Mental Disorder In Silver Linings Playbook: Pat's Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook illustrates a tale of a young man, Pat, who struggles with mental illness and his life after his mental “snap”. Pat is not the only person in this film to struggle with a mental disorder, his father and his soon to be girlfriend all have their own battle. Pat, the main character, is just released from a mental institution because of, what is referred to in the movie, his “snap”. Soon after being released from the institution, the viewers are informed Pat is diagnosed with being bipolar. The third edition of Psychology by Richard Griggs states that “bipolar disorder is an emotional roller coaster, with the person’s mood swinging from manic highs to depressive lows [Griggs, Psychology].” This diagnosis seems to be …show more content…
The audience almost hears this drum beat as Pat’s anger begins to build. The viewers see the tension rising and feel the rage inside Pat. However, the movie has one weakness when portraying Pat and bipolar disorder, Pat does not have enough outbursts. There is a scene at a dinner when Tiffany screams Pat is harassing her when he clearly was not. This is a very stressful event which would have caused a lashing out in everyone, especially a with bipolar. But, Pat is someone able to keep it under control. Also, at the tail end of the movie, Pat and Tiffany are called up to perform a dance, but Pat can’t find Tiffany. Again a stressful situation which Pat is able to …show more content…
However, the viewers can assume Tiffany suffers from a personality disorder. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) states “borderline personality disorder is … marked by a pattern of ongoing instability in moods, behavior, self-image, and functioning [NIMH].” Tiffany meets all the indicators of borderline personality disorder because she often goes from uplifted to very angry, on Pat and Tiffany’s first “date” she cried on Pat’s shoulder then began to hit him all within a span of ten seconds. Also, her self image is very off because she recently got fired from a job because she had sex with everyone in the office, Tiffany says it was because she was depressed. However, the audience can assume it was because she did not feel comfortable about herself since she lashed out on Pat saying he needs to feel comfortable in his skin; she wasn 't really mad at him, but rather herself. Lastly, all throughout the movie the audience can visibly see that Tiffany does not behave nor function like a “regular” person: She is regularly says awkward things and often