Character Analysis: A Not-So-Silver Lining

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A Not-So-Silver Lining The stigma of mental illness is as follows: crazy eyes, a lot of violence, mood swings every two seconds, and not a lot of friends and family to help. But, there are multiple factors and explanations for why a person is the way they are, and why they developed the mental illness that they did. Pat Solitano, a middle-aged white man with a lot of great qualities, was a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. He had a wife, a great job as a high school history teacher, and was living comfortably in the middle class. Life was amazing for Pat, until one day he caught his wife cheating. This very moment is when Pat’s problems truly began. After being at a psychiatric hospital for eight months, his mother decided that she wanted him out. …show more content…
He has had multiple manic episodes, and his symptoms have caused social and occupational distress. During his manic episodes, he had elevated and irritable moods for longer than a week, and was also hospitalized. In the period of mood disturbance and increased energy, he had symptoms such as: decreased need for sleep, more talkative than usual, racing thoughts, increase in goal-directed activity, and excessive involvement in activities that have a high potential for painful consequences. The severity of his symptoms have caused him to receive hospitalization, have caused occupational and social impairment, and psychotic features. Pat has multiple recurrent manic episodes also including delusions, and a psychotic feature shows that he has irrational thoughts that are untrue. His behavior is hyperactive in every sense of the term. He has quick, loud speech for every day longer than two weeks, along with insomniac features. Pat also feels the desire for his wife’s companionship. His anxious distress during the episodes of mania include: feeling keyed up and tense, unusually restless, difficulty concentrating because of worry, and feeling that he might lose control of himself. By the end of the film, Pat is considered to be in partial remission. The symptoms of the immediately previous manic episode are somewhat …show more content…
I have a girlfriend with bipolar disorder and watching the movie basically hits home to me. Pat Solitano is someone who I feel as if I knew in real life. I think they portrayed Pat’s mental illness particularly well and the film is extremely accurate in all of its disorders. From this assignment, I learned a more extensive look at the DSM-5 in regards to bipolar disorder. The only thing I do not like about how the movie ended is they did not fast forward a few months to show if the progress Pat made really stuck. But, overall I really enjoyed doing this project and getting a better look into the realm of bipolar

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