is suffering from Anorexia Nervosa. Anorexia Nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder, characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss. Plus, inadequate food intake leading to a weight that is clearly too low and intense fear of weight gain, obsession with weight and persistent behavior to prevent weight gain. Likewise, Abby and Ashley were/are struggling with Bipolar disorders- Abby Bipolar I and Ashley Bipolar II. The common symptoms of bipolar depression include, feeling hopeless, sad, or empty. Irritability, inability to experience pleasure, fatigue, or loss of energy, physical and mental sluggishness. During a hypomanic episode, the elevated mood can manifest itself as either euphoria (feeling “high”) or as irritability. Symptoms during hypomanic episodes include: Flying suddenly from one idea to the next having exaggerated self-confidence Rapid, “pressured” (uninterruptable) and loud speech. Increased energy, with hyperactivity and a decreased need for sleep.

Pat was diagnosed with Bipolar one disorder shortly after arriving at the mental institution. I agree with this diagnosis for many reasons. I believe that it would have to be Bipolar one because Pat displays manic episodes. With Bipolar two disorder, there has never been a manic episode. Bipolar two disorder also must display at least one major depressive episode. From the information from the movie, Pat didn’t really display a depressive episode. Pat demonstrates several symptoms of Bipolar one disorder, many falling into the mania category. His manic episodes cause a great deal of distress in his life. Before the incident with his wife’s lover even occurred, Pat was having severe delusions. He told the school board that his wife and the history teacher were plotting against him. The delusions did not stop once he was out of the mental institution. When pat caught, his wife cheating on him their wedding song was playing. Now every time Pat hears the song he goes into some kind of psychotic episode and puts everyone around him in danger of becoming his next victim. As I mentioned earlier Pat does not take his medication as it is prescribed. He said it makes him too foggy. This could be due to the fact that he enjoys how his mania makes him feel. Throughout the movie, Pat refers to his ex-wife as his wife. He is obsessed with this delusion and honestly believes that he will win her back over. Even though she has made it perfectly clear

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

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

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

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.