Lars And The Real Girl Analysis

Lars and the Real Girl was an independent film about a young man named Lars who lived a quiet stable life until he was struck with such severe mental illness that the whole community rallied to support him on his mission to recovery. Lars was a great example of a man who had suffered from early attachment loss and childhood trauma that manifested into psychological dysfunction.
In the beginning of the film, we saw that Lars was in fact interested in human interaction as he stared out of his cold foggy window one winter morning at his approaching sister-in-law coming to invite him to breakfast. Despite his curiosity, he attempted hiding to avoid social interaction. He reluctantly answered the door clutching his baby blanket around his neck like a scarf, but politely declined the invitation.
We discovered very quickly that Lars was not comfortable with social interactions therefore he avoided it. He never seemed interested in

close relationships or being part of his family. He seemed to have no interest in sex even though the cute office girl named Margo was infatuated with him. We also discovered that he was hypersensitive to being touched, which could be why he had no interest in people and his brother and sister-in law had a baby on the way, which most likely contributed to his high level of anxiety and avoidant behavior.
After a few weeks pass, Lars orders a life-size female sex doll, names her Bianca, and introduces her to his family. Lars had given Bianca an interesting life story in which he explained how her folks died, how she became wheelchair bound and how she was a nurse who didn’t talk much. Their relationship was odd but sweet. They slept in different rooms and he would even pretend to feed and talk to her, exactly how a child would play with their toy doll. Lars never engaged in sexual relations with Bianca because she was a missionary and they were good Lutherans.
Lars’ siblings were horrified at his delusional behavior so they took him and Bianca to see Dr. Dagmar who recognized immediately that Lars was suffering from a delusion and was using Bianca as a coping method to heal from a psychological issue. They set up therapy to address the core of his psychological stress and Dr. Dagmar tells the family to play along with Lars’ delusion. Reluctantly, the siblings agreed and soon after the whole community rallied to support Lars on his way to recovery. Eventually, Lars realized that Bianca was not under his control, which caused conflict in their relationship. With all the added stress, Lars decided he no longer needed Bianca anymore, so he subconsciously made her sick and comforted her until her passing.
We did not know why Lars was suffering from this delusion. Dr. Dagmar discovered Lars had trouble being touched; it was painful for him. To help him with this she used cognitive behavioral therapy in attempt to desensitize him to the feared stimulus. (Oltmanns & Emery. 2015. p.61). We also found out Lars’ mother died in childbirth and their father was most likely abusing the boys. The brothers were terrified of their father, Lars’ brother stated, “I shouldn’t have left you with him,” apologizing to Lars for running away and abandoning him with their father during childhood (Aubrey et al., 2007). From a psychoanalytic perspective, Lars’ delusion was probably correlated to his lack of attachments during his life and possible childhood trauma.
When assessing Lars, the mental disorders I considered included, avoidant personality disorder, social anxiety disorder, schizoid personality disorder, and delusional disorder or schizophrenia. I ruled out avoidant personality disorder because Lars did not seem to care what people thought about him and the disorder is characterized by fear of negative evaluation (DSM-5, 2013. p. 672). Social anxiety is also characterized by fear of negative evaluation and I believe Lars to be indifferent to positive or negative social evaluation (DSM-5, 2013. p. 652-653). However, there may be a comorbidity of schizoid personality disorder and a delusional disorder in Lars’ case.
The DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for a schizoid personality disorder include a pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings (DSM-5, 2013. p. 652). Lars must meet four of the seven criteria listed in the DSM-5 and he meets all of them. Lars was socially awkward, he lacked interest in social relationships, was solitary and emotionally cold and he took pleasure in few activities. He did not have close friends and he seemed to be indifferent to praise or criticism. He remained at home where he felt safe and comfortable and he never seemed to be overwhelmed or fearful of public places. However, after he adopts Bianca as his girlfriend he almost immediately became a spunkier version of himself. He I was excited for everyone to meet Bianca, he was proud to take her to church, and even took her to a few parties. He began to express his emotions, communicate more effectively and engage in more social interaction with people other than Bianca.
Lars almost always chose solitary activities. We saw this when he had to be tackled to attend dinner with his brother and wife, he would rather be by himself. He had little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with another person. Margo was not only interested in Lars, but was pursuing him and he took no notice. Lars was simply not interested, which also revealed his indifference to people’s negative or positive assessments of him. He took pleasure in few, if any activities. This is apparent when he took Bianca to sit in a forest for a few hours, which was the only time he took her to do something that was his idea. He also lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives. He does not seem to have any close friends even out of his family. He also appeared indifferent to the praise or criticism of others. This could be attributed to his delusion because he simply was unaffected by judgments of others, because he had no idea. He also displayed emotional coldness, detachment and flattened activity before Bianca showed up, however this began improving when Bianca arrived. Personality disorders generally do not improve over time, however he perfectly fits all of the diagnosis criteria. Schizoid personality disorder describes Lars, however it does not explain his delusion.
Delusional disorder diagnostic criteria for the DSM5 includes the presence of a delusion for one month or longer and the individual has never had symptom criteria A for schizophrenia (DSM-5, 2013.

p. 90). However, Lars was exhibiting the first two criteria A for schizophrenia, delusions and hallucinations, and negative symptoms as well (DSM-5, 2013. p. 99). He believed that Bianca, a sex doll, was his girlfriend and he was actively engaging in conversation with her. Delusional disorder can be distinguished from schizophrenia by the absence of the other characteristic symptoms of the active phase of schizophrenia. (DSM-5, 2013. p. 93). Lars does not have impaired functioning due to his delusion of Bianca and his behavior is not too bizarre and his behavior is not attributable to a substance or medical condition however, he may still be suffering from schizophrenia. He is in the correct age of onset, he is male which makes him thirty to forty percent more likely to develop schizophrenia than women and more likely to display negative

symptoms.
I would recommend further analysis of Lars’ condition. Lars obviously had a schizoid personality disorder because it was present before the onset of his persistent psychotic symptoms that fit the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. Therefore my diagnosis for Lars is schizoid personality disorder (Premorbid) schizophrenia (DSM-5, 2013. p. 655).
I enjoyed the movie Lars and the Real Girl, I think the producers did an excellent job giving the viewer an insight into the lives of families and individuals who are affected by mental illness. However, I do think it was a bit far fetched when the whole community played along with his delusion, and just how much Lars improved over the course of the movie. I do not think the movie was realistic, but I enjoyed it very much.