The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Movie Analysis

The term “literary canon” refers to “a body of books, narratives and other texts considered to be the most important and influential of a particular time period or place.” What books fall into the canon has, in the past, been determined by older, rich, religious, white men; this heavily restricted what books were deemed a socially acceptable influence. Books from authors like Shakespeare and Jane Austen were widely accepted, while more modern readings were not. Today, there is a lot of debate about what sorts of books are appropriate for the literary canon. Generally books in the Young Adult Category are not seen as adequate for the canon, but “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky belongs in the literary canon, despite its

The analysis of the movie I chose was Silver Linings Playbook. This movie was a revamping of the publication Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick. Patrick, known as Pat throughout the movie, Solatano, Jr. is portrayed by Bradley Cooper. Although it is unclear what is different about Pat in the very beginning, the story soon unravels his skeletons in the closet. The opening scene starts as Pat is being released from the Karel psychiatric facility in Baltimore. Pat was institutionalized after he walked in on his wife and the history teacher having an affair in the shower, blacked out, and beat the man nearly to death. He is ordered to attend therapy as part of his plea bargain and release deal. Even though medication is almost required to treat his condition, Pat decides it is better to change his outlook on life and find “the silver linings," he even shouts his motto “excelsior” meaning “always upward” (Excelsior dictionary definition). To me this meant, finding the positive in every negative situation. However, even though it sounds good on the surface, it can also be used as a crutch to fuel self delusion. Pat ends up being set up on a dinner date in order to get over the fact that his wife has since moved. After the dinner date, Pat finds himself spending much time with Tiffany, another main character with a mental illness, who he enters a dance competition with and ends up falling for. This analysis will cover the symptoms/diagnosis, nature versus nurture,

I’m a firm believer that movies should always have at least one character that can be considered relatable to the viewer. While most movies do the bare minimum to fulfill this requirement, Perks of Being a Wallflower goes above and beyond. This movie somehow manages to make every single character relatable, no matter your age, gender, sexual orientation or level of academic achievement. At first, I wasn’t sure if the subject matter was appropriate for a teen, feel good movie, however, I now understand why this movie is adored by so many people.

The first method of treatment is trauma-focused cognitive-behavioural therapy. In this method, a patient is gradually but carefully exposed to feelings, thoughts, and situations that trigger memories of the trauma. By identifying the thoughts that make the patient remember the traumatic event, thoughts that had been irrational or distorted are replaced with a balanced picture. Another productive method is family therapy since the family of the patient is also affected by PTSD. Family therapy is aimed at helping those close to the patient understand what he/she is going through. This understanding will help in the establishment of appropriate communication and ways of curbing problems resulting from the symptoms (Smith & Segal, 2011).

In today 's society, there is a great deal of research and practice about evidence based practice. Most of this is highly sought upon in the field of psychology, where evidence and decision making is key to accomplishing new ideas of treatments for people who retain psychiatric problems. The meaning of evidence-based practice in psychology is that it involves making very educated and supported decisions based on punctilious, unambiguous, and astute evidence (Rousseau & Gunia, 2016). With evidence-based practice, it assists in raising and deriving the issue of what evidence really is, the strength of the evidence, and how practitioners can improve the quality of their evidence (Rousseau & Gunia, 2016). Evidence is a major factor because it may either enhance or hinder the practitioner 's ability to make decisions and construct their practices on patients (Rousseau & Gunia, 2016). Evidence-based practice began in the 1980 's with the goal to combine the practices of scientific evidence with physician education and clinical practice. The issue with this was that medical schools did not have the ability to teach their own specific approaches to clinical problems (Rousseau & Gunia, 2016). As an effect to this cause, three main issues quickly arose about the effectiveness and quality of evidence-based practice. First, since other fields were advancing growth in

William Harrar went into private practice in 1991 and continues to maintain a private practice. He provides professional consultations to other therapists and consults at local psychiatric units as well. He also provides psychotherapy to individuals, couples, and families. Dr. Harrar’s emphasis is brief treatments, especially treatments utilizing EMDR. His expertise in EMDR has afforded him as an approved consultant and certified therapist with the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing International Association (EMDRIA). Dr. Harrar also facilitates at national EMDR Institute trainings.

He discusses the effectiveness of this method and even that it has been proven to completely cure PTSD in some patients, mainly veterans which are my target patient of discussion. This article is credible because it was written by a good psychologist and was published in a credible medical journal.

This paper will examine, compare and contrast Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) in the case of Joe, a fictional client with post-traumatic stress disorder from two tours of combat duty as a Marine Corps sniper in the Middle East, without the use of psychotropic medications. EMDR uses side-to-side eye movements in a one-on-one session with a clinician while the client focuses on a distressing memory until he or she reports reduced symptomology or no psychological distress; the clinician then has the client think of positive thoughts while continuing the exercises. EMDR has been the target of debate over its effectiveness, with some scholars suggesting that it is the “rewiring” of the brain that is most beneficial. CPT is often used when other processes of recovery fail. Therapy, administered individually or in a group, initially focuses on misconstrued beliefs of denial and self-blame for the traumatic incident and then addresses beliefs the client has about himself and the world in general. CPT uses talk therapy and worksheets with the goal of the client learning to make sense of what happened and fit it in with the beliefs about themselves and others. Findings suggest that each therapy has its advantages and which is best depends on how responsive the client is to each mode and the therapeutic alliance between the client and therapist.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming of age film about a 15 year old boy, Charlie, who has been through much trauma. As a freshman Charlie is left with no friends, because of the suicide of his best friend Michael, but he has the support of an english teacher who inspires his dreams of becoming a writer. Eventually, step-siblings Sam and Patrick discover that Charlie is lonely and in need of a friend, so they take him under their wing. Sam, Patrick, and their group of friends have much wisdom about life, because they are older, much of which they share with Charlie. Under the wing of Sam and Patrick, Charlie becomes more excited about life. Although, he still struggles with the side effects of past traumas, and dreads the day his new friends leave for their lives after high school.

I absolutely adored Stephen Chbosky's (Beauty and the Beast, Allegiant) ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ for its captivating and emotionally driven storyline that will intensely connect with all. The movie is filled with teen angst and struggles we can all relate to and discusses topics our society shuns from. This is captivating to an audience and makes them think about mental health and trauma in a way they haven’t before.

According to Sharf, (2008) the eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) was designed to treat posttraumatic stress disorder. EMDR requires that the clients visualize an upsetting memory and accompanying physical sensations. The clients repeat negative self-statements that they associate with the scene. The procedure is repeated again and again until the client’s anxiety is reduced. EMDR focuses on desensitizing strong emotional reasons in clients and help them to reframe their belief systems to accommodate new emotional states (Sharf, 2008).

I believe that it is very important movies accurately depict mental illnesses to destroy the stigma around mental illnesses. It will help others who do not experience mental health issues to see what happens in others who do. The idea of mental illness will start to be more normal and people will become more accepting. Accurately displaying mental illnesses will also encourage more people who are suffering to recognize they have an issue and not be afraid to ask for help.

Developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in 1987 by accident, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a set of eye movements guided by the therapist that help the patient process and change their reaction to certain traumatic memories (Mayo Clinic). Unlike other forms of therapy, EMDR does not require the patient to speak with the clinician about their distressing memories in detail. EMDR is then more favorable for some patients since they can seek treatment from a therapist for their trauma without having to feel uncomfortable by completely disclosing their disturbing memories.

EMDR has weaknesses and debated for being controversial due to it being difficult to support the signature aspect of the therapy, namely alternating eye movements as actually necessary to the treatment (McLay et al., 2016, p. 702). Eye movements and cognitive reprocessing which are deemed by EMDR as essential failed to make a unique contribution to the outcome of therapy (Rubin, 2002, p. 14). According to the Prochaska & Norcross, “The eye movements are only one form of bilateral stimulation and may not be required for the therapeutic effect” (2014, p. 211). Hand taps and repetition of auditory cues are other alternate stimuli which can be used instead of eye movements. Early claims were made about EMDR having almost magical results that only one session of EMDR could provide treatment for clients (McLay et al., 2016, p. 702; Prochaska & Norcross, 2014, p. 210). Furthermore, EMDR could be viewed as a simple variant of exposure therapy with a gimmick in marketing the therapy as something new (Rubin, 2002, p. 12). According to Perkins & Rouanzoin (2002), “EMDR is best explained by learning processes that subsume exposure and cognitive-behavioral treatments” (p. 80). EMDR has not been proven effective outside of PSTD.

In the movie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the main character Charlie is on a journey with his mental health. There are many high and low points, but it is obvious that he has a serious mental illness. Throughout the movie, Charlie shows many symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is defined as “A disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event.” by the National Institute of Mental Health, and can be diagnosed through the DSM-IV method. Firstly, there needs to be signs of deviant behaviour. During the movie there are multiple occasions where Charlie blacks out and loses his memory. Whether it was drug, rage or anxiety included, this is still considered both deviant behaviour and a symptom of PTSD. Secondly, there needs to be signs of maladaptive behaviour. At the beginning of the movie, we see Charlie writing letters to his deceased best friend about his negative thoughts and feelings. While it is good to express these thoughts and feelings, it is not normal to articulate them to a dead person. He also experiences multiple flashbacks to the trauma he experienced from his Aunt Helen. Flashbacks are one the most common symptoms of PTSD, and can also develop other mental illnesses such as depression if not correctly treated. Lastly, there needs to be signs of personal distress, which can be seen when charlie expresses quilt about his Aunt Helen’s death before he has a blackout in the snow. When his feelings