Mental Illness in "Mommies Dearest" Movie

Mental disorder portrayed in the movie The mental disorder portrayed in the movies is bipolar disorder. On numerous occasions, Joan's mood could abruptly transform at the drop of a hat. Some episodes in the movie she would sweetly kiss her kid's goodnight then observing through Christina's closet, she discovers a dress dangling on a wire knob. She outrageously rips all clothes out and cuff Christina with the wire knob. She then requests her to collect the mess. This is a clear indication that Joan had a mental disorder which results in major depressive.

Joan was agitated by her children such that instead of parenting she was directing them. Her mental disorder made her children face episodes of total madness. At times she would force her daughter Christina to clean already clean bathroom. She would continually inspect it and find it dirt though it was squeaky clean. This is a clear indication that Joan had a mental illness.

Relationship Between the Movie and the Course Material

The movie relates to course materials in the textbook through discussion of emotionally immature parents.

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According to the course materials in the book, an emotional guardian or parent strains with controlling emotions as well as remaining steady for a lengthy period. The children fostered under emotional parents are habitually confused, fearful and uncertain which eventually leads to evasion of emotional affection to their parents. This kind of children struggles with developing their healthy individual relationship. In several scenes in the movie come close to a parody.

Amid the scenes is Joan frantic devastation of her rose orchard in a fit of anger after being dismissed by MNG studio. This scene relates to the materials in the textbook by indicating the emotional parents who are unable to control themselves after encountering anger.

The other scene is when Joan chops off her daughter hair using a pair of scissors after her perception that she was mocking her. This relates to the textbook materials that she emotional parents assumes mocking from their children which are not always true thus hurting them for no good reason. In the scene where Joan finds Christina dress on hanger wire, and cuffs off the clothes then hit her with it (Haralovich et al., 45). This relates to the materials in the textbook whereby it depicts that parenting with emotion often causes violent actions such as hitting children for slight or no mistake. The other scene in the movie where Joan has derisive laughter and kiss her children then all over a sudden she turns violent is an indication of emotional parenting. This scene relates to the material in the textbook by revealing how emotional parents struggles to balance their ever swift changing emotions. The movie illustrated the course materials through how emotional parents strain with a borderline personality disorder, substance abuse and bipolar disorder. Despite the fact that exhibiting emotions is part of ordinary human being development, out of control emotions can traumatize and frighten children growth. Therefore, the inability to forecast parent's emotions may bring about child strain with the fright of emotional affection to other people, depression, low self-esteem, and anxiety.

Diagnosis of the Character

Joan had long term and widespread hostility and demeaning towards her daughter Christina. She had personality disorders which made her have hostility and anger towards her children. Joan lacked trust to her daughter; at some point, she never believed her that the bathroom floor was clean; hence she ordered her to clean yet again. Joan had a mental disorder; thus she was aggressive and had a tendency of being violent. The signs and symptoms exhibited by Joan suspicious threat towards herself; hence she became violent. Joan was not inclined to share intimacies; hence she was hostile and unfriendly to her children. She had little comprehension of the effect of her behavior and attitude towards her children. Joan symptoms comprised aggressiveness, little sense of humor, social isolation and hostility towards her children (Perry, 1981). This can be related to disorders DSM-IV which exhibits hostility, social isolation, and aggressiveness. Diagnosis of this disorder is habitually made on the basis of an interview with the patient. People with information about the patient can also be requested to provide further information.

Best forms of Treatment and the Prognosis

The best treatment for people who have a mental disorder is psychotherapy and medications. Mental therapists must protect against any expression of the hostility on their part in retort to patient's hostility. This will develop trust through untiringly demonstrating a nonjudgmental approach hence patients trusting them. The family members can be included in the treatment to overcome the patient's resistance. The other approach to treat psychological disorder is medication where a patient is taken under anti-anxiety drugs. The patient may also be given low doses of antipsychotic drugs at times of high stress or extreme agitation. The people with mental disorder have long term prognosis which is often not encouraging; thus paranoia feelings can be controlled with successful therapy.

Characterization of the person on each DSM-…Ј axes. DSM-IV is a system which tries to focus on the whole person. For successful intervention of emotional disorder, it is always best to consider affected person from diverse perspectives. Axis I can be characterized as a flare-up of panic disorder. Axis II predisposing person to Axis I problem. Axis III is characterized by a precipitate panic attack. Axis IV can be characterized by divorce with spouse and Axis V is characterized by the level of function a person has achieved at the moment of assessment.

The contribution of the movie to my understanding of psychological disorders and their treatment. Watching movie has contributed to the understanding of psychological disorder as psychological dysfunction in a person who is associated with distress as well as a reaction that is not anticipated culturally. It leads to the cessation of meaningful functioning of emotions, behaviors, and cognition. Psychological disorder treatment may involve biological treatment which is helpful in some cases. The best treatment for people with the psychological disorder is psychotherapy.

Work Cited

Haralovich, Mary Beth. "Too much guilt is never enough for working mothers: Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce, and Mommie Dearest." Velvet Light Trap (2012): 43-53.Perry F. Mommie Dearest. 123Movies. 1981. Accessed Feb 27, 2019.