Introduction: The Perks of Being a Wall Flower is a well-known film based on the book published in 1999 by Stephen Chbosky. It follows the story of a character named Charlie, who is entering his freshman year of high school. Background: As if the transition to high school wasn't stressful enough, the teen is entering the school year fresh out of hospitalization. The culminating symptoms escalating to a panic attack, which landed him in the hospital, are just one of many different psychological symptoms the character displays throughout the film. Thesis Statement: His story highlights the difficulties he faces in dealing with a combination of symptoms and how he copes with everyday life as an individual living with PTSD. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Topic Sentence: As mentioned, in the movie Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie shows symptoms of PTSD and his symptoms come in three patterns; biological, psychological and sociocultural. Evidence and Citations: It is evident that the main character suffers from mental health problems as he displays three of the four Ds in the diagnostic criteria of abnormal psychology; distress, dysfunction and danger (to oneself). Comment: Diagnoses such as PTSD include some symptomatic qualities typical of anxiety and depression, but other PTSD symptoms such as intrusive thoughts, negative thoughts and feelings, and arousal/reactivity symptoms were quite present in character so that viewers could decide that Charlie was not Don't just experience anxiety and depression. Unfortunately, the character has experienced traumatic events since childhood, starting with being sexually assaulted by his aunt at a young age. At the beginning of the film, we see that Charlie has a strong bond with his aunt and feels very guilty about her death. Her death was the result of a car accident in which she was about to bring Charlie a "special gift" and never returned home. This makes the audience think that Charlie is experiencing PTSD symptoms due to guilt, but we later learn that Charlie has such a "bond" with his aunt because she had sexually abused him. Evidence and Quotes: In addition to the two traumatic events we learned Charlie experienced, he claims that the summer before high school, his best friend commits suicide. As far as we know, the friend who committed suicide was the only friend Charlie had. At this point in the film we have learned that Charlie now feels guilt and guilt over two deaths in his life, as well as a sexual assault that he had not addressed because he had not received psychological treatment for it. resulting in his character having his memory blocked. Like many psychological disorders, Charlie displays all four clusters of PTSD symptoms. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a: “psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, serious accident, terrorist act, war/combat, rape, or other assault violent personnel." Topic Sentence: There are four cluster symptoms associated with PTSD, the first of which is intrusive thoughts. This can be described as “repeated involuntary memories; distressing dreams; or flashback of the traumatic event” (Parekh). Charlie displays this set of symptoms in the form of flashbacks that are often triggered by symptom-provoking eventsemotions. For example, there are multiple occasions in the film where Charlie experiences flashbacks during times when something is bothering him; that is, hitting the sister who is being hit by her boyfriend. Another example is when he and another main character, Sam, become romantically involved, he has very somatic flashbacks where he can remember almost the entire event. Evidence and Quotations: Why Charlie Was Like This As a young man, when he experienced the traumatic event caused by his aunt Helen, one might assume that he had now developed an abnormality in the chemical activity associated with his stress response system. The film does not specifically mention biological factors, but it is evident that during these flashbacks he experiences increased cortisol production. Furthermore, we see that the biological factor in Charlie's experience is that he is being treated with therapy and antidepressants. Topic Sentence: Another group of symptoms Charlie exhibits are negative changes in cognition and mood. Evidence and Quotes: We see throughout the film that this character often experiences small portions of flashbacks and cannot remember the entire event (which would explain why he didn't realize he was a victim of sexual assault until later in the film) . In addition to the lack of memory, he also experiences guilt and self-blame for the trauma and its consequences. These feelings of guilt are mostly associated with the death of his aunt Helen, as well as the suicide of his best friend. Additionally, Charlie expressed trauma-related negative emotions such as fear and shame, as well as a feeling of alienation from others. At the beginning of the film, the main character talks about being friendless and afraid of going to high school because he knows he will be seen as "the weird kid who got institutionalized because his friend committed suicide." Comment: On a positive note, Charlie develops a wonderful relationship with his teacher/mentor due to his lack of friends. These symptoms manifest themselves through psychological and sociocultural patterns. Topic Sentence: We can see that on a psychological level: Behavioral Charlie maintains PTSD symptoms through negative reinforcement. Evidence and Quotes: Avoids, obtains short-term relief from negative experiences, and then engages in further avoidance and more intense negative experiences. Charlie's coping skills with PTSD are leading him to a lifestyle filled with anguish, dysfunction, and danger to himself. Throughout the film we see him isolate himself, get angry and return to the feelings he felt during flashbacks, he is unable to interact with his peers (at the beginning of the film), and at the end of the film he poses as a danger to himself while we see him take a bread knife to commit self-harm (but someone saves him and helps him reach the hospital). Although his treatment for the cognitive experiences associated with PTSD comes in the form of therapy and medication, it is evident throughout the film that Charlie could benefit from psychotherapy. Thematic sentence: in addition to the other two symptomatic groups, the protagonist expresses alterations in arousal and reactivity. Comment: These symptoms present themselves in the form of irritability/aggression, self-destructive/reckless behavior, difficulty concentrating and sleep disturbances. Evidence and Quotes: We see an example of sleep disturbance throughout the film as there are a few shots of Charlie awake, revisiting memories of certain events. Additionally, we see examples of irritability/aggression when Charlie steps in to beat up the jock who is beating up his friend Patrick in the dining room. You might say anyone without mental health issues would step in and defend their friend, but two key factors.