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Narrative Essays On Mental Illness
The truth about mental illness essay
The truth about mental illness essay
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Most personality disorders start when you are a child. “Personality Disorders are patterns of inflexible traits that disrupt social life or work and any destress the affected individual.” (Rathus, 2010, p. 525). People with paranoid personality disorders think that people are always out to hurt them. They find others actions as threatening. People with borderline personality disorder are moody. They tend to hurt themselves somehow. People with this disorder are hard to have any time of relationship with. The academy award winning film Mommie Dearest directed by Frank Perry accurately conforms to how the aspects of paranoid personality disorder and borderline personality disorder can affect ones’ everyday life. Mommie Dearest is about Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway). Joan is n famous actress that adopted a boy and a girl, Christina (Mara Hobel) and Christopher (Jeremy Scott Reinholt). Joan always has to have everything go her way. She is mentally unstable. She blames her unhappiness on …show more content…
her daughter and focuses her anger on her, she even becomes jealous of her. Joan is physically and mentally abusive. She continually degrades Christina. Eventually Christina rebels and it results in physical violence. The abuse causes the deterioration of the family unit. In the end when Joan dies she doesn’t leave her children anything, as her last abusive act. Paranoid personality disorder and borderline personality disorder effect the daily life and relationships family.
“People with paranoid personality disorder tend to be suspicious of others and to interpret others’ motives as harmful or evil” (Rathus, 2010, p. 525). For example, in Mommie Dearest, there is a scene where Christina is playing with her mom’s makeup and hair brushes. Instead of Joan feeling flattered or complemented that her daughter was taking after her, she felt angered and threatened. She overacted and was verbally abusive as she cut all of her hair off. Also people with borderline personality disorder have instability in their moods and chaotic personal relationships. An example of this in the movie would be Joan’s overreaction to Christina using a wire hanger on her expensive dress. Joan was so angry she beat her with the hanger. Another characteristic of somebody with this disorder is people can express self-harming behaviors. In the movie Joan was a severe
alcoholic. As I’ve stated paranoid personality disorder and borderline personality disorder can be severely harmful to one’s life and to the lives surrounding them. It can ruin relationships, even ones as natural and close as a mother and a daughter. The film Mommie Dearest has many examples of these two personality disorders. This movie can make you appreciate something as simple as you asking your mom if you can borrow her shoes for the weekend, and having her simply say “Yes.”
The viewpoint of mental illness portrays that mental illness is a common mechanism when dealing with stress or drastic changes. Many people are not as exposed with people who have mental disorders. This movie brings in two extremely different people, but they find themselves falling for each other despite their extra baggage. Tiffany has a heavy baggage she is carrying around. She could not accept the fact that Tommy left her suddenly. Although Tiffany’s character seems odd and dysfunctional, this movie portrays Tiffany, as a woman and a person, trying to move on. This film accurately portrays this disorder. There are some Hollywood viewpoints of mental illness, but this movie accurately portrays Tiffany as someone with borderline personality disorder. She shows many signs of borderline personality disorder symptoms. Many viewers can sense that areas in her life are dysfunctional and not
Personality Disorders are patterns of inflexible traits that disrupt social life or work and may distress the affected individual. Psychological Disorders is an illness that an individual experience as episodes, and clearly distinguished from personality. While we aren’t trained psychologists, everyone can learn how to learn these disorders and identify them in movies and TV, or even real life! A movie that can help you learn how to identify and have a better understanding of these disorders is “Mommie Dearest”. This movie is based off a book about a famous actress Joan Crawford who had multiple disorders. The disorders Joan Crawford possessed was Bipolar, Narcissistic, Obsessive Compulsive Personality
Borderline Personality Disorder in “Girl Interrupted” The movie, “Girl Interrupted,”is about a teenage girl named Susanna Kaysen who has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. People with Borderline Personality Disorder “are often emotionally unstable, impulsive, unpredictable, irritable, and anxious. They are also prone to boredom. Their behavior is similar to that of individuals with schizotypal personality disorder, but they are not as consistently withdrawn and bizarre” (Santrock, 2003).
This paper looks at a person that exhibits the symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). In the paper, examples are given of symptoms that the person exhibits. These symptoms are then evaluated using the DSM-V criteria for BPD. The six-different psychological theoretical models are discussed, and it is shown how these models have been used to explain the symptoms of BPD. Assessment of
In order for someone to be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, they must experience at least five of the following symptoms: 1) fear of abandonment, 2) a history of intense and unstable relationships with family, friends, and loved ones, which often go back and forth between idealization (which includes love and extreme closeness) to devaluation (which includes extreme hatred or anger), 3) a disto...
In the past, BPD was believed to be a set of symptoms between problems associated with mood and schizophrenia. These symptoms were believed to be comprised of distortions of reality and mood problems. A closer look at this disorder has resulted in the realization that even though the symptoms of this disorder reveal emotional complexity, this disorder is more closer to other personality disorders, on the basis of the manner in which it develops and occurs in families, than to schizophrenia (Hoffman, Fruzzetti, Buteau &ump; Neiditch, 2005). The use of the term borderline has however, resulted in a heated controversy between the health care fraternity and patients. Patients argue that this term appears to be somehow discriminatory and that it should be removed and the disorder renamed. Patients point out that an alternative name, such as emotionally unstable personality disorder, should be adopted instead of borderline personality disorder. Clinicians, on the other hand, argue that there is nothing wrong with the use of the term borderline. Opponents of this term argue that the terms used to describe persons suffering from this disorder, such as demanding, treatment resistant, and difficult among others, are discriminatory. These terms may create a negative feeling of health professionals towards patients, an aspect that may lead to adoption of negative responses that may trigger self-destructive behavior (Giesen-Bloo et al, 2006). The fact however, is that the term borderline has been misunderstood and misused so much that any attempt to redefine it is pointless leaving scrapping the term as the only option.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) affects about 4% of the general population, and at least 20% of the clinical psychiatric population. (Kernberg and Michels, 2009) In the clinical psychiatric population, about 75% of those with the disorder are women. BPD is also significantly heritable, with 42-68% of the variance associated with genetic factors, similar to that of hypertension. BPD can also develop due to environmental factors such as childhood neglect and/or trauma, insecure attachment, and exposure to marital, family, and psychiatric issues. (Gunderson, 2011)
Personality disorders are separated into several clusters as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Cluster A includes disorders of the personality that are odd or egocentric. These include paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, and schizotypal personality disorder (National Institute for Mental Health, 2009). Cluster B includes the dramatic, emotional, or erratic personality disorders. This cluster includes antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder (NIMH, 2009). The final cluster, Cluster C, includes avoidant personality disorder, dependent personality disorder, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (NIMH, 2009). These personality disorders are categorized as anxious and fearful disorders.
Diagnosing a patient with a personality disorders where often evaluations done by a clinician. The clinician would listen to the importance of interpersonal experiences and observing the patients behavior in a consulting room (Westen, 2001). This was normally done in one session, if the patient informed the clinician of harming himself. The clinician would diagnose the patient as a borderline personality disorders.
The history of BPD can be traced back to 1938 when Adolph Stern first described the symptoms of the disorder as neither being psychotic nor psychoneurotic; hence, the term ‘borderline’ was introduced (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2009, p. 15). Then in 1960, Otto Kernberg coined the term ‘borderline personality organization’ to describe persistent patterns of behavior and functioning consisting of instability, and distressed psychological self-organization (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2009, p. 15).
There are two different kinds 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 decision 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 personality disorder.
Joan Crawford, was one of the most popular and well known actresses in Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. Although her life was more extraordinary than mundane, she suffered from multiple personality disorders, as do many Americans. Personality disorders are patterns of inflexible traits that disrupt social life or work and may distress the affected individual (Rathus, 2016). The movie Mommie Dearest, captures moments in Crawford’s life that show her struggles with her personality disorders. Throughout the movie, you watch her personalities become more prominent and abusive. Her main disorders include borderline and paranoid personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as histrionic and narcissistic personality disorder.
Mommie Dearest follows the life of Hollywood Movie star, Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway, as Joan adopts two children, Christina (Diana Scarwid) and Christopher with the help of her lawyer and lover Greg (Steve Forrest).
The first subtype, discouraged borderline, is very similar to dependent personality disorder (Lavender, 2013). Patients that suffer from this subtype are very clingy or codependent. They are the type of person that follows the crowed and get hurt easily if they feel somewhat rejected. They can show anger toward people around them but they do not lash out on other. Rather they inflict mutilation on themselves, and in some case lead to suicide. (Lavender,
Unlike Ferrari, who has a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde existence” for his disorder, famous actresses such as Angelina Jolie, Lindsay Lohan, and Marilyn Monroe, were more open with their disorders. Among other famous people, Princess Diana, Courtney Love, Amy Winehouse, and Britney Spears also had Borderline Personality Disorder. According to Out of the Fog, some movies which portray Borderline Personality Disorder are A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Fatal Attraction (1987), Girl, Interrupted (1999), Mommie Dearest (1981), Single White Females (1992), and The Wizard of Oz (1944) (BPD). Mommie Dearest is a biographic movie about the actress Joan Crawford who simultaneously revealed Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Along with movies, many autobiographies and biographies depicted the traits for Borderline Personality Disorder. Such books, such, as brought to light by Nora Villagran, as Doug Ferrari's memoir Blood on the Clown Suit (The Laughter). Ferrari's memoir reverse time back to his not-so-glory days and brings awareness to others with the disorder. Other such books, such as, depicted by "Books About BPD,” are Borderline Personality Disorder Demystified by Robert O. Friedel, The Borderline Personality Disorder Survival Guide by Alex Chapman and Kim Gratz, Princes Charming and a Glass Sister: A Curious Memoir: 61 Years of Life with Borderline Personality Disorder (Bpd) By Naomi Oona Murthy, and I Hate You - Don't Leave Me By Jerold J. Kreisman and Hal Straus (NEABPD). Borderline Personality Disorder is a disorder which is often overlooked, but incredibly prevalent in the United States and the