Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a psychological disorder that can develop after a person experiences a traumatic event. Traumatic experiences can be anything from experiencing assault, warfare, natural disasters, and car accidents to witnessing death. With PTSD comes a variety of specific symptoms; the presence of these symptoms, typically for longer than four weeks to a few months, in individuals is how PTSD is diagnosed. The prognostic symptoms of PTSD include re-experiencing the traumatic event, avoidance of situations that may remind the victim of the traumatic event, and hyperarousal – the experience of heightened anxiety, irritability, aggressive or self-destructive behavior, and the inability to sleep. As well as these symptoms,
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Although Charlie is not fully aware that he was sexually abused by his aunt as a child, he experiences flashbacks of his aunt telling him that something between them will be “there little secret” and to not wake up or tell his sister. Although in the beginning parts of the movie this phrase and scene seem innocent due to the perception that his aunt is on her way to get Charlie his birthday and Christmas present, as the movie progresses and Charlie experiences more flashbacks and becomes more aware of what actually occurred during those memories, the audience sees that his aunt’s intentions were not what they seemed to be. These flashbacks throughout the movie are not as prominent until Charlie’s mental health further declines due to watching the bad occurrences that happen to his friends and family and himself however which hide the truth from Charlie and hide a main symptom of PTSD from being discussed to be diagnosed; Charlie’s flashbacks typically happen too particularly around Christmas time and his birthday, the time when the abuse occurred, and when Charlie is put into sexual situations with girls. Similar situations involving the difficulty in having sex due to flashbacks have been described in a study that found that of Icelandic men experiencing PTSD due to childhood sexual assault all of them experience “deep and …show more content…
Like real PTSD sufferers, Charlie accurately experiences all of the main prognostic symptoms of PTSD as well as other problems people with PTSD also experience. These same experiences between real sufferers of PTSD and Charlie show that The Perks of Being a Wallflower does accurately represent the psychological disorder of post-traumatic stress disorder and the issues that come with it.
Works Cited
Halfon, L. (Producer), & Chbosky, S. (Director). (2012). The Perks of Being a Wallflower [Motion picture]. MA: Lionsgate Films.
Hellmuth, J., Stappenbeck, C., Hoerster, K., & Jakupcak, M. (2012). Modeling PTSD Symptom Clusters, Alcohol Misuse, Anger, and Depression as They Relate to Aggression and Suicidality in Returning U.S. Veterans. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25(5),
Although Charlie is not fully aware that he was sexually abused by his aunt as a child, he experiences flashbacks of his aunt telling him that something between them will be “there little secret” and to not wake up or tell his sister. Although in the beginning parts of the movie this phrase and scene seem innocent due to the perception that his aunt is on her way to get Charlie his birthday and Christmas present, as the movie progresses and Charlie experiences more flashbacks and becomes more aware of what actually occurred during those memories, the audience sees that his aunt’s intentions were not what they seemed to be. These flashbacks throughout the movie are not as prominent until Charlie’s mental health further declines due to watching the bad occurrences that happen to his friends and family and himself however which hide the truth from Charlie and hide a main symptom of PTSD from being discussed to be diagnosed; Charlie’s flashbacks typically happen too particularly around Christmas time and his birthday, the time when the abuse occurred, and when Charlie is put into sexual situations with girls. Similar situations involving the difficulty in having sex due to flashbacks have been described in a study that found that of Icelandic men experiencing PTSD due to childhood sexual assault all of them experience “deep and …show more content…
Like real PTSD sufferers, Charlie accurately experiences all of the main prognostic symptoms of PTSD as well as other problems people with PTSD also experience. These same experiences between real sufferers of PTSD and Charlie show that The Perks of Being a Wallflower does accurately represent the psychological disorder of post-traumatic stress disorder and the issues that come with it.
Works Cited
Halfon, L. (Producer), & Chbosky, S. (Director). (2012). The Perks of Being a Wallflower [Motion picture]. MA: Lionsgate Films.
Hellmuth, J., Stappenbeck, C., Hoerster, K., & Jakupcak, M. (2012). Modeling PTSD Symptom Clusters, Alcohol Misuse, Anger, and Depression as They Relate to Aggression and Suicidality in Returning U.S. Veterans. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25(5),