The Role Of Psychological Disorders In The Bear

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William Rafael PSY-201-006 Professor Will Shingleton The Presentation of Psychological Disorders in The Bear Why are there so many misconstrued ideas about psychological disorders in the media? Countless series and films use extremely stereotypical methodologies to demonstrate people with psychological disorders. Although they may shed some awareness on the topic of psychological disorders and mental health, these television series and films also lead to the development of false stereotypes surrounding people with these issues and cause confusion about how psychological disorders present themselves. In the context of The Bear, the FX show released in June of 2022, the directors managed to present mental health and psychological disorders, such …show more content…

The show follows Carmen “Carmie” Berzatto, a young and prolific chef and former James Beard award winner. Carmie inherits his family’s old restaurant, The Original Beef of Chicagoland, because his brother committed suicide and left the restaurant to him. Carmie must find a way to make the unorganized mess his brother Michael left him into a respectable restaurant that lives up to his standards. Carmie struggles to make ends meet in the restaurant, faced with multiple obstacles such as failed inspections, irritable staff, and his own personal issues. Luckily, Carmie finds a secret stash of money in the cans of the restaurant’s pasta sauce, enough to fund a new project to renovate the restaurant into his dream restaurant, The Bear, that he envisioned creating with Michael. Carmie makes the new restaurant happen after weeks of long and arduous renovation work, but the process ruins Carmie’s mental …show more content…

In the episode “Fishes” in season 2, they dedicate an episode where they show their Christmas Day family reunion. In the episode, Donna demonstrates multiple symptoms throughout the episode. According to the NIH, bipolar disorder is characterized by manic and depressive episodes, such as being easily distracted, a flight of ideas, feeling wired, feeling sad, feeling worthless, and poor judgment (Bipolar Disorder, 2024). Donna experiences both a manic and depressive episode at the same time. She gets easily distracted by her guests, is talkative, and feels she needs people’s undivided attention. Donna then feels depressed because nobody appreciates her, and then she crashes into the house. She even threatens her daughter by saying that she is going to shoot herself because nobody appreciates her in their family. Although this was her worst episode, the family says Donna's actions are another instance of her craziness. Although the episode may not be exactly accurate in representing bipolar disorder because of how exaggerated some of the symptoms were, the producers still shed light on how drastic and impactful people with bipolar disorder are. They did not show any means of feeling sympathy for her and people with bipolar disorder apart from avoiding potential triggers. Still, the show does a great job of using Donna’s bipolar disorder to highlight the chaotic and crazy family

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