Shutter Island: Severely Paranoid Schizophrenia

Without the right amalgam of medication, therapy, and care from friends and family, a schizophrenic’s condition would worsen to, possibly, the end of their life (Pies 1). Naomi Haskell aided her 19-year old son and his struggle with schizophrenia by driving him everywhere, buying him his own apartment, and helping to make sure he was fine. She did this in hopes of giving him the normal life he deserved (McCrummen). “Naomi starts to cry. If he is feeling better, she knows it might be the start of a manic phase.

Before Danvers was even thought of on the smallest breath the way patients were treated in asylums. In the 1870s and below, treatment of patients

In a 1960’s mental ward the main nurse is abusing her power to weaken patients and forcing them to do what she wants. Randal McMurphy a serial rapist turned hero trying to help the ward patients regain their humanity. Chief Bromden the main character who acts def and dumb slowly changes back to his old self thanks to Randal. The ward soon becomes

A lobotomy is only used on the patients who seemly have no other hope, or on the patients who were a terrible nuisance to the staff. Before the voluntary patients even knew what became of McMurpthy, they finally signed themselves out the hospital. Brodem and the few that were left refused to believe that McMurphy actually did have the lobotomy, “Aaah, what’s the old bitch tryin’ to put over on us anyhow, for craps sake. That ain’t him” (Kesey 321). The lobotomy was a surgical procedure; the doctor would insert a pick like tool into the eye socket and certain nerves would be severed (Psychosurgery).

During treatment, the criminally insane are cared for by nurses, psychiatrists and other hospital administrators. For the treatments to be effective, the hospital staff must adapt to the way of life in the psychiatric hospital. In the article “Inside a hospital for the criminally insane” by Caitlin Dickson, posted on The Daily Beast, Dickson shares her readings of a book written by Dr. Stephen Seager about the inside of the Napa State Hospital. Napa State Hospital is home to approximately 12,000 patients and a majority of the patients are rapists, killers and mass murderers (TheDailyBeast). Everyday the hospital staff endures violence and personalities of the patients.

Both nonpharmacological therapy and pharmacological medications must be used to boost the long term outcomes. Nonpharmacological treatments help with pharmacological medicines by guaranteeing that the patient stays on track with their medications. According to the American Psychiatric Association, second-generation (atypical) antipsychotics (SGAs) are the first-line treatment for schizophrenia except for Clozapine. SGAs are the best-liked over typical antipsychotics (FGAs). FGAs are connected with high extrapyramidal symptoms, which are drug-induced movement disorders such as tremors, jerky movements, and the slowness of movements.

The way that Nurse Ratched abuses her power is her constant attempt to emasculate the men that attend that institution. For instance, in the film, Nurse Ratched repeatedly reminds her patients that they are “weak” and “unmanly”, further diminishing their masculinity, and making them feel inclined to give in to her commands. Along with this, this film has allowed awareness about mental illness to spread and has changed a multitude of perspectives about mental illness. This movie allowed individuals to feel more empathetic

A Beautiful Mind with Schizophrenia A Beautiful Mind, starring Russel Crowe as John Nash, is a phenomenal portrayal of one of the most mysterious and complicated mental disorders known to the world of psychology: schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder in which the patient experiences hallucinations and delusions, and often has difficulty functioning in their daily life (CITATION). A Beautiful Mind allows some insight into what this disorder entails and what it may be like to live with the diagnosis, as it accurately represents various symptoms and treatments.

In the second peer-review article I chose, which is called “Reawakening Reflective Capacity in the Psychotherapy of Schizophrenia: A Case Study” it talks about a man named Clancy who is in his 60’s. He was one of five kids, and unaware of the family history with mental illness. He did hint to the fact his mother experienced emotional difficulties during his childhood. He couldn’t clarify any more depth than this because his parents passed away fifteen years before he started treatment.

Published in 1962, Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest tells the story of Patrick McMurphy, a newly-admitted patient at a psychiatric hospital where individuals with various mental conditions are treated. Run primarily by Nurse Ratched, a demeaning autocrat who exhibits complete control over others, the patients are subjected to various forms of treatments and therapy with the intent of rehabilitation (Kesey 5). Most forms of treatment depicted in Kesey’s novel, such as group therapy, are an accurate representation of what typical psychiatric patients may encounter while under care at a mental facility. Yet others, particularly electroshock therapy and lobotomies, were quite controversial at the time of the novel’s publication. Such treatments were questioned for their effectiveness at improving patients’ condition – and while these procedures were still occasionally performed at the time, they often did not benefit the treated individual.

What are some thoughts that come to mind when a person brings up the word schizophrenia? According to Ford-Martin, “Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder or group of disorders marked by disturbances in thinking, emotional responsiveness, and behavior” (2139). The character, Alice, from the film, Alice in Wonderland is a perfect example of schizophrenia, and the director, Tim Burton, further emphasizes the disorder by his use of film techniques. One characteristic of schizophrenia is delusions. According to Fallon, “The delusions of paranoid schizophrenics usually involve thoughts of being persecuted or harmed by others or exaggerated opinions of their own importance, but may also reflect feelings of jealousy or excessive religiosity” (2957).

Not only is the procedure torturous, but also truly harms their health. Chief Bromden often alludes to his fear of the procedure and “being sucked through that door.” He exemplifies the powerlessness the patients have when denying

The movie Shutter Island is overwhelmingly filled with themes of mental health. Before moving into the content of this paper I would like to disclose this movie contains a false and melodramatic portrayal of mental illness, this is not an accurate representation of the field. The movie begins with Federal Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner traveling to a secluded island containing a mental facility for the criminally insane. They are supposedly there to investigate a missing patient, however, throughout the movie we see clips with signs and symptoms that point to Teddy’s own diagnosis of a mental disorder. That maybe Teddy isn’t exactly on the island for an investigation but has his own hidden secrets to uncover.

Shutter Island is the story of the escape of a murderer, bringing U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels to Ashecliffe Hospital. Ashecliffe Hospital is a insane asylum on a secluded island. Hints of terrible deeds within the hospital are felt through the entire movie. A woman appeared to vanish from a locked room at the hospital.

Some people viewed this movie as the turning point in Hollywood movies about mental illness as this film won five Academy awards. Prior to this film, no one expected that a movie, which portrays a non-horror story about mental illness, would garner so many viewers. David Cox cites how the film’s total production fee was 3 million, yet the film’s grossing was 108 million, which is nearly 300 times more than the cost of production. This was when Hollywood realized that it is not necessary to bring attention to mental illness through horror movies as it was degrading to do so. Additionally, in order to portray the authenticity of a mental institution, the director Forman, requested that all of the cast members actually stay and sleep in the mental institution.