Silver Linings Playbook Psychology

Silver Linings Playbook “Excelsior! I’m gonna take all this negativity and use it as fuel and I’m gonna find a silver lining. That’s what I’m gonna do” (Russell, 2013). A silver lining is defined as having optimism or a positive outlook on a situation that might seem gloomy on the outside. Silver Linings Playbook is centered around Pat Solitono Jr, a middle-aged man who just spent eight months in a psychiatric hospital for beating the man whom his wife had an affair with. Pat leaves the hospital determined to accomplish his unrealistic goal of winning his wife back. His motto is “Excelsior” (Russell, 2013) and he uses this to fuel his actions. He believes every negative action can result in a positive action. He also believes he can rise up and be superior over his actions and others to win his wife back. Pat has Bipolar I disorder with manic episodes that can be seen played out in the movie. He himself states, “undiagnosed bipolar with mood swings and weird thinking brought on by stress” (Russell, 2013). Throughout the movie, Pat displays signs and symptoms of Bipolar I disorder. He has moods swings that go back and forth between manic episodes and depressed episodes. We see the manic episodes with his aggressive behavior, easy irritation, increased physical activity (always out jogging in the neighborhood), lack of sleep, and very poor

This song was Pat’s wedding song with his ex-wife. It was also the song playing when he found his wife in the shower with another man. Pat becomes anxious that the song is playing and even though he tried to remain calm and not let it affect him, he couldn’t. Pat then knocks chairs across the room. It was an exercise, a part of his therapy, and his doctor wanted to see if it was still a trigger for him (Russell, 2013). This scene presented uncontrollable actions and