He presented himself so that I empathized with the main character and his struggle to find the truth, answers, help the other patients, and escape off the island. In the beginning, I was just as suspicious as the main character, which was convinced that he was being drugged to be experimented on. It was not until the very end of the movie through the explanation of Doctor Cawley that the audience and I realized the main character was actually a patient there because of his severe case of PTSD, which is also known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, this is a serious condition that can develop after a person has experienced or witnessed a traumatic or terrifying event in which serious physical harm occurred or was threatened. The PTSD is what triggered his Dissociative Identity Disorder, which is the existence in one individual of two or more distinct personality states that each have its own patterns of perceiving, relating and thinking of environment. Andrew Latus (Leonardo DiCaprio) was in the army during the time of World War 11 during which time he had to endure millions of deaths and traumas.
Hysteria describes a state of mind with unmanageable fear or excess emotion. Multiple past events conflicting with something severe can often cause this fear. Hysteria is often in relation to an imagined problem with a body part and often can cause a person to lose self-control due to an overpowering amount of fear. (Elaine Showalter) When Freud returned from Paris back to Vienna he established a practice in neurology and devoted his studies to the treatment of hysterical patients with hypnosis, a practice he picked up from Charcot. Under Dr. Joseph Breuer (his mentor) Freud began to study Breuer’s patient Bertha Pappenheim indentified as Anna O. Anna, who was twenty one years old,
What accounts for the difference in treatment modalities between the two main characters in “The Snake Pit” and “The Soloist” is the deinstitutionalization of people who suffer with mental health issues. The deinstitutionalization movement is the name given to the policy of moving severely mentally ill individuals out of large state institutions. The plan behind deinstitutionalization was that individuals who suffered with mental illness could lead more normal lives in the community then they could confined to an institution. The movies represent the strengths and weaknesses of both policies. In the movie “The Snake Pit” the main character Virginia Cunningham apparently suffers from some mental breakdown and is involuntarily committed to a mental health facility where she is treated with electroconvulsive shock treatments, physical restraints and sedation.
3. How have societal viewpoints concerning mental illness or health influenced human services over the past three centuries? In early history mental illness was once viewed as an evil spirit in someone, as time went on those with mental illness were put into an insane asylum where the women were chained to walls and the men were chained by the neck to one another. “by the 19th centuries, states began to separate people with mental illness and those with developmental disabilities” ( Woodside & McClam, 2011) now with the correct exams and diagnoses those with mental disability are put on the correct medication and offered assistance with their living needs. 4.
First, the scenes that lead up to the supposed confrontation between US and Soviet forces exhibit his growing paranoia. Second, the scene where the true nature of his schizophrenia is revealed also point to the hallucinatory nature of three other characters in the film. Third, the scenes of his relapse involving conversations with supposed federal agents and the leaving of child in the bathtub serve to highlight his bizarre behavior. Fourth, the scenes of his recovery also indicate strange motor activity and a disturbed affect. Lastly, the film takes the theoretical discussion of a psychological disorder and explains it in visual terms that I can appreciate.
Origins of Abnormal Psychology The deinstitutionalization movement began in the 1960s where the number of psychiatric hospitals radically decreased and conditions for patients improved drastically (Hansell & Damour, 2008). “The blunt realities of mental illness shatter our most deeply held convictions about the nature of human consciousness and behavior. The mentally ill are more different than us than we can imagine and more like us than we care to admit” (Bosco, p. 131). Past methods of treatment used to help the mentally ill has faced a great deal of controversy in society and was clear during this era the methods previously used had negative results on both society and the patients. While in the early stages of the deinstitutionalization the methods were radical and released patients from hospitals most programs were not well thought out or implemented.
In the novel Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield struggle with what seems to be a mental illness. One of Holden’s acquaintances suggests Holden should go to a doctor to help him see the patterns of his behavior. Three problematic behaviors Holden would find a pattern would be his need to lie, how easily depressed he gets, and how he’s constantly contradicting himself. Throughout the book, Holden shows how he might have a problem.
The film is called I Am Sam. The film I am Sam moves beyond the role of an entertaining movie and into the social discourse on the portrayal of mental disability. The main character in the movie, Sam, is mentally retarded. People with mental retardation often exhibit characteristics such as impaired cognitive functioning and difficulty with memory, decision making, adaptive behavior, independent living skills, interpersonal skills, and communication. The next film that will be critiqued is a very popular film about mental illness.
Mental Diseases of Macbeth Analyzing a fictional character as a psychiatrist from a separate time period shows how and depicts why a character may act and do certain things. In this case, Macbeth, from the tragic novel, is the patient who is to be analyzed, and finding out what mental diseases he sustains is the goal. Throughout the story of Macbeth, certain moments hint at or give an obvious clue as to what mental issues Macbeth undergoes. Due to the events in which have occurred in Macbeth’s life, he has retained many mental illnesses that are disrupting to common life: having committed homicide, this causes him to have Paranoia, worrying about others out to get him, the murder in which he committed also triggered loss of sleep, better known as Insomnia, and hallucinations which he experiences before his murder and the sounds that he “hears” remain due to his future murder, and are known symptoms of Schizophrenia.
After witnessing a shootout, John begins developing paranoid schizophrenia and the movie focus on the terrible life struggle of his life due to his illness. The film characterizes many of the symptoms and displays treatments which are effective in alleviating schizophrenic symptoms. Finally with the support of his wife Alicia and his friends he finds the way to manage his illness (A Beautiful Mind, 2001). Schizophrenia is characterized by abnormalities in perception, content of thought, and thought processes. It is also identified by extensive withdrawal of interest from other people and the outside world as in the case of Nash (Insel, 2010).