Silver Linings Playbook Bipolar DIsorder
Name: Azka Naeem
Class: Psych100
Professor: Jacqueline Pickrell
Silver Linings Playbook Bipolar Disorder Pat Jr., a Philadelphia native who at the beginning of the film is sprung from a residential treatment facility by his mother. We learn that he has been in an inpatient mental health facility for 8 months following a violent episode in which he attacked the man he caught his wife sleeping with. Knowing that he has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and given hints that while this was his first (or at least the worst) manic episode, Pat Jr. had brewing emotional and behavioral problems prior to it. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder characterized by the presence of at least one manic episode. A manic episode is defined as a distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood lasting at least one week that includes symptoms such as inflated selfesteem, impulsive behavior, increased rate of speech, and decreased need for sleep. As the term bipolar disorder suggests, afflicted individuals also experience the opposite of mania – depression. The result is an oscillation between extreme mood states that is often accompanied by severe distress and impairment and requires consistent and intensive medication management
(the traditional remedy is a mood stabilizer such as Lithium, although many other classes of drugs have been shown to be effective for its treatment). In the role of Pat Jr., Bradley Cooper (best known for his role in the raunchy
Hangover films) shows heretoforeunseen range and talent. As is often the case with individuals with bipolar disorder, he plays Pat Jr. as remarkably charismatic and intense. Despite this, the portrayal of bipolar disorder is a mixed bag. Only in one terrific scene when Pat Jr. obsessively finishes a classic novel and storms into his parents’ bedroom in the middle of the night to deliver a rapidfire rant about the book’s ending do we see a true
Class: Psych100
Professor: Jacqueline Pickrell
Silver Linings Playbook Bipolar Disorder Pat Jr., a Philadelphia native who at the beginning of the film is sprung from a residential treatment facility by his mother. We learn that he has been in an inpatient mental health facility for 8 months following a violent episode in which he attacked the man he caught his wife sleeping with. Knowing that he has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and given hints that while this was his first (or at least the worst) manic episode, Pat Jr. had brewing emotional and behavioral problems prior to it. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder characterized by the presence of at least one manic episode. A manic episode is defined as a distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood lasting at least one week that includes symptoms such as inflated selfesteem, impulsive behavior, increased rate of speech, and decreased need for sleep. As the term bipolar disorder suggests, afflicted individuals also experience the opposite of mania – depression. The result is an oscillation between extreme mood states that is often accompanied by severe distress and impairment and requires consistent and intensive medication management
(the traditional remedy is a mood stabilizer such as Lithium, although many other classes of drugs have been shown to be effective for its treatment). In the role of Pat Jr., Bradley Cooper (best known for his role in the raunchy
Hangover films) shows heretoforeunseen range and talent. As is often the case with individuals with bipolar disorder, he plays Pat Jr. as remarkably charismatic and intense. Despite this, the portrayal of bipolar disorder is a mixed bag. Only in one terrific scene when Pat Jr. obsessively finishes a classic novel and storms into his parents’ bedroom in the middle of the night to deliver a rapidfire rant about the book’s ending do we see a true