Theme Of Personality Disorder In The Movie Mommie Dearest

Psychological personality disorders are extremely common in our society today. Personality disorders can be defined as patterns of inflexible traits that disrupt social life or work and may distress the affected individual. A great deal of these disorders go unnoticed, and/or undiagnosed. One way to learn how to identify these disorders is through movie analysis. For example, the film â€Å"Mommie Dearest†, directed by Frank Perry, is a story about Joan Crawford and her struggles with personality disorders. Joan Crawford demonstrates the personality disorders of Bipolar Disorder, Histrionic Disorder, Narcissistic Disorder, and Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. The first personality disorder that Joan Crawford demonstrates in the film†¦show more content†¦This shows bipolar disorder because Joan was calm and relaxed when she was picking up the clothes here and there, but once she found the wire hanger, she was freaking out to the point of beating her daughter. This instant switch of mood and emotions is something that is familiar to someone with bipolar disorder. The next personality disorder that I recognized in the film was histrionic disorder. Those with histrionic disorder are overly emotional and dramatic. They see constant attention and are sometimes inappropriately seductive and are easily influenced by other people. Symptoms of histrionic disorder may include feeling uncomfortable when not the center of attention, shifting of emotions rapidly, constantly seeking approval or reassurance, etc. Again, the exact cause for histrionic disorder is not known, but it is thought that both inherited and learned factors both take part in its development. One example of histrionic disorder from the movie would be towards the beginning of the movie, at Christina’s birthday party. At the time, Christina was being photographed more than Joan, and Joan did not like that, so she became very jealous and on edge. She attempted to return to the spotlight by telling her daughter to go play with her friends, or begin opening presents. Another scene w hen histrionic disorder was displayed was when Joan was taking Christina to boarding school.