How Did The Film Sleepers Cause Psychological Disorders?

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It is a common misconception for sadness to be mistaken as Clinical Depression. A disorder like this can be caused by traumatic experiences. The novel “Sleepers” by Lorenzo Carcaterra depicts four boys who are sent to a juvenile prison for 18 months and the aftermath. The film adaptation, “Sleepers”, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Kevin Bacon, Billy Crudup, Robert De Niro, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, and Ron Eldard, shows the four Boys: Tommy Marcano, Lorenzo Carcaterra (Shakes), Michael Sullivan and John Reilly, experience sexual abuse and torture during their confinement at the prison. This paper will examine the problems that the boys suffered during the film “Sleepers” such as: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Avoidant Personality Disorder (APD), Alcohol addiction, violent behavior, and propose treatments (Levinson). Synopsis Narrator Lorenzo Carcaterra (Shakes) grew up in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen with his 3 best friends, Michael, John, and Tommy. The boys were troublemakers spawned by their neighborhood’s bad influence of crime. Their mentor/father figure is Father Bobby, ex- convict. The boys enjoyed listening to confessions and pulling pranks, such as stealing hot dogs from vendors. However, …show more content…

Avoidant Personality Disorder (APD) causes a person to avoid any form of interaction, such as: work, school, large crowds (Bressert). By the end of the film, Sleepers, Michael decided to live alone, away from the most important people in his life. Throughout the film, after confinement, Michael distances himself from everyone. Michael hardly communicated with anyone for leisure, the only time that he would communicate with his old friends, was for the trial. His preference for solitary is clear. Isolation is a trait of APD; occurring in “2.4 percent in the general population” (Bressert). Michael suffered extreme stress during confinement, talking to no one about the trauma he experienced until the very end of the film

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