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.
The first disorder is Bipolar, also known as “manic depression”. Bipolar is when someone experiences dramatic ups and downs in moods, periods of mania or extreme excitement characterized by hyperactivity and chaotic behavior (Rathus, 2010). Studies show that biological factors create vulnerability to the disorder and experiences such as sleep deprivation can cause a manic episode. Some symptoms that one may experience are dramatic ups and downs in moods and going from depression to mania almost instantly. What I mean when I say depression
Mood disorder covers all types of depression . Some people are prone to suffering depression during winter when the days are shorter. Bipolar disorder is a condition that affects your moods which can change from one extreme to another this can range from a euphoric mania to a deep low depression these highs and lows can be so extreme that they interfere with day to day life
These mood episodes include the manic episodes and the depressive episodes. The mood changes of mania include a long period of an overly happy mood and irritability; the behavioral changes are talking quickly, having racing thoughts, being distracted, increasing of activities, being restless, getting little or no sleep, being impulsive, and engaging in high-risk, pleasurable activities or behaviors (NIMH, 2015). The mood changes of the depressive episodes are loss of interest in activities that were once enjoyed and a long period of sadness; the behavioral changes are feeling very tired, having trouble with decision making and problem solving, being irritable, changing normal habits, and negative thinking (NIMH, 2015). Sometimes symptoms from both episodes can be present in a person’s current mood episode. This is called a mixed state. In the mixed state, a person can feel agitated, have a change in eating habits, and have suicidal thoughts; they also feel very hopeless and very energized at the same time (NIMH, 2015). About ten percent of people have at least four mood episodes every year which is called rapid cycling bipolar disorder (Schacter el at.,
Borderline personality disorder is defined as the individual having severe instability in moods, relationships, and behavior. Some symptoms are alcohol or drug abuse, intense bouts of anger, depression, or sadness for an extended period of time, and self-injury. While it is unclear, many psychologists speculate that some causes of borderline personality disorder are genetics and environmental factors, along with childhood abuse or abandonment. (Psychology Today 2017). Joan Crawford grew up with her parents separated and three step-fathers throughout her adolescence, working small jobs until she made her break in the early 1920’s. Her strive to succeed may have been driven by these factors, which in turn could have caused her outbursts throughout the movie, Mommie Dearest because all the factors point to BPD. A scene that shows that Joan is affected by BPD is where Joan and Christina fight near the pool and Joan locked Christina into the pool house where Joan races with Christina in the pool to show off and proceeds to race Christina because she knows she will win. After Joan wins again, Christina gets an attitude with her and Joan instantly loses it, causing her to have a manic episode and lock Christina in the pool house to “teach her a lesson on
“No wire hangers!” What would be a normal thing to find in an average persons home is not accepted in Joan Crawford’s home. This posses the question why in the movie Mommie Dearest does Mrs. Crawford have a dilemma with wire hangers in her closet? Why does she have so many mental complications in general? Although to the public, Joan seems like a striving successful actress she obviously has some underlying issues. She has developed her personality disorders her whole life, but how she got them is a mystery. Most people develop personality disorders from their parents or how they are raised. This is most likely the case with Joan Crawford, but no one really knows since she is diseased. Joan has four major personality disorders within the movie; Obsessive-compulsive, Bipolar, Borderline, and Narcissistic personality 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.
Another disorder that is portrayed in the character of Joan Crawford is Bipolar disorder. Throughout the movie Joan experiences cycles of extreme
People with bipolar I disorder have full manic and major depressive episodes. Most of them experience an alternation of the episodes; for example, weeks of mania may be followed by a period of wellness, followed, in turn, by an episode of depression. Some, however, have mixed episodes, in which they display both manic and depressive symptoms within the same episode—for example, having racing thoughts amidst feelings of extreme sadness. In bipolar II disorder, hypomanic—that is, mildy manic—episodes alternate with major depressive episodes over the course of time. When a person experiences numerous periods of hypomanic symptoms and mild depressive symptoms, but not full-blown episodes, DSM-5 assigns a diagnosis of cyclothymic disorder. The symptoms of this milder form of bipolar disorder continue for two or more years, interrupted occasionally by normal moods that may last for only days or weeks.
The mood disorder of bipolar is a roller coaster of high and low emotions. Bipolar has many different components and can manifest as either Bipolar I or Bipolar ( Oltmanns & Emery, 2015) Bipolar I is described as having one manic episode. ( Oltmanns & Emery ,2015) Mania is a disturbance in mood characterized by symptoms as elation, higher self-esteem, hyperactivity and expedited thought process. (Oltmanns & Emery, 2015) To have Bipolar II, a person must have at least one depressive episode and a mild manic episode. A depressive episode includes hypomania meaning in bipolar II a person will not have a full blown manic episode. (Oltmanns & Emery, 2015) People who have bipolar have a tough time with their emotions, because their emotions are not stable. They oftentimes feel like they are on an emotional roller-coaster because of the erratic ups and downs ( Oltmanns & Emery 2015)
Fires of the Mind: Depression & Manic (Bipolar) was a rather interesting documentary that shed some light on the pain and suffering experienced by individuals affected by these conditions. Major depression causes a person to have distorted self image and experience unrelenting grief for no apparent reason. They may be indecisive and having reoccurring thoughts of death. Manic depression causes individuals to experience periods of extreme highs and lows. They may have manic periods, experiencing a state of euphoria, feel invincible, and lose their sense of judgement. Alternatively, they may then fall into a severe depression and barely be able to get out of bed. There are cases where a person will be irritable, paranoid, or hear voices, this is called psychotic mania.
“The sword cuts both ways,” Joan Crawford says while at the board meeting after her husband died. Joan Crawford, in the movie Mommie Dearest, shows her confident and no-funny-business type of personality that she is so well respected for, along with her acting career (Koontz & O’Neill, 1981). Also, she displays some good and bad aspects of her many personality disorders. Four of which are particularly prevalent in this movie: obsessive compulsive, borderline, bipolar, and narcissistic.
One personality disorder Joan Crawford demonstrated was bipolar. This disorder can be defined as periods of reckless behavior and hyperactivity that can change at any given second (Rathus, 2010). There are several occasions throughout the movie that show Joan suffering through this disorder, for example one moment she would be a cheerful, smiling mom and at a drop of a hat, it would change for the worst making her become an angry and aggressive toward her child Christina. This can be seen when Joan is kissing her sweet daughter Christina goodnight, and then looks through the closet where she finds a dress hung by a wire hanger. Joan’s behavior quickly becomes elevated, ripping all of the clothes and hangers out of the closet, yelling at Christina, which then leads Joan to beat her daughter with the hanger. Another example is in the scene
Bipolar Disorder or manic-depressive disorder is a disorder characterized by highs, manias, and lows, depressions, and can therefore be easily distinguished from unipolar depression, a major depressive disorder in DSM-5, by the presence of manic or hypomanic episodes (Miklowitz & Gitlin, 2014). Bipolar disorder is generally an episodic, lifelong illness with a variable course (American Psychiatric Association, 2010). There are two classifications of bipolar disorder; bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder. If the episodes are primarily manic but there has been at least one depressive episode, the diagnosis is bipolar I disorder (Early, 2009). If the episodes are primarily depressed but there has been at least one episode of hypomania, increased mood that is more euphoric than normal but not quite manic, the diagnosis is bipolar II disorder (Early, 2009).
Today I will use the Movie Mommie Dearest and help show specific scenes from the movie that demonstrates these disorders that Joan had. One of the mood disorders that Joan showed was Bipolar Disorder. Bipolar disorder is when your mood changes from depression to really excited or happy very quickly and back to extreme angriness again (Rathus, 2010). When Christina is swimming in the pool and her mom wants to race her but she is really tired and doesn't want to swim anymore her mom forces Christina to race her.
During this state a person may talk very fast, jump from one idea to the next or become easily distracted. The second episode is caused by an extremely sad or hopeless state called depressive episode. While in a depressive episode the person may feel tired or slowed down, they may become restless or irritable, or may even Schizophrenia vs. Bipolar disorder Page 5 think of death or consider attempting suicide. Though the majority of the episodes associated with bipolar depression may be categorized in either manic or depressive episodes, there are some cases where a person has symptoms of both. The act of showing manic and depressive symptoms is known as a “mixed state”.
The movie I have chosen to do my psychological film disorder assignment on is Girl Interrupted which is a psychological drama directed by James Mangold. The movie takes place in a mental institution for troubled women. All of the characters in this movie suffer from one or more mental illnesses such as depression, borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia. The movie gives us an inside look on how poorly these women are being treated and how they are treated as if they are abnormal because they are in this institution. Similarly the women are faced with their own personal and outer issues within the institution. The director gives us an inside look on how the patients are being treated poorly are