Pat Solitano's Diagnosis In The Film A Farewell To Arms

Clinical Diagnosis
Pat Solitano is a former high school history teacher, married to his wife Nikki, an English teacher. He was incarcerated for eight months in a psychiatric institution, with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, after he brutally attacked, and nearly killed, a fellow male teacher whom he discovered naked in the shower with his wife. After Pat had completed his obligatory detention, he went back to stay at his parents’ house because he has no job and no place to stay at the moment. Despite his recent catastrophes, he believes that if he stays enthusiastic he will be able to obtain a shot at a silver lining. His motto is "excelsior," which means superior or higher. He hopes to reconcile with his wife despite the fact that she has …show more content…
I believe Pat Solitano’s diagnosis is bipolar I disorder as he met the medical criteria required for it. Pat seemed to be largely manic most of the time as he experiences recurrent and manic episodes throughout the film. Early in the film, Pat is seen lying in bed on the top floor of his parents’ house, reading a hardcover copy of Hemingway’s (1929) A Farewell to Arms, which he has checked out from the library. As he reaches the end of the book, he screams and violently tosses the book out of the window, shattering it to pieces, in a rage because Hemingway has the protagonist’s partner die. He then bursts into his parents’ bedroom and wakes them up with complains and fulminations against Hemingway despite that it is four o’clock …show more content…
His aggressive outbursts were portrayed on more than one occasion throughout the film and they usually occur in response to slight provocations, last for short period of time, and are generally impulsive and