Mental Illness In The Silver Linings Playbook By Matthew Quick

Love hurts, and can drive people to do the unthinkable. Pat Peoples experiences this in the Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick. This book displays multiple mental illnesses throughout the characters, a mental illness is a condition that impacts a person 's thinking, feeling or mood and may affect his or her ability to relate to others and function on a daily basis. Each person will have different experiences, even people with the same diagnosis(). Pat is happily married to his wife Nikki, until he comes home to find her in the shower with another man, who he nearly beats to death right then and there. This incident causes him to be admitted into a mental health facility, where he remains for four years. When he gets admitted, he has no …show more content…
But through the thick skin is a man who struggles every day, from the minute he wakes up till he falls asleep. He’s in denial that him and his wife Nikki are done for good. Pat believes by changing himself, will make a part time with Nikki end. Pat believes in seeing the good, or silver lining, in all that he experiences. Little does Pat know that apart time has been longer then he can remember, he denies that because he believes he was only gone for a couple months. When he arrives back at home with his parents, his mom tells him that all the pictures of him and Nikki are gone when their house got robbed. His mom does this to protect him, and want to avoid the subject of Nikki at all cost, because they know apart time will always be apart …show more content…
In the novel, Matthew Quick takes you through Pat’s mind showing us his perspective of the world from his distorted yet endearing view. In today’s society, National Alliance on Mental Health reports that one and five people will be diagnosed with a mental disorder at sometime in his or her life. Knowing these disorders clearly makes individuals aware of mental disorders going on in people’s lives around us, which helps to better our understanding of them. As Tiffany stated, “In a world where no one understands, it is good to finally find someone who can” (Quick pg. 271). By the end of the novel once Pat officially ends the mental break with Nikki, it is clear that Pat and Tiffany are able to help one another and give each other the emotional support, they both have been searching for quite some time. Matthew Quick displays the character greatly on displaying the hardships and everyday battles people with mental illness deal with. Love hurts, but love can also bring two people together who have struggled with the love of a