Pat Solitano Character Analysis

“Excelsior”. It means taking all the negativity and using it as fuel to find the silver lining. In the movie Pat Solitano has many things wrong with him. Parts of him are broken and some parts are things that he has no control over. For the parts he has no control over I came up with 3 mental disorders. The disorders that Pat shows symptoms of include Bipolar, Schizophrenia, and dissociative identity disorder. In this paper I will discuss examples in the movie where Pat Solitano thinks and acts like he has these disorders.

The first disorder I diagnosed Pat with is Bipolar although the movie never states exactly what Pat has this is probably the main disorder the character is supposed to relate with. Bipolar has states of mania, this is when the patient is super positive and is at the peak of the disorder. Pat shows mania within the first 10 minutes of the movie. He is super positive about getting his life back that he had previous to being put in an institution. He is positive he is going to get his wife Nikki back and will go back to his job teaching history. When Pats in the Mania stage there is no stopping him and his determination. Relating this to Newtons good old saying “what goes up must come down” In this disorder there is also the drop from Mania that makes the patient depressed and lost.

Hullusinations can be a positive symptom of this disorder. Pat has audible hallucinations when he hears his wedding song and it's not even being played. You might think hallucinations are usually visual but the most common is actually Audible, at least Pat is average there right? Another symptom of this disorder is aggression and although Pat might have gotten that from his father who also has aggression but when he throws punches at an Eagles game and slaps his mother it could also be apart of schizophrenia. It`s ok Pat it`s not your fault your brain has trouble balancing serotonin and