Pat Solitano Psychology

Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) tires to rebuild his life and rekindle his relationship with his wife, Niki, after serving eight months in a mental institution for nearly beating his wife’s lover. Against medical advice, Pat’s mother, Dolores, discharges Pat to bring him back to their Philadelphia home, and this is leads to Pat having several manic episodes mostly violent. While in the mental institution, Pat is diagnosed with bipolar disorder; however, he stops taking his medication because of the side effects. At a dinner party Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a distant friend of Niki, who is still dealing with emotional turmoil from her recent husband’s death. The two make a connection and eventually go on a pseudo date; during

The dynamic of Pat’s family is quite interesting and problematic for Pat’s condition. Pat’s father played by Robert DeNiro is an obsessed Philadelphia Eagles fan who is pathologically superstitious, and has violent tendencies similar to his son. In contrast, Dolores, Pat’s mother, is a passive parental figure who plays the role of a bystander in an often-chaotic household. Pat’s mother has the best intentions for her son and often forces him to see his therapist Dr. Patel. The two-main love interests are Niki, Pat’s ex-wife, and Tiffany. Niki has filed a restraining order against Pat, and has no contact with him until the end of the film. Tiffany’s behavior can be described as self-destructive and unpredictable; she is dealing with the emotional toll of her late husband’s death which she feels partly responsible

The clinical information discussed throughout the paper is taken from the textbook Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach, and this will be listed as a source in the bibliography. For bipolar disorder the key characters are the tendency of manic episodes that alternate with major depressive disorders. This type of disorder can be described as a never-ending roller coaster ride where the person experiences pure euphoria and energy to someone dealing with crippling despair. It is this dichotomy of emotion that encapsulates the experience of someone with bipolar disorder; however, there are two different subcategories of bipolar disorder. The criteria for bipolar I disorder are an alternation with major depressive episodes with full manic episode. In contrast, bipolar II disorder is similar to bipolar I disorder with the exception of hypomanic episodes instead of full manic