Black Swan
Plot Summary:
This film was about a ballerina, Nina, who was obsessed
with having a dual role, the Black and White Swan, during a production of Swan
Lake. Because of her personality, no one think turning into a seducing Black
Swan was possible for her. Her striving for perfection has turned her to be
more and more mentally disturbed. She finally embodied and perfectly danced as
the swans, however, she ended up killing herself for it. Schizophrenia
accompanied with Eating Disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) was well
portrayed in this character.
Disorder:
Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder in
which disturbed thought processes, distorted perceptions, unusual emotions, and
motor abnormalities deteriorates personality functioning (Comer, 2010) . Common symptoms
include delusion, hallucination, and other disturbances in thought, perception
and behavior, inappropriate affect, blunt and flat emotion, and impaired social
skills (Student Notes).
From
the movie, Nina slipped away from reality in various ways. She suffered a lot
from delusion persecution, and that Lily was after her, replacing her role
after a night out together. Moreover, her visual hallucinations were very
obvious. For example, she saw faces in the paintings and stuff animal in her
bedroom were moving and alive. She often saw another version of herself in the
subway. She saw herself transforming into a Black Swan with blood around her finger
nails, growing feathers, webbed feet, and elongated neck. Also, she
hallucinated herself having sex with Lily, later violently fight with her, and
killed her.
Eating
Disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) is other eating disorders that cannot
be diagnosed as anorexic or bulimic due to missing symptoms. She showed some
symptoms of anorexic nervosa. She has intense fear of gaining weight by turning
away from the cake her mother bought to celebrate her Swan Queen role. She has
disturbed body perception, always seeks for perfection, and not very social. She
also showed some symptom of bulimia nervosa, for example, she had recurrent
inappropriate behavior intended to prevent weight gain that is purging or
throwing up food that she ate even though it was just a simple grape fruit.
Causes:
Biological – Nina could inherit biological predisposition
to schizophrenic and eating disorder. She develop the disorder later after
facing the extreme stressors of highly stressful competition, relationship
conflict with mother, being a sexual harassed by the director, etc. Moreover,
schizophrenia is related to biochemical factor. She could have abnormal
activity or interactions of neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin
(Student Notes). The ecstasy that she took could also be a powerful
hallucinogen that triggered psychotic occurrences.
Psychodynamic – According to Freud, schizophrenic develops
from the regression to a pre-ego stage and effort to reestablish ego control.
Disturbed mother-child interactions lead to serious ego deficiencies in Nina to
severe perceptual disturbances that eventually produce eating disorders (Comer, 2010) .
Cognitive – People
develop delusional thinking when they try to understand their unusual
experiences, strange biological sensation. Nina could start with experiencing
some kind of hallucination as a result from biological sensation, and later try
to understand and make sense of those strange sensations, and eventually
develop into misinterpretations and delusion that she is being persecuted, and
turning into Black Swan in order to perfect (Comer, 2010).
Treatment:
Biological –
Antipsychotic drugs can reduce delusion and hallucination those symptoms.
Psychotherapy – Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for schizophrenia is to guide patients to
more accurate interpretation of their experiences. For eating disorder, focus
on social deficits, normalizing eating patterns by changing her behaviors and
thought process.
Family & Social Therapy can also be very effective. People with schizophrenia can actually
discuss with others their real-life problem.
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