Perks Of Being A Wallflower Movie Essay

In The Perks of Being A Wallflower, we are introduced to the introverted and diffident character of Charlie-- a teenager who spent the summer at a psychiatric hospital due to the suicide of his best friend. Throughout the movie, Charlie seems to constantly idolize his Aunt Helen-- having consistent flashbacks from his childhood with his Aunt. Yet, as the movie goes on, those flashbacks of Aunt Helen causes his mental state to rapidly deteriorate. According to the DSM-5, symptoms of a patient with PTSD includes intrusion symptoms, avoidance, negative alterations in cognitions and mood, alterations in arousal, exclusions, and mood evidently with the character of Charlie-- dissociative symptoms. Along with his flashbacks of Aunt Helen, we later in the movie learn that not only did his Aunt Helen self harm in front of him-- but she molested him as well. This causes the teenage version
Exposure therapy works by talking about trauma repeatedly with a therapist, which allows the patient to control of thoughts and feelings about the trauma. The character of Charlie is often overwhelmed and afraid of his memories, therefore exposure therapy would help Charlie become more desensitized to these memories-- resulting in less blackouts. I would also recommend EMDR and psychodynamic psychotherapy as a part of Charlie’s treatment. EMDR would help Charlie with his reactions to his traumatic memories, while psychodynamic psychotherapy would help identify what triggers his stressful memories and increase his self confidence. In the movie, Charlie was admitted to a psychiatric hospital and was eventually let out-- being helped by different treatments with his psychiatrists. Although not mentioned in the movie, I would definitely prescribe Charlie an SSRI such as sertraline and paroxetine in order to help Charlie deal with both his depression and his