Shine is a dramatic biographical film that focuses on the life of David Helfgott, a classical pianist who experienced a nervous breakdown and suffered through many years of hospitalization. Near the start of the film, David was a child prodigy, now a teenager; who has received a scholarship to attend the Royal College of Music in London. Excited to share his music in another country, David is prohibited from leaving the Helfgott home by his father who is a man of control and perfection. After he leaves home and begins his study in London, David enters a competition where he performs Rachmaninoff’s 3rd concerto. This music was one he tried very hard to learn in his youth in order to please his father. As David works on the 3rd concerto, he starts to show signs of insanity. As David plays the piece in the concerto contest, he is showing facial signs of madness. When the piece finishes, he collapses. David then goes through shock therapy at a mental institution. When David recoups, his …show more content…
father, who no longer wishes to be a part of his life, visits him. After years of hospitalization a woman, Sylvia, who is interested in David’s music and brilliance takes him into her home and supports him. Shortly after, David connects with an intellectual friend of Sylvia’s, Gillian, who gives him love and agrees to marry him. With the kindness and support from the people who care for him, David overcomes his mental illness. He performs concerts again and even makes peace with his father by visiting his grave. Throughout the film, David shows symptoms of schizoaffective disorder. Schizoaffective disorder is a mental illness that is categorized by aberrant feelings and irregular mental state. The Diagnostic criterion of schizoaffective disorder includes “A. THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF DAVID HELFGOTT 4 An uninterrupted period of illness during which there is a major mood episode (major depressive or manic) concurrent with Criterion A of schizophrenia. Note: The major depressive episode must include Criterion A1 : Depressed mood. B. Delusions or hallucinations for 2 or more weeks in the absence of a major mood episode (depressive or manic) during the lifetime duration of the illness. C. Symptoms that meet criteria for a major mood episode are present for the majority of the total duration of the active and residual portions of the illness. D. The disturbance is not attributable to the effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or another medical condition.” (5th ed.; DSM-5 [italicized]; American Psychiatric Association; 2013 105) David experiences depression throughout the course of the film. There are two scenes where depression rather than mania is stood out. Shortly after David wins the Concerto Piano Competition he enters hospitalization. When left the institution he returns home to reconnect with him family. Earlier David’s father, Peter, had told him that if he leaves home to study piano, he would never return. Not only was David controlled and abused by his father, but also rejected when wanting to reopen his life to that father that has many times told him, ... “No-one will love you like me, no-one like me.” (Shine 1:05:15) Later in the film when David is middle-aged, his father visits him, tells him he loves him, and disappears again. (1:22:40- 1:25:53) David’s behavior and connection to major mood episode also shows mania in addition to depression. This is seen in the part of the film where David is rehearsing the Rachmaninoff Concerto. This was a piece of music that Peter enforced David to play as a child. His odd behavior includes practicing with gloves on, playing the piece until his THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF DAVID HELFGOTT 5 fingers need to be covered with gloves, promising himself to make not one mistake, and most importantly not entering any other activity until the piece has reached absolute perfection. David eats food by the piano and even practices finger movements on a cardboard when not near it. (52:00- 54:00) This manic behavior continues and even gets worse when David performs the piece in front of a large audience at the competition. After the piece finishes, David falls out of his chair and collapses to the ground. Even though David’s performance won the contest, he suffered a nervous breakdown. After the episode, David was put into the institution where he began receiving Electroconvulsive therapy. (59:00- 1.00:05) In addition to his manic and depressive behavior, David also had delusions and hallucinations. David’s delusions were seen in the way he connected with others. This was seen throughout the film. Whenever David would meet a new person, in his later years, he would give them a warm hug right away without even getting the chance to know of them. There are a couple of stand out scenes where David has severe delusions and hallucinations. This behavior began when David was in college. In addition to the manic behavior that demonstrates during his practice hours, he also demonstrated delusional behavior that was frowned upon. When David is in college, during the practice of “The Rach.” he runs out to collect his mail and says, “Morning Mrs. Perkins.” (Shine 55:53) When David spoke those words, he had no pants on and did not even realize that he wasn’t wearing them. Mrs. Perkins also did not say hello back and gave him and odd look that he didn’t even make a note of. Similar issues like this happen later in the film. There is one scene where David grabs the right breast of a caretaker of his in church. David did not seem to notice the wrong in it either. (1:14:18) THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF DAVID HELFGOTT 6 “The typical age at onset of schizoaffective disorder is early adulthood.” (5th ed.; DSM-5 [italicized]; American Psychiatric Association; 2013 108) David was not mentally ill in his youth. He did not start showing symptoms of the schizoaffective disorder until he was a teenager when he began studying piano at the Royal College of Music. However, David does experience a few emotionally challenging moments as a child. There are several competitions that he enters, one specifically as a young boy, where he does not win and Peter even brings him home early. Peter puts a great amount of pressure on David during his early years. However, he enforces that he loves his very much. When David is accepted into the Royal College of Music, Peter does not let him leave. After a discussion about the family being torn apart, David leaves his father and decides that it is best for him to pursue music how he wants. This film did a superb job at describing the schizoaffective disorder.
The criteria of schizoaffective disorder fit David Helfgott very well. Disorganized speech is also an important negative symptom of Schizoaffective Disorder. David’s speech becomes impaired after he has the nervous break down. David has issues where he cannot stop speaking, repetitive words, fast speech, over-wording, and taking extra time to make a point of what he is trying to say. This factor is also important. David did not do drugs. However, he received electric shock therapy after his hospitalization. I believe that Peter is most likely responsible for David getting diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder. He was a very rigid man. Peter displayed small signs of perfectionism, but there is no evidence of him acting in ways as an individual with schizoaffective disorder would. However, having an immediate family-member with schizoaffective disorder is not always the case. The pressure put on David by
Peter THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF DAVID HELFGOTT 7 combined with the beatings were most likely the factor of David’s mental illness. As he grew up, his emotional feelings descended over time. David was always enforced to win by his father. As he gets older, his father becomes even stricter with him. David is first “beaten” as an adolescent after losing a competition shortly before he attends the Royal College of Music. The anxiety gets worse and his overall emotional state keeps decreasing over time until he “breaks.” In Shine, David interacts with many people who have different reactions and opinions about his illness. For example, a hospital caretaker who recognized David during his musical highlights offers to take him in. After witnessing him creating a mess in the house and touching her inappropriately, she decides to send him elsewhere. However, later in the film, David meets a woman that believes he is odd at first. After hearing his magnificent piano playing and getting a chance to talk to him; she recognizes his intellectual way and goes as far as marrying him instantly. Many real life patients believe that individuals stereotype them.
6. I think that his mother just randomly decided to abuse David. Since she was an alcoholic she did not always realize what she was doing to him. She also probably didn’t want to do all the things around the house and thought it was too much to do so she had David do all the chores. She punished him by doing dreadful things.
Schizophrenia has multiple symptoms; according to the World of Health Organization, these symptoms include “delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and behavior [as well as depressive behavior].” Monomania
This shows he cared about the other members of the group and himself being safe. David comes to accept himself along with his mutation. After Aunt Harriet's death David p...
In 1809, the first clinical descriptions of schizophrenia were written by J. Haslam, however, later it was found that he described a disease called hebephrenia. Some symptoms he included were: loss of memory, more prevalent in females, sensibility blunted, onset at puberty, unconnected with heredity, cyclic, no affection towards parents, inactivity, apathetic, inattention to cleanliness, etc. (Berle 4,5).
David was always a type of person inclined to be melancholy. He was always a religious person. He made sure that he did everything right, because he was afraid of death. He performed all the duties of religion without a true conversion.2
There is nothing that can be measured to diagnose schizophrenia. Other diseases share many of its symptoms. What schizophrenia is or is not, cannot be decided on. However, German psychiatrist, Kurt Schneider, developed a list of symptoms, which occur very rarely in diseases other than schizophrenia. These symptoms include auditory hallucinations in which voices speak the schizophrenic's thoughts aloud. There are also two other forms of auditory hallucinations, in one the victim will hear two voices arguing, and the other a voice will be heard commenting the actions of the person. "Schizophrenics may also suffer from the felling that an external force, or the dilution that certain commonplace remarks have a secret meaning for themselves is controlling their actions", (Torrey, 1983).
Schizotypal personality disorder (SPD), is considered by many as part of the schizophrenic spectrum. It is characterized by discomfort with other people, peculiar patterns of thinking and behavior, and eccentricity. These may take the form of cognitive or perceptual disturbances. Yet, unlike schizophrenia, these psychotic symptoms are not as fully developed as delusions or hallucinations but instead can be characterized as perceptual illusions. A person suffering from SPD might become extremely anxious in social situations, especially those involving strangers. Schizotypal patients also tend to be overly suspicious of others and are not prone to trust others or to relax in their presence.
Schizophrenia is a disorder that affects about 1 in 100 people at different stages in their lives and is very difficult to diagnose. It has many symptoms that typically begin to appear around age 18-30 (2). Signs of Schizophrenia can be misread and sometimes overlooked due to the amount of other disorders that share many of the symptoms. Autism is one example. Symptoms can be classified into "negative" and "positive." Negative symptoms could be seen as those that are absent but should be present. Examples of negative symptoms include lack of motivation or apathy, blunted feelings, depression, and social withdrawal (1). Positive symptoms are those that should be present but are absent. Some examples of positive symptoms are hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder, and an altered sense of self (1). It is thought that hallucinations are the...
The initial diagnosis of Schizoaffective Disorder can be somewhat confusing. Many patients and loved ones wonder, “What does that mean?” “How is it different than Schizophrenia?” We’re here to break it down for you. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) Schizoaffective Disorder is classified as: An uninterrupted period of illness during which there is a Major Mood Episode (Major Depressive or Manic) concurrent with the Criterion A of Schizophrenia. The Major Depressive Episode must include Criterion A1. Depressed mood. Delusions or hallucinations for 2 or more weeks in the absence of a Major Mood Episode (Depressive or Manic) during the lifetime duration of the illness. Symptoms that meet criteria for a Major Mood Episode are present for the majority of the total duration of the active and residual portions of the illness. The disturbance is not attributable to the effects of a substance or another medical condition.
Schizophrenics experience two different kinds of torture… positive, and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are not “positive” in the least bit. They include delusions, hallucinations, disorganised thoughts and disorganised speech. These symptoms make it very hard for schizophrenics to work or to live in their own house. Positive symptoms are especially dangerous because in some cases, the hallucinations will tell the victim to kill either themselves or another person. H...
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder which disables the brain and leaves a person feeling psychotic. A person diagnosed with this disorder may see or hear things that other people don’t. They may also think that, if they are talking with someone, the other person is controlling his or her mind or is planning to hurt them in some way. This will result in the schizophrenic person withdrawing from any social interaction, or becoming very agitated.
...asms or cramps, and tremors. One of the major side affects is tardive dyskinesia, a permanent condition when the lips, mouth, and tongue move without any control. Besides medications and therapies, family intervention programs exist which focus on the families of the schizophrenics instead of the patients themselves. This is particularly useful since family members can learn and understand how to cope with the patient and provide for them a low-stress environment and aiding them as much as possible. By looking at all the aspects of schizophrenia, it is very hard to believe schizophrenia is a type of disease. Different from AIDS or cancer that may lead to death, schizophrenia alone will not kill the patient. In contrast, schizophrenics become more gifted and inventive in their way of thinking. The inability of the “normal” people to understand the patients’ styles of presentation does not mean those patients are abnormal or have a disease. When viewing from their world, schizophrenics may think that the “normal” people are the ones who display bizarre behaviour. Schizophrenia can be called a disorder, a collection of socially learn actions, an illness but never called a disease.
According to the DSM-5, the diagnostic criteria of part A- characteristic symptoms for schizophrenia are delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence), grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior, negative symptoms (i.e., diminished emotional expression or avolition) (APA, 2013), and John Nash suffered from all of them to some extent. The most salient of
Schizophrenia can be described by a wide-ranging spectrum of emotional and cognitive dysfunctions. These can include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech and behavior, as well as inappropriate emotions. Consequently, this disease can affect people from all walks of life. Since schizophrenia is such a complex disorder it can ultimately affect a person’s entire existence and their struggle to function daily. With a chronic disease like this, most people have a difficult time functioning in society. This can make it hard for someone who is schizophrenic to relate to others as well as maintain significant relationships. Life expectancy for those who suffer this illness tend to be shorter than average. This is due to the higher rate of accident and suicide. The symptoms of schizophrenia can be broken down into different categories: positive, negative and disorganized. Positive symptoms include hallucinations and delusions. These tend to be the more obvious signs of psychosis. On the other hand negative symptoms indicate deficits or absence of normal behavior which can affect sp...
As stated before, schizophrenia is a psychological disorder. The American Psychological Association (thru the Encyclopedia of Psychology) refers to schizophrenia as “a serious mental illness characterized by incoherent or illogical thoughts, bizarre behavior and speech, and delusions or hallucinations, such as hearing voices.” To be diagnosed as a schizophrenic, these symptoms must persist for at least a month and clearly interfere with social interactions, specifically on the job and in group situations.