The human race has always been plagued by mental illness but in the recent years we have observed a drastic boom in the number of people suffering with this illness. Even the media has started to show interest in shedding light on the issue of mental illness by producing many books, movies, television shows and documentaries on this matter. One of the highly rated movie on this subject would be the film Silver Linings Playbook which was actually inspired by the novel The Silver Linings Playbook written by Matthew Quick. This film revolves around the life of Patrick Solitano, Jr after being discharged from a psychiatric hospital. The movie walks us through the ups and downs in Patrick’s journey in freeing himself from the shackles of bipolar disorder. In this paper, we revisit the rhetoric that people suffering from bipolar disorder are merely going through mood swings, and how psychiatric drugs do more harm than good to the consumers. Moreover, we will analyze how self-stigma inhibits people with bipolar disorder from assimilating back into society and carrying out a normal life.
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive affects over 51 million people around the world. Contrary to popular belief, bipolar disorder is not just a medical jargon for mood swings. The repercussions and symptoms are distinct from major depression. The mood swings of bipolar disorder are more severe, longer lasting and most significant of all, they interfere with the overall functioning of an individual. Being manic is like wearing high heels, where the individual feels taller and gets consumed by waves of confidence. Essentially like they have the world at the tip of the fingers and almost invincible towards the nasty of the world. But because of the exuberant amount of confidence people going through mania find it incredibly hard to fall asleep as their thoughts, aspirations and inhibitions do not allow them to get rest. On the other hand, depression is like wearing comfy slippers. The individual would only feel safe and secure when wearing the slippers and anything else would cause a great discomfort. In a nutshell, people in the depression episode finds it extremely hard to look forward to the future because they cannot break out of the negative thoughts being replayed in their brain. Being bipolar is like wearing the depression slipper on one side and the manic heel on the other. Extreme changes in energy, activity and sleep go along with these mood episodes. Most patients with bipolar disorder find it most frustrating because they cannot control their emotions and thoughts.
Even after 2000 years, the wise words of Plato that goes “know thyself” remains relevant in today’s society. Self-concept clarity refers to the extent to which self-knowledge is clearly defined, internally consistent and temporally stable (Campbell 152). Knowing oneself is beneficial to maintaining one’s physical and mental health. Studies have shown that not knowing oneself due to a failed relationship can lead to negative outcomes that in Patrick’s case got him diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In the movie trailer we see the downward spiral of his life after his wife filed for a divorce which ultimately led him to being admitted into a psychiatric hospital. Patrick lost his identity as a husband and along with it his mental stability. Recent evidence supports the idea that not having someone to constantly validate and affirm one’s self-concept will increase the risk of facing mental problems. People who recently experience a romantic breakup showed higher self-concept confusion and emotional distress (Slotter 150). Patrick invested so much of his time, emotion and identity into his marriage that his self-concept got robbed away from him when his wife decided to call the quits. A scene in the movie trailer shows him barging into his parents’ bedroom at 4 o’clock in the morning just to rant about the ending of the book A Farewell to Arms. This erratic mood swings showcases how Patrick has lost his identity and is desperately trying to find his identity in the protagonist of the book but gets enraged when he did not get the ending he wanted.
To overcome his depression, Patrick consumed many different antidepressants, namely, Lithium Citrate, Xanax and Citalopram as stated in the movie trailer. In recent years, proponents of the “chemical imbalance” hypothesis have claimed that mental illness is the direct result of the biological malfunction of a human brain. Additionally, this hypothesis has postulated that in order to control conduct defined as “mental illness,’ psychiatric drugs must be administered on a daily basis and strongly recommended to be continued through the life course (Stolzer 238). Even though coherent studies and experiments have proven that psychiatric drugs are effective in decreasing specific symptoms, the undeniable truth that the drugs do nothing to cure the irregularity present in the human brain still stands (Healy 1). In retrospective, humans have lived a long time with a spectrum of emotions such as anxiety, worry, sadness, short attention span and lethargy without the aid of psychiatric drugs. From the 1600s until the 1960s, mental illness was extremely rare if not unheard of in America. As there is no cognitive, metabolic or pragmatic test that can establish the actuality of mental illness, Americans continue to be the country that consumes 80% of the world’s psychiatric drugs (Healy 1). It is evident that Patrick did not get any better from consuming a variety of anti-depressants but only began to find himself once he opened up and started talking about his depression to others. After Patrick tells his psychiatrist that he hates his illness and wants to control it, the mood of the movie trailer changes to a high. Scenes of Patrick making acquaintances with mutual friend, Tiffany, and signing up for a dance competition and finally telling his father that he is genuinely happy shows that the support given to him greatly aided his recovery. Instead of taking 4-6 months courses of antidepressants, Patrick turned the tables around his depression by being open to conversation about his depression and actively seeking help from his family, friends and psychiatrist.
The population has become so dependent on antipsychotic drugs that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in America , as well as Canadian, British and other European authorities, have all issued public health warnings advising the public that antidepressant drugs can significantly increase suicide and self-harm behaviors in consumers. (GIBBONS, HUR BHAUMLK 2006; Physician’s desk reference Manual 2009). In addition, there is limited longitudinal data concerning the long-term effects of anti-psychotic drugs on the consumers. However, in the limited rat studies that are available, significant negative effects have been reported (Ansorge, ZHOU, lira Hen 2004) A group of researchers found that inhibition of the serotonin transporter brought on by antidepressant drugs resulted in significant reduction in exploratory activity and major impairment in other forms of sensory perceptions. Other studies have shown that early exposure to antidepressant drugs has been significantly correlated with decreased locomotor activity, sexual pathology, visual atrophy and decrease in natural serotonin production in adulthood. (Maciag, Coppigner 2006) It has come to a point we have to ask ourselves whether antipsychotic drugs is helping the generation break off from the vicious grip of mental illness or making us digress from overcoming this epidemic. Over a relatively short time period, Americans’ perception regarding mental illness have changed dramatically as data now indicates that 88% of Americans believe that mental illness can be attributed to biological causes and can be successfully treated with psychiatric drugs. (Blummer & marcus 2009) This recent paradigm shift has resulted in millions of Americans being labeled as mentally ill, and has been the impetus of the soaring amounts of psychiatric drugs that are consumed by Americans on a daily basis. Prescriptions for antidepressant drugs have tripled in America over the last decade, while prescriptions for psychiatric drugs to combat anxiety, bipolar, ADHD and a myriad of other psychiatric illnesses in infants, children and adults are increasing exponentially across America. (blummer & Marcus 2009) The widespread advertising of psychiatric drugs on television, in hospitals and physician offices; the pharmaceutical industry funding the majority of mental health research; the economic alliance that exists between the medical community and pharmaceutical industry; public schools receiving federal monies for each child diagnosed with a psychiatric illness; and the widespread acceptance of the “chemical imbalance” hypothesis by the medical community and general public are possible contributing factors related to the meteoric rise of psychiatric diagnoses in America (Stolzer 214).
Despite living in the 21st century, certain fractions of society still refuses to acknowledge that mental illness is as tangible sickness therefore creating a stigma towards people suffering with mental illness. In status quo, people living with mental illness have a hard time renting homes, applying for jobs, using health services and encountering police officers. For example, many employers discriminate people living with mental illness by putting them through additional tests before considering to hire them. Patrick who was once a school teacher was not able to return to his steady job even after coming out of the psychiatric hospital. When society constantly label mental illness as a disability, we understand how hard it is for people living with mental illness to overcome the stigma and continue living a normal life. The prevalence of such a strong stigma on mental illness stem from the inaccurate negative attributes that are portrayed within media sources that continuously shape the perception of mental illness. It becomes extremely harmful when people living with mental illness internalize the negative connotations and prejudices associated with degrading mental health, labelling themselves as socially unacceptable (Teh, et al. 2). The self-stigma now inhibits them from seeking help and would keep their depression to themselves. On that tangent, we draw our attention to the tragic death of Robin Williams, who was a stand-up comedian and Grammy Award Winning actor. The autopsy report proved that the suicide was not influenced by alcohol or illegal drugs but due to dementia with Lewy bodies. His wife made a statement that Robin had showed signs of severe depression. Conversations about mental health should be actively encouraged to prevent the number of mental illness related suicides from escalating. If society chooses not to give up on people living with mental illness, like how Patrick’s mother continuously showered her son with words of encouragement, then we can certainly look forward to a cohesive society that helps people like Patrick assimilate back into society.