The 2016 Academy Awards are tonight and it got me thinking – let's look
at the Best Picture nominees through a clinical/DSM lens to make studying more entertaining!
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| Image credit Kate McHugh Akbar |
There will be no spoilers in this post because I have not actually seen
any of the movies. I'll pull the “I have little kids and I don’t get out much”
card here.
To be truly transparent, this post should probably be titled Diagnosing the Oscar Best Picture Nominee
Trailers, because that reflects what I have seen. Regardless, let’s dig in.
These movies feature a few different mental health issues. To start, Spotlight covers the story
of journalists investigating the priest pedophilia (now called pedophilic disorder in DSM-5) scandal
in Boston. Brooklyn’s main character seems
to encounter normal bereavement—not a DSM diagnosis on its own but should be
assessed carefully, keeping consideration of possible major depressive disorder. The Big Short makes me wonder if there’s some narcissistic personality disorder going on, what with the themes of success, power,
and arrogance, but it’s hard to say based solely from the trailer.
However, the award goes to… (see what I did there?)
Six of the eight Best Picture Nominees showcase some seriously traumatic
stress.
Posttraumatic stress disorder is diagnosed when someone has “exposure to
actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence” (DSM-5).
The experience results in 1) intrusive symptoms (e.g., flashbacks and
dreams), 2) an avoidance of reminders of the trauma, 3) negative alterations in
one’s cognition and mood, and 4) changes in arousal (e.g., outbursts, reckless
behavior, and hypervigilance). PTSD
used to be included as an anxiety disorder in DSM-IV, but in 2013’s DSM-5 it
has been moved to a new chapter entitled “Trauma- and Stressor-Related
Disorders.”
Here are the Best Picture nominees whose characters could reasonably be
suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder:
- Multitude of survivors of childhood sexual abuse, victimized by priests
- Main character forced to go to East Berlin during the Cold War and lead a hostage trade negotiation; also witnesses killings
- Additionally, his family suffers attacks on their home from angry neighbors
- Judging by the trailer, this whole movie looks like an unending barrage of chase scenes, killings, and near death experiences
- Also hints at captivity and sexual abuse for female characters
- Main character mauled by a grizzly bear, left for dead, engages in intense physical battles
- Near death experiences for astronaut main character who survives a storm but is accidentally abandoned on Mars with limited resources
- Possible trauma for astronaut crew that embarks on rescue mission
- Main character Ma, abducted by a predator and held captive for several years in a room, victim of recurrent sexual abuse
- Her son Jack (the product of Ma’s rape) who has spent his whole life in the room, leads their escape, and adjusts to life outside
Whew.
Two clinical notes to consider: 1) PTSD can be diagnosed when the
disturbances last for a month or longer.
Acute stress disorder can be diagnosed when similar symptoms occur less than one month after
the traumatic event. 2) Five-year-old
Jack’s character in Room would specifically
be diagnosed with the child’s subtype of PTSD for children 6 years and younger.
There's an awful lot of stress in these movies. Is outrageous stress the key ingredient to
deem a movie Oscar-worthy?
Honestly, I saw one or two movies this past year, and given the choice I
did not select a stressful movie experience. Some trauma workers, including social workers, encounter
enough vicarious trauma through the job and don’t desire to witness more as entertainment. Another topic for another time.
Who has seen these movies and can offer further commentary? What did I
miss? Bonus points for whoever correctly
predicts Best Picture winner!
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