Pip Mental Illness

In Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, the main character Pip shows many signs of several psychological disorders such as anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. Great Expectations is about the journey of a poor, abused boy named Pip who lost his family except for his sister. Pip’s sister and sister's husband raise Pip as their own. As a child Pip is go to the Havisham residence which was occupied by the one and only evil, Ms. Havisham. She is an old woman who hasn't seen the light of day in years and has a hatred for men, because she was left at the alter. She continues to wear her wedding dress to this day. Pip is there to play with Ms. Havisham's adopted daughter Estella, who is a man hater in training.

Pip suffers from nervousness or unease. Anxiety is a “feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome” (Kasturia, Borman-Pullen, and Delphia). Pip goes to church to celebrate Christmas, “Joe and I going to church, therefore, must have been a moving spectacle for compassionate minds. Yet, what I suffered outside, was nothing, to what I underwent within” (Dickens 17). Pip describes that he was suffering mentally on the inside. Pip is feeling nervous and uneasy. Pip is often in a panicked state. Anxiety can be a “feelings of terror, or panic that strike suddenly and repeatedly with no warning” (Mayo Clinic). Pip’s family is coming over for Christmas dinner. “The time came, without bringing with it any relief to my feelings, and the company came” (Dickens 18). Pip continues to talk about his feelings of terror. Pip panics unexpectedly and repeatedly. Pips anxiety is affecting him physically. Pip’s brain chemistry is changing and causing him to feel anxious. Anxiety can also be a biological factor, “Anxiety is not only psychological - it is biological. When you have anxiety, your brain chemistry is changed. Neurotransmitters that control emotions and mood start to misfire, and eventually they start to affect the way you think. It feels natural - you may even believe the thoughts are justified” (Rivera). Pip hides under the table in fear, for his life, “O Heavens, it has come at

He suffers from obsessions that relieve his anxiety. Obsessive compulsive disorder is, “Compulsions are behaviors that individuals with obsessions display in order to relieve themselves of their anxiety” (Referral Solutions Group). Pip is walking around town and thinking to himself how much he is in love with Estella. “The unqualified truth is, that when I loved Estella with the love of a man, I loved her simply because I found her irresistible” (Dickens, Charles 181). Pip loves Estella because he finds her irresistible, this is an indication of an obsession. The love the Pip has for Estella relieves his anxiety. Pip has a long lasting love or obsession with Estella. OCD can be a “common, chronic and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, recurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over” (Abel, Edwin). Pip continues to discuss with himself his profound love for Estella. “Once for all; I knew my sorrow, often and often, if not always , that I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. Once for all; I loved her nonetheless because I knew it, and it had no more influence in restraining me, than if I had devoutly believed her to be human perfection” (Dickens, Charles 181). Pip loves Estella unconditionally, against all odds, and repercussions. Pip has a