Mental Illnesses In Girl, Interrupted

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Girl, Interrupted (Mangold, 1999) is a movie which walks us through the conditions of various mental illnesses, their impacts on their victims and those around them, and effective treatment methods. The movie takes a more cognitive-behavioral perspective to explain various aspects and types of mental illnesses. Lisa Rowe is one of the characters in Girl, Interrupted, who is diagnosed with a particular type of mental condition. Lisa was diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder. According to DSM-IV, this condition is a pattern of the violation of the rights of other people and disregarding them. Individuals with this type of mental illness, otherwise known as sociopaths, do not conform to the social norms regarding practicing lawful behaviors (Derefinko & Widiger, 2016). They undertake activities which warrant their arrest, like harming other people or property. Some of the criteria that a sociopath is required to meet are the outright display of more than three symptoms of antisocial personality …show more content…

For example, she lacks remorse or any form of sympathy or regret for her actions and sees herself as being superior to other people. Secondly, Lisa saw herself as being invincible, and at one point, Lisa and her friend Susanna described having mental illness as a gift, which allowed them to see and understand the truth. It is evident that Lisa is subjected to medication and hospitalization for her treatment. However, this method of treatment was not effective for her, because despite her being hospitalized for the last eight years; she still does not take her medicine. Since for those eight years no significant changes have been made following her diagnosis, another mode of treatment would be advisable. I would recommend the self-help strategies. Although many healthcare providers overlook this treatment method, it seems to be very

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