Abnormal Psychology — Paradigms Movie

Summary of the movie

The movie depicts Nina, a ballerina who is entirely consumed by dance. The character lives with her obsessive mother, who is a former ballerina.  Her mother is controlling and exerts high levels of control over her. Nina is a first choice for the lake swan competition, where she is to play the roles of a white swan and the black swan. Her candidature is, however, threatened as she faces completion from one of the fellow dancers. Despite perfectly fitting for the white swan position, she does not qualify for the black swan position that requires her slyness and sensuality. As a result of her attempt to fit the black position and the conditions she faces at home from her mother, she gets frustrated, a factor that leads her to gets more in touch with her dark side.

Symptoms of character

The character exhibits symptoms of anxiety disorder accompanied by obsessive-compulsive behavior. Nina gets psychotic breakdowns due to increased stress and anxiety that she faces.  She faces mental breakdowns characterized by bodily harm, eating disorder in addition to substance abuse. The breakdowns are characterized by visual hallucinations that relate to physical injuries and metamorphosis of both her own and the figures of other people. She faces high levels of hallucinations that it is almost impossible to determine between hallucinations and reality. She transforms from her usual calm and innocent self and becomes canning and sensuality.

Symptoms/ paradigm

The abnormal psychology that the character experiences is a cognitive driven mental condition. The movie portrays the character as suffering from cognitive driven psychosis. The signs that the character exhibit in the movie that solely caused by cognitive factors that lead to the pile-up of the stresses and anxiety that she faces. The character becomes dysfunctional as a result of the pressure that she faces being a better dancer to win the dancing position. The beginning of this pressure is depicted when the dance couch informs her that her teammate, Lily, is a competition. The pressure and rivalry become heightened, to the point that just before the final performance, she stabs herself when she looks at the mirror and imagines she is stabbing Lily. In addition to the pressure to perform in her dancing, she additionally faces pressure from her obsessive and controlling mother. Poor parenting is among the cognitive aspects that relate to the stress and trauma that the character faces.  The lack of connection that she has with her mother is specifically paramount in elevation of the psychosis condition. Among the scenes that portray the disconnects when her mother asks, “what happened to my sweet girl. And she replied, “she is gone.” The piece of conversation suggests that the two were significantly disconnected that her mother failed to notice her condition deteriorating., The social expectations and esteem issues that she faces are also responsible for elevating the condition. Her esteem is affected by the completion that she faces.  The result of her poor esteem results in various conditions, including violence, anxiety, aggression, and self-deprecating behavior. The misrepresentation that the movie provides of the move is the way it manifests its symptoms. According to the movie, psychosis results in violent behaviors that result in self-harm. The depiction in the movie does not present the typical symptoms of the condition. Instead, it can also occur in a non-violent way.

Supporting research

The research, “Core beliefs in healthy youth and youth at ultra-high-risk for psychosis: dimensionality and links to depression, anxiety, and attenuated psychotic symptoms,” by owan, McAdams, & Mittal (2019), suggests that individuals that suffer from childhood trauma have a more likelihood of getting psychosis. Concerning the movie, the character, Nina, could be likely suffering from the conditions as a result of the traumatic situation she faced in her childhood. The traumatic condition could be a result of the relationship that she has with her mother. The second article, “Social stress, and psychosis risk: common neurochemical substrates?” Mizrahi (2016) suggests that social stress has the likelihood of increasing the occurrence of psychosis. The opinion of the article relates to the facts in the movie that suggests that the psychosis condition experienced by Nina resulted from the stresses she faced as she tried to improve her position in the dance event, and as she sought to relate with her mother.  The final article, M54. The Contribution of Social Cognition to Functional Outcomes and Psychiatric Symptoms in Psychosis-Related Disorders by Shan et al. (2017), suggests that social impairments in conditions that relate to psychosis results to a decrease in the rate of achievements, and increases rates of self-harm factors. In the movie, the black swan, while the character Nina succeeds in developing the quality of the black swan, the characteristics are negative, meaning that there is a decrease in her positive functioning. Also, she develops harmful symptoms, portrayed by the self-injury inflicting factor.

Limitations of the movie

The flaws in the movie include that it fails to provide the ways through which the psychosis condition can be dealt with. All through the movie, there is the depiction of the main character deteriorating in health conditions by becoming more aggressive and causing injuries to herself. The movie further goes ahead to depict a point where she even seeks to harm her rivals. It, however, fails to portray the possible ways that could e used to handle the condition and make it less adverse and dangerous.

References

Cowan, H. R., McAdams, D. P., & Mittal, V. A. (2019). Core beliefs in healthy youth and youth at ultra high-risk for psychosis: dimensionality and links to depression, anxiety, and attenuated psychotic symptoms. Development and Psychopathology, 31(1), 379-392.

Mizrahi, R. (2016). Social stress and psychosis risk: common neurochemical substrates?. Neuropsychopharmacology, 41(3), 666-674.

Shan, L., Bradshaw, K., Garcia, C., Catalano, L., Bennett, M., & Blanchard, J. (2017). M54. The Contribution of Social Cognition to Functional Outcomes and Psychiatric Symptoms in Psychosis-Related Disorders. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 43(suppl_1), S230-S230.