Silver Linings Playbook Essay

Silver Linings Playbook does a mediocre job of portraying mental illness and the stigma around it as shown by Patrick. Real life sufferers of Bipolar disorder are characterized by manic episodes and depressive episodes. In the film, Patrick was told he had undiagnosed bipolar disorder.

Silver Linings Playbook does not accurately depict the common symptoms of this disorder. Patrick only appeared to have manic episodes such as when he freaked out when the wedding song was played or when he did not like the book by the author Hemingway and threw it out the window. He did not appear to have any noticeably depressive episodes. The film does not give insight about how Bipolar disorder develops over time in most common cases. However, it was accurate

In real life, there is a huge stigma towards mental illness as some individuals believe that people with the illness are making it up or pretending for attention. The film accurately depicted reality because when Craig first told his friend that he has depression his friend made fun of him because he told them that he was in a mental hospital. His friend also told him that he needs to chill and that there is nothing wrong with him. This is similar to how various people with mental illness are treated because of the everlasting stigma. Craig’s friend Nia was unkind to people with mental disorders as well. She stated that the person with schizophrenia she saw in the hallway was weird and Craig was screwed up in a good way. She paid no heed to the fact that mental illness should not weigh differently and that each person with a mental illness has their own obstacles to overcome. It’s Kind of a Funny Story did a fairly accurate job of portraying mental illness as well. It was extremely easy to tell that the characters were suffering from a mental illness but not in a way that would offend. The film got the symptoms accurately and it was not hard to distinguish why the characters were in a mental hospital. For example, Craig was suicidal, anxious, and had low self esteem which is common to people with