Silver Linings Playbook. Psychology Term Paper Assignment

Silver Linings Playbook
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Silver Linings Playbook
The movie Silver Linings Playbook was critically acclaimed with a score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. Bradley Cooper plays the main character whose name is Pat Solitano and he is greatly complemented by the acting of Jennifer Lawrence who plays Tiffany in the movie. The movie starts with Pat in a psychiatric facility which means he was recovering from something. However, it takes some time before the audience is introduced to what he is suffering from. After he leaves the facility, Pat is seen reading everything that is on his wife’s syllabus hoping that they will eventually get back together. But as soon as he finishes reading Hemingway’s book, the audience gets to experience his first pronounced manic episode. Before Pat was taken to the psychiatric facility, he almost beat his wife’s lover to death, and even though there is no background story to this scene, it serves as his one major episode that clouds the movie. Pat also has other episodes one of them being the fact that he cannot stand his wedding song. He has another episode as he tries to look for his wedding video, and also fights before an Eagles’ game. All these episodes that Pat has all lead to one thing which is bipolar disorder. Pat is unaware of the repercussions of his actions. He expects empathy from those who hear his story because he considers himself a victim. He fails to understand why his wife would have a restraining order against him, and also believes winning her back is as easy as reading her syllabus. These reactions are indeed from someone with bipolar disorder.
Meeting Criteria of Mental Illness Described in the Texts
Before describing whether the movie meets the criteria of mental illness described in the texts, it is crucial to first understand how bipolar disorder manifests itself in a patient. The NHS (2019) notes that “bipolar disorder is characterized by extreme mood swings.” It continues to say that these mood swings range from “extreme highs (mania) to extreme lows (depression).” In the movie, however, there are no extreme lows depicted. The focus appears to be on the manic episodes which is also apt and shows that the movie does not deviate from the disorder. In describing manic episodes, Lilienfeld (2017) notes that they are “typically marked by dramatically elevated mood (feeling “on top of the world”), decreased need for sleep, greatly heightened energy and activity, inflated self-esteem, increased talkativeness, and irresponsible behavior.” He also states that people with manic episodes have “pressurized speech” and can be difficult to interrupt. From the movie, one can clearly point out episodes or scenes where the text above describes what Pat was doing. After he is released from the psychiatric facility, Pat shows a decreased need for sleep, he has inflated self-esteem, his behavior is irresponsible, and he has increased talkativeness. Aside from the above, Lilienfeld (2017) notes that manic episodes can either be separated or rapidly follow each other as is the case for Pat. However, one thing that deviates from the text is the lack of depressive states. In the movie...