Jessica Jones As A Villain

The comic book world has always used mental illness as inspiration for characters. It is easier for an audience to justify the actions of a villain by tying them to a diagnosable mental illness.Marvel, the comic company responsible for The Avengers, is especially talented at incorporating mental illness into shaping their characters. Enhanced human Jessica Jones is one of these characters. Marvel uses her illness as a major plot point, and in doing so very accurately portrays how the illness manifests in real life.
Jessica Jones is a Private Investigator, and she is very good at her job. Jessica has a shady past, and as the series plays out the audience begins to learn more about the events that transpired. Jessica was raped; The man who raped

Jessica’s tries to manage her PTSD by self-medicating; She also suffers from Alcohol Use Disorder. Jessica’s ability as an enhanced human is super strength. She spends most of the time using her physical strength to combat the breakdown of her mental strength.
The DSM-5 lists Post Traumatic Stress Disorder under Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders. The DSM-5 also lists eight diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Jessica meets all eight criteria. Jessica has been a part of multiple traumatic events in her lifetime. She was raped and she was involved in the car accident that killed her family. As a P.I. Jessica has also seen multiple individuals killed or beaten. The first diagnostic criteria requires the patient to have been exposed to “actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence.”
Throughout the series Jessica experiences frequent nightmares and flashbacks of her trauma. Jessica also has triggers that bring back memories of her trauma. The second diagnostic criteria requires for the patient to have “presence of one or more intrusion symptoms (distressing memories, distressing dreams, dissociation) associated with the traumatic event, beginning after the traumatic events occurred.” While Marvel uses Jessica’s flashbacks as a plot device, they actually indicate significant distress. Jessica also becomes significantly distressed when she is around

This time, instead of being a victim she decides to be proactive and use drastic measures to make sure he never victimizes anyone again. At the time of Kilgrave’s second appearance Jessica had been suffering from her symptoms for eleven months. The death of her family earlier in her life also caused her eight additional months of psychological suffering. Combined, Jessica had been suffering from PTSD for two years and seven months. Jessica has very few friends, she has no social life and her only source of income is her job as a Private Investigator. Jessica doesn 't seek help for her problems, but she does start a support group for other victims of Kilgrave and his mind control. She tries to “tough” her problems out by self medicating. Her PTSD is causing her to be alcohol