Bipolar Disorder and Disorder

The 2012 movie, Silver Linings Playbook, provides a rather correct view of numerous mental health-related aspects and the impact it has on families and relationships. Bipolar disorder-diagnosed Patrick Solitano Jr. is enrolled in an eight-month court-commanded psychiatric hospital intervention after viciously assaulting a man his wife was cheating on him with. This mood disorder is accompanied by manic episodes (discrete minimum-seven-day-long periods of uncharacteristically and continually cantankerous, elevated, or expansive moods). Symptoms include escalated self-esteem, reduced need to sleep, impulsiveness, and quick speech, accurately portrayed by Pat in the movie. This results in vacillating extremely good and extremely bad moods together with acute impairment and distress, necessitating rigorous, steady medications (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Also, bipolar disorder patients typically have highly intense and charismatic personalities, as seen in Pat Jr. The character is quick to form an emotional bond with Tiffany, an unusual lady who is herself burdened by mental problems following her husband's demise. Intriguingly, Tiffany, described as an unpredictable, wild sex addict, exhibits clear Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) symptoms, while not explicitly having received a diagnosis for it. Her past reveals unsteady interpersonal relationships, anger management issues, self-harm tendencies, impulsivity when it comes to sexual activity and intense emotional reactions. The movie's list of mentally-disturbed characters doesn't stop here; Patrick's father, an unemployed man obsessed with sports betting, suffers from OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). The man cannot relate to Pat Jr. and considers himself blamable for his son's present state. While the father-son relationship doesn't form the movie's chief focus, one can safely state that it stirs audiences' hearts. Pat's passive mom, Dolores, is shown to keep an anxious eye on the volatile family dynamics, using diverting foods and forcing a smile onto her face to prevent it from falling apart (LeBeau, 2013). The objective of this paper is to thoroughly describe and interpret the movie character, Pat Jr., by employing a couple of personality constructs/theories. Psychologists have proposed multiple psychological theories for explaining bipolar disorder. This paper will concentrate on the Psychosocial Developmental Stages model of Erik Ericson and the defense mechanisms model of Sigmund Freud for relating to and explaining Pat's behavior and pathology.

Erik Erikson Psychosocial Stages of Development

Erikson's human developmental stages are grounded in his psychosocial development theory, wherein he posits that a person encounters 8 key psychosocial conflicts in life (at these stages), capable of leading to bipolar outcomes. Failed conflict resolution at any stage(s) can affect the evolution of subsequent stages and result in pathology (Erikson, 1968; Erikson, 1982). This may be applied to the case of Pat; a developmental phase conflict, perhaps, remained unresolved, interrupting his personality evolution and causing the disorder. The early phases, distrust against trust, doubt and shame against independence, and guilt against enterprise hinge on primary caregivers (i.e., parents). Parental rejection, punishment and inconsistency in reacting to their baby may give rise to distrust, guilt and shame. Here, a healthy conflict balance is imperative to developmental advancement (Fleming, 2004). Pat's parents, perhaps, failed to properly fulfill his primary psychosocial requirements, thus impacting his personality growth (Pat Sr. agrees he wasn't an attentive father). Pat Sr. himself is an OCD patient and Dolores seems anxiety-prone. This may have impacted Pat's childhood home atmosphere balance, thereby leaving some of his developmental conflicts unresolved. Erikson's developmental phases extend to a person's adult years as well (Erikson, 1968). Young adults face an isolation-against- closeness conflict which, if unresolved, can cause overdependence on a spouse/partner or anxiety when committing to long-term relationships, as seen with Pat. A fear of closeness and the ensuing distance between partners, as seen with Pat, might lead to isolation or loneliness, increasing the individual's vulnerability to adulthood manic depression. The psychosocial development theory states the need for the development of a person's ego-identity before considering marriage. The theorist claims that real spousal closenesscan only result following the establishment of a fair individual identity. Marriages wherein even one partner hasn't developed an identity show high risks of ending in failure and heartbreak. The above construct is closely connected to Pat's case since his mental ailment and dysfunctional family resulted in a weakly-formed identity.

Psychodynamic Theory of Defense Mechanisms

This model's concepts may be linked adequately to Pat's personality. Freud proposed several defense mechanisms which, according to him, were always somewhat at work in a person to protect him from anxiety. Mania is linked to a few distinct, odd coping/defense approaches and behaviors like immature conduct and risk-taking, as seen in Pat's case (Bragazzi, Pezzoni, & Del Puente, 2014). The movie is teeming with examples of Pat's defense mechanism emergence and progress during both ailment and therapy stages, adopted by him to protect himself and tackle his psychological issue. Pat exhibits repression (instinctively putting a thing which causes anxiety or agony out of one's mind) and denial throughout as person. He denies anxiety-causing, traumatic or threatening incidents and things (e.g., his wife leaving him). His repression is clear from his statement that their desire to change one another is perfectly normal; he dislikes her haughty nature and dressing style and she dislikes his mood swings and wants him to grow thinner, but they still do love each other (according to him). Repression is the commonest and most basic defense strategy. Pat is, perhaps, unconsciously tackling the agony of separation from his wife by denying it; thus, he can't move on and is fixated on trying to win her back. Pat vigorously exhibits opposite impulses (excessive friendliness and attentiveness) and an elevated need to form affiliations to prevent distressing impulse reactions (for instance, aggression) from emerging. As the film progresses, he is seen attempting to forge and sustain social relationships; examples include his attempts at a friendly talk with the school principal, attempting to win back his wife, and dining with his friends Veronica and Ronnie. Therefore, hatred turns to compassion and love in his unconscious mind. Moreover, Pat's extreme reading and physical exertion may indicate sublimation, or a rechanneling of negative thoughts and emotions into some socially tolerable activity. Several renowned bipolar disorder and depression diagnosed poets and composers are known to have rechanneled their mental suffering into brilliant artworks (Schultz & Schultz, 2009).