M E N TA L H E A LT H I N T H E
MEDIA
a m e n ta l h e a lt h m o n t h ly s p e c i a l e d i t i o n
DECEMBER 2020 // 02
20
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
06
GIRL, INTERRUPTED
08 KESHA
10
EMINEM
12
DONALD TRUMP
14
COME INSIDE MY MIND
16
MONSTER
18
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
22
WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
24
EVAN RACHEL WOOD
DECEMBER 2020 // 03
CONTENTS
04
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS DECEMBER 2020 // 04
This special edition is focusing on mental health in the media from a clinical mental health counseling perspective. Our featured articles will explore the stories and diagnosis of fictional characters and public figures as portrayed through movies, music, and media including common symptoms, causality, and whether these portrayals are medically accurate. While our examples are diverse, there is a unifying theme of the negative effects of unprocessed trauma. When searching through resources to find the perfect explanation of trauma, each definition had its own special twist and wording. The common theme of each definition/explanation is the event that causes an individual to feel fear and to feel threatened by an experience. Another common theme amongst these definitions is that the event that is experienced overwhelms the individual’s ability to cope. Often, our bodies respond to trauma and traumatic events in an effort to protect us. Some of the ways our bodies respond can often be mistaken as diagnosable psychopathology. Far too often, individuals are diagnosed with disorders because of their trauma symptoms. A bodies’ defense mechanisms in order to protect the person often looks like diagnosable psychopathology. If a clinician is unaware of an individual’s background and history, it would be easy to call many symptoms of trauma a mental illness. Another aspect of trauma is the situations where a traumatic experience and the stressors of trauma cause a person to develop symptomatology of diagnosable mental illnesses. Trauma can look like a variety of diagnoses, it can lead to a variety of diagnoses, and it can even trigger a variety of diagnoses as you will see later in our articles. Common themes of stressors affecting onset were all due to past traumatic episodes including showing signs of alcohol or drug related abuse. There is also a commonality of lifestyle factors including living in the public eye or being recognized through social media. The negative effects experienced by our featured celebrities include mental disorders including depression and/or anxiety due to being under a lot of pressure, facing big changes, and exposure to situations that were beyond their control. Experiencing depression and dealing with constant racing thoughts or worry are also problems they often faced which affects memory or concentration. Family history of mental health problems is another risk factor including examples such as Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, the use of alcohol and drugs, experiences of rape, domestic violence, abandoment, loss (grief) or other traumatic events. Sometimes biological genetic factors might have led them to experience the onset of mental illnesses that they faced. In these articles you will see those biological, mental, emotional, environmental and social factors at play. Social stigmas affect mental health very negatively and is also a factor of note. Stigma causes individuals who suffer from any sort of mental illness to feel like outcasts within society. The lack of understanding from others can make these individuals feel invalidated and misunderstood when all they would like is to be able to feel better mentally. Society is also very quick to discriminate against individuals who have a mental illness whether that be via bullying in schools or not hiring individuals who have a mental health history. This discrimination can make it very difficult for individuals who have a mental illness (and can’t help it) thrive in a world that makes them feel ‘less than’ and gives them fewer opportunities. It also prevents individuals from asking for help therefore isolating themselves within their struggles because asking for help or going to therapy would otherwise be looked down upon. Therapy is still seen as such a taboo, making individuals be reluctant to seek treatment. This is a problem considering getting help is very important for a successful recovery from mental illness. The media represents mental illness in both a positive and negative light. The negative part of the media shows people having a mental illness as “crazy,” which then stops individuals who are struggling to get the help that they need. Most movies and tv shows show individuals who are schizophrenic or in a mental institution who are too unstable to take care of themselves or are highly medicated. This is a bad representation for individuals who struggle with disorders such as schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders because it can make them feel hopeless for getting the help that they need and continuing on with their lives. A lot of shows and movies don’t show the most common disorders such as anxiety or depression and how an individual can be high-functioning and still struggle. This can also put a bad reputation on individuals who are trying to get help but live a happy, goal-driven life. While on the positive side of the media, we have celebrities such as Kesha and Demi Lovato, to name a few, who came out and shared their battles with mental illness. They helped others realize that it’s okay not to be okay, that there is help out there and that you aren’t “crazy” or “abnormal.” Although it took awhile for the media to come around, we are starting to see more and more help available to individuals struggling with mental illness because of the help of celebrities and television shows that give resources. If you are struggling with mental health we encourage you to reach out for help. Some resources are included on our back cover. Please enjoy our features and we thank you for reading!
- Demi, Jillian, Kim, Marlysha, Priscilla
DECEMBER 2020 // 05
GIRL, INTERRUPTED // A film analysis through the Clinical mental health lens by kim hoff
DECEMBER 2020 // 06
Girl, Interrupted is a 1999 film about a girl Susanna Kaysen, 18 years old, who has a nervous breakdown and attempts to overdose. She gets admitted to Claymoore psychiatric hospital and gets diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. In the hospital she meets other girls including, Polly who is diagnosed with schizophrenia,
Georgia who is a pathological liar, Daisy who self-harms and is diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Janet who has anorexia and Lisa who becomes Susanna’s “best friend” who is a sociopath. Lisa has been a patient at Claymoore for 8 years and knows around the system so she attempts to take Susanna under her wing. Lisa
encourages Susanna to resist any medication and therapy and become rebellious just like she is. Susanna shows many criteria of Borderline Personality Disorders and shows five of the symptoms that are needed to be diagnosed. Susanna had suicidal thoughts—she attempted to overdose on aspirin because she said she had a headache but in reality I think she was just trying to stop the pain she was feeling from the pressure of the outside world. She also inflicted harm on herself and had bruising on her wrists. She also had abandonment issues which resulted in her remaining in relationships with her boyfriend or even the friends in the hospital so she wouldn’t be abandoned. She also experienced promiscuous behaviors such as having a relationship with the husband of her parent’s friends, has sex with her boyfriend when he comes to visit her at the hospital, and even allowed a male nurse to kiss her. Susanna also engaged in devious behaviors and during her stay at the hospital she snuck out of the hospital and went on a trip with Lisa even though Susanna knew she would get in trouble. The last criteria that Susanna portrays is that she experiences a shift in her moods and even shared that she feels like she had no sense of herself at all. Closer to the end of the movie, Susanna was convinced she wasn’t going to get better and became defensive when her psychiatrist was telling her about her diagnosis. She continued on and stated how “she didn’t care” and her new favorite word to describe herself was ‘ambivalent’ because she said it meant she didn’t care anymore and she was going to do whatever she felt was right. All of these patterns must have developed in Susanna’s childhood as most do with Borderline Personality Disorder. This movie portrays Borderline Personality Disorder as it is written in the DSM-5. I think it definitely is a good
DECEMBER 2020 // 07
depiction of what BPD is but I think in a way it may scare people. Personality disorders as a whole are a highly stigmatized mental illness. A lot of clinicians are hesitant to taken on clients who are diagnosed with BPD because of how misunderstood this diagnosis is and how “resistant” a person may be of treatment. Most individuals who are diagnosed with BPD have a complex trauma history. So, I think it’s important that clinicians are trauma informed when treating these individuals and that they understand that abandonment issues are a big part of a client’s life so when they are finally getting the help that they need and a clinician turns them away because they can’t “help” them anymore, this adds onto their issues and stops them from getting the true help that they need. Some treatment interventions that are needed to help treat BPD are, Dialectical Behavior Therapy. This treatment allows individuals who are diagnosed with BPD regulate their emotions in ways that they weren’t able to do so before. As stated above, BPD has a hard time stabilizing affects, controlling anger, unstable relationships, and self-mutilating behaviors, so DBT helps to replace maladaptive behaviors with healthier coping skills that include interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance and mindfulness.
DECEMBER 2020 // 08
FROM FAME TO FIGHTING FOR YOUR HEALTH kesha’s struggles with disordered eating and mental health by kim hoff
Kesha shares her struggles with anxiety and depression and how social media has encouraged her disordered eating habits. Kesha shared how she grew up in a single family home in Nashville, TN. She was sort of like the outcast and was often bullied and shamed because of the uniqueness that she portrayed. She also shared how as she got older and became famous she was often body shamed and slut shamed through social media which really messed up her self-confidence and self-worth. She said it became a vicious cycle and at some of the lowest points in her life, people kept telling her how great her body looked. Little did they know she was suffering from an eating disorder. When she first started in the music industry, she only
wanted to try to fit the “rock & roll star” and write songs about sex and drinking but society only looked at her as a “train wreck.” When she finally admitted that she needed help and her mother sent her to rehab, people actually thought she went for drugs and drinking because of what a “party animal” she was. But in reality, she went to get help from Anorexia and Bulimia because she felt that she needed to be famous and successful, she needed to be skinny as possible. Kesha’s experience just goes to show that you can’t always tell when someone is hurting on the inside by how they look on the outside. Her fans and paparazzi thought she was actually doing very well but Kesha was doing the opposite of well. I think that’s so important
DECEMBER 2020 // 09
to point out because when someone hears that they are struggling with an active eating disorder they immediately think someone is going to “look anorexic.” Although the DSM-5 states that someone must be a below BMI for anorexia, most of the time individuals who are restricting or diagnosed with anorexia don’t look what they show in movies or TV shows. Individuals who suffer from an eating disorder are usually people who are of normal body type or even of a larger body type. I think it’s so important that Kesha shared that because even though she may have looked healthy on the outside, she was struggling immensely on the inside. We need to address the societal issue that just because someone is in a larger body doesn’t mean they are unhealthy just like someone in a smaller sized body isn’t always healthy. We immediately think that skinny equals health but there are so many other aspects what health means. Health is not only what you put in your body and what exercises you do, but it’s the way you think and some of the most “healthiest people” are some of the sickest. Some treatment interventions for Kesha would definitely be meeting with a counselor and a dietitian to make sure she gets the support she needs. Depending on the severity of her eating disorders, she may need temporary inpatient services (which back in 2014 she went), but once eating disorders are under control, I believe outpatient services would be beneficial. I think that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy would be best to help the all-or-nothing thinking that may occur and even keeping a food thought record of what the client is feeling or thinking immediately before and after they eat a meal. Having a collaborative treatment team is the most important in the recovery from an eating disorder so hopefully Kesha is able to have the support. Working in the field of eating disorders, it’s definitely important to be aware of the false assumptions of what eating disorders entail. I also think that it’s important to dismantle the idea of BMI in treating eating disorders. BMI is an inaccurate means of measuring body weight in relation to height as it doesn’t allow for variation between people based on their body frame or relative masculinity. It also doesn’t account for age and gender. Just because someone is not of the anorexic BMI, does not mean that they don’t have anorexia.
DECEMBER 2020 // 010
// EXAMINING TRAUMA’S IMPACT ON BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER
Marshall Mathers, also known as Eminem and Slim Shady, is an American rapper raised in Detroit, Michigan. His father left him when he was a baby and his mother raised him with the help of her family members. His mother had Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy and led young Marshall to believe he was always sick. Marshall was a victim of severe bullying and was even beaten almost to death by a bully in his elementary school which he speaks about in his song brain damage. Marshall grew up loving comic book characters and superheroes and felt as though they were an escape from reality for him. Once Marshall became a rapper, he developed several personas or different personalities within him that all rapped differently. When he was asked about these 3 different elements to him he stated “Eminem is the rapper, Slim Shady will kill you, and Marshall Mathers is the person behind the mask”. Although Mathers stated that these 3 personalities are distinct, when rapping, every persona of his is very angry and violent. Being an Eminem fan for 19 years, I personally feel that Slim Shady is the comical absurd personality although he is dark and angry, Eminem is the hitmaker, and Marshall Mathers is the personality that is just angry, hurt, and dark. Mathers struggled with substance use and abuse for much of his adult life until finally attaining sobriety in most recent years. Mathers displays borderline personality disorder in many of his songs determined by the DSM V diagnostic criteria. He has a pattern of unstable and intense personal relationships evidenced by his relationship with both his mother and ex-wife Kim but especially Kim. Mathers created many songs displaying the dysfunctional relationship between him and his ex-wife including but not limited to crazy in love, love you more, Kim, and ‘97 Bonnie and Clyde. In these songs, he is either talking about how much he loves her despite the dysfunction and killing her. He also displays identity disturbance marked by his multiple public personas of Marshall Mathers, Eminem, Slim Shady, and later in his music, he creates the voice of a demon that represents the darkest parts of himself. This demon voice is prevalent in both his Relapse and Recovery albums. Mathers is also impulsive and self-damaging. He is a substance user and abuser and also is known to make songs that cause him to fight endless legal battles frequently. He talks often in his music about him self-mutilating, has a tattoo on his wrist that says “slit here”, and there are also suspicions that his 2007 overdose was actually a suicide attempt. His music portrays a person who is
BY DEMI BANCHS
emotionally unstable, irritable, angry, and anxious. He also has difficulty controlling his anger which has also got him into a surplus of legal trouble. I do believe that Mathers’ portrayed Borderline Personality Disorder could just be his traumatic life affecting his behavior. He had never learned healthy attachment or boundaries in his relationships as a child which could have led to his unstable adult relationships. His impulsivity, anger outbursts, and self-destruction could be his inability to regulate himself in a healthy way caused by childhood trauma. His identity confusion could also just be how he copes and is able to express feelings within himself he isn’t comfortable completely owning as Marshall Mathers. For example, like how children process their trauma by talking through third party elements like puppets or figurines, he processes his undesirable thoughts and feelings through separate personas. It is not public knowledge that Mathers had sought out counseling services but it is likely that he has received counseling since he received professional treatment for his substance abuse. Growing up listening to Mathers’ music, it helped me cope with my own trauma and undesired feelings. His music is angry, violent, and relatable. Many people have negative reactions to him and his music because of the way he speaks about women, the LGBTQIA+ community, the disabled community, and his level of graphic violence. I believe if people were to look deeper into him as a whole person they would realize that he is not always the monster portrayed in his music and his music are the deepest, darkest parts of himself that he makes public as a form of art. I also believe that if people were, to be honest with themselves and sit and think, they’d realize the world would find their darkest selves also distasteful, they just do not make those parts and thoughts public. I do not feel that sexism, homophobia, ableism, and domestic violence have a place in our world today nor should we promote these ideals. I also feel that although people feel Mathers promotes these ideals, if they took a deeper look into him as a whole person, they would realize that when he speaks about these vulnerable populations, his jokes are often a reflection of how he feels inside about himself. I do not take his music literally and I feel that many of his controversial statements are metaphors and analogies of himself. With that being said, it is also important to understand that he likely does have a personality disorder that he was vulnerable to developing based on his severely traumatic life.
DECEMBER 2020 // 011
EMINEM
BY DEMI BANCHS
THE NARCISSISM OF DONALD TRUMP
DECEMBER 2020 // 012
Donald Trump is the 45th president of the United States, businessman, and television personality. Even before that he was a young boy in a dysfunctional household. Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, author, and psychologist, wrote a book about the Trump family highlighting Donald’s upbringing. She talks about how Donald and his brothers were considered their “Dad’s” children and the boys didn’t have much of a relationship with their mother. She also claims that unless you were following in Fred Trump’s footsteps. In their home, it is described that they were not allowed to express any feelings other than positivity and determination. Any other feelings would put you on the outside of Fred Trump’s love and acceptance. Donald Trump succeeded in suppressing his feelings to make it through his life still holding his father’s admiration. Throughout his career before becoming president, he had many failed businesses and business deals including Trump Airlines, Trump beverages, Trump: The Game, Trump casinos, Trump magazine, Trump mortgage, Trump steaks, Trump’s travel site, Trump’s comm’s company, Trump Tower Tampa, Trump University, Trump Vodka. Also, when Trump was campaigning for the presidency, he lost contracts with NBC, Macy’s, and Serta after calling Mexicans rapists and criminals. Despite his many failures, Donald still considers and promotes himself as a successful businessman. He has been known to lie about his net worth and sue those who expose him for what his businesses are actually worth. He campaigned as a man who will be “the savior of the working class” yet, has had over 3,500 lawsuits placed against him for not paying his workers, many of whom are working-class individuals. His companies have also been cited for 24 violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act for failing to pay overtime or minimum wage. Donald has had 26 sexual misconduct allegations and has been known to keep the company of known sex offenders like Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. He has also publicly admired and defended others that have
ly traumatic upbringing lead him to develop these personality characteristics that made him vulnerable to developing this personality disorder. It is not public knowledge that Donald Trump has ever sought counseling services. I also believe it would be very unlikely that he would seek these services since he does not find any fault in his actions. When reviewing Donald Trump’s public statements and reviewing the criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder, I was deeply disturbed by my findings. I had always thought that Donald Trump was an unfit president, yet, there is a difference between unfit and incapable. I now see that Donald Trump was by diagnosis completely incapable of running this country because his inner motivations would never allow him to put the country before his own personal needs. It is my belief that everyone has the capability to heal if that is something they truly want. Therefore, I believe that if Donald Trump were to get extensive therapy, then he would be able to overcome some of the symptoms of his personality disorder. Having had a president with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, I feel it is important to highlight this part of our history as a clear sign that things must change in America. People should be able to spot a lack of empathy and understand mental illness. Those who support Trump have stated they like him because “he tells it like it is” not realizing that he actually tells it as he believes and they believe it is when their opinions are not fact. His opinions and promotion of hateful and radical sentiments have polarized this country. Those who share his beliefs must learn that their opinion is not fact and their opinions can not rewrite the history of America. We must inform the public so they can spot mental illness in others but also in themselves.
DECEMBER 2020 // 013
had sexual misconduct allegations like Brett Kavanaugh, Robert Kraft, and Roger Ailes. To say Donald has made many distasteful statements throughout his presidency would be an understatement. Many would consider his speeches hateful, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, ableist, and sexist. Most recently, Donald announced his “success” in the election telling his supporters he won a second presidential term before the votes were counted. When the legally counted votes were not in his favor and made his opponent the winner, he stated everything was rigged and began filing lawsuits against states he did not win. He also condemned the news stations that reported the results of the election that were not in his favor. He has continued to berate social media structures that flag his posts for creating and sharing lies and false information. I would diagnose Donald Trump with Narcissistic personality disorder because he meets many of the DSM-V criteria for this disorder. He has a grandiose sense of self-importance and exaggerates and lies about his achievements to acquire the admiration of others. He is driven by money, power, and success, and based on his childhood, striving for these attributes is all he knows. He requires excessive admiration and lies to gain this admiration. He has a sense of entitlement with unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his expectations. He takes advantage of others to achieve his own ends. He lacks empathy and is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others. He believes others are envious of him. He also shows arrogant behaviors and attitudes. I do not believe in this case the diagnosis is being confused with a trauma response. I do believe Donald’s dysfunction and like-
DECEMBER 2020 // 014
COME INSIDE MY MIND HBO’s Documentary on Robin williams by Marlysha Vaughn
Actor and living legend Robin McLaurin Williams lived his life in the public eye for many years, he brought so much laughter and joy to his movies and in the entertainment world. I recently watched his documentary on HBO in 2018 entitled “Come Inside my mind”. This intimate portrait he speaks from his heart and from his own words. It is his personal diary of Robin Williams slowly losing his mind. He talks about burnouts, drugs, wealth, never seen footage of his life travelling around the world making people laugh and feel entertained. He talks about his childhood upbringing with his mother and father’s relationship. The causes and effects of his life
and unruly timing of his death. In the documentary there are interviews from various people and the relationships he has with him that was so significant in this documentary. His father was a Senior Executive for Ford’s LincolnMercury Division and mother was a former model. He talked about his mom being entertaining which inspired him. Being an only child and not having siblings he experienced both parents not being home and being raised by the maid. He attended an all-boys private school; he was doing well not only in academics but in sports as well. He often moved around due to his father’s work. When he was 16, he moved to San
DECEMBER 2020 // 015
Francisco where he went to a completely different high school. He later went to Claremont Men’s College to study Political Science, later his father realized that it was not for him, so he then went to a Marin college where he studied acting. He later moved to New York City and attended Juilliard. In the documentary he often talks about the rise and the falls of Hollywood, the feeling of loneliness and isolation; It later shows his use for drugs and dealing with mental illness. To many people he was funny and always making people laugh to those around him expressed that he was always quiet. In 1970’s and 1980’s he starred as an alien in the sitcom Mork & Mindy where he began having an addiction to cocaine. He became involved in several relationships having been married but also having public affairs. For many years he had played various characters and acting roles which later his family and friends say became a part of him. He also explored darker characters and more intense roles. He poured a lot of energy into sold out shows across the world, but his health derailed him from stand-up comedy. He started to experience shortness of breath complications and heart surgery which led him to stop performing on stage. He started to experience constipation, urinary difficulty, heartburn, sleeplessness, and insomnia. Later clinical diagnosis found that he suffered from Lewy body disease (LBD), he lost 40% dopamine neurons in his brain. 1 out 6 people are affected by this brain disease. In 2014 he died from suicide at the cause by this disease. According to the DSM-5 LBD it is a form of Alzheimer’s Disease, it is the most common type of Dementia. Robin often expresses that he started to feel hallucinations, processing thoughts, affecting thoughts. His family and friends recognized that he was not feeling like himself, they expressed that he looked and felt uncomfortable. He became noticeably quiet and emotional; he later expressed that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. They ruled his death to suicide with the difficulty to process things, mixed information cause a great suffering for him.
film review: MONSTER (based on a true story)
DECEMBER 2020 // 016
by Marlysha Vaughn Monster is a film that was created in 2003 about an American serial killer named Aileen Carol Pittman Wuornos who was portrayed by actress Charlize Theron. Shortly after moving to Florida she meets a young woman Selby Wall portrayed by Christina Ricci and has a blossoming romance. She begins prostituting and when men began brutalizing her, she kills them and resolves to give up the prostitution. This is a biography of her life about one of the biggest American serial killers and becoming the only woman on the infamous list. In her early life growing up in a broken home her father suffered from schizophrenia and was later convicted of sex crimes against children, he later went to jail and committed suicide by hanging himself in prison in 1969. Her mother abandoned her and her brother leaving them in the care of her grandparents. Both of her grandparents being alcoholics leaving her to be sexually abused by her grandfather. By the age of 11 she started to engage in sexual activities for things like cigarettes, drugs, and food. She got pregnant at 14 because of being raped by her grandfather. She gave her son up for adoption and dropped out of school before moving from place
based on the criteria in the DSM-5 showed issues of depression, abandonment, rejection, anxiety, impulsivity, and hostility. Her physical body she faced tremors due to traumatic events she also argued justice for the injustices that she later faced while in prison. Wurnos showed evidence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Due to her exposure to sexual violence, traumatic flashbacks, intense distress after repeated exposure to reminiscent of the initial truama. Her personality functioning she focused on the past unpleasant experiences and future negative possibilities. She feared rejection by her lover Selby which led to frequent periods of depression, hopelessness, shame, and suicidal ideations. Her life while yet having experience of a lot of trauma led her down a spiraling path until her death by execution.
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to place. The film portrays her as an older woman starting to commit these horrible crimes not knowing truly of her past. Aileen having a terrible upbringing and torn relationships led her to lose her mind and start killing men. The film also expounds on her lesbian romance having fallen in love with a woman and not feeling the need to kill. Christina Ricci’s character shows her love and devotion and not knowing of her lover killing men. In this biopic film Aileen became mentally unstable, she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. She later in the film was executed October 9, 2002 by lethal injection for the crimes that she committed. The story of her life talks about mental and physical abuse and aftermath of trauma that she faced. Her mental health deteriorated, having become delusional and mentally ill by the time of her sentencing.The clinical diagnosis
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
DECEMBER 2020 // 018
//A BIPOLAR DISORDER LOVE STORY BY PRISCILLA CORDERO Silver Linings Playbook is about Patrick Solitano and the way he struggles to get back on his feet after being hospitalized. Pat has Bipolar I disorder as he describes “mood swings and weird thinking brought on by severe stress”. This diagnosis is not a trauma response, although he did experience a traumatic event that brought to light his diagnosis of being Bipolar, it is shown in the film he had issues and mood swings before this event had occurred. In the movie, he has just gotten out of the Baltimore state mental hospital, his mother discharges him after 8 months. He was there in the first place because his wife cheated on him with another teacher at their job and he walked in on them as their marriage song was playing. After Pat found them he ended up beating the guy up almost to death. Throughout the film, you see how he is very much in love and obsessed with his ex-wife Nikki although she has a restraining order against him. His selfgrowth revolves around getting her back and getting her to see how well he is doing. Although you also see the struggle he has with his mania and how easily triggered he is, he refuses to take medicine and does not want to go to therapy. One night he has a severe breakdown with his parents and begins taking his meds, which consist of Seroquel, Lithium, and Abilify, as well as becoming a bit more open to therapy. He then meets this girl Tiffany, and in exchange for her delivering a letter to Nikki, he teams up with her for a dancing competition. She also has a history of mental illness and recently her husband died so she is dealing with that grief, and she also has been on Xanax and Effexor. They both begin to connect as they work on preparing for this dance competition and eventually at the end they fall in love. It almost seems that their connection and similar issues promote healing and self-growth for them both. In the end, Pat moves on from Nikki, actively takes his medicine, and goes to therapy which is the start of him finally moving on from Nikki and the traumatic event as he begins to truly improve his life despite his diagnosis, with Tiffany by his side. Pat got the silver lining he was looking for since the beginning just not in the way he expected, he got what he did not know he needed to be happy. In this story, the abnormality is portrayed through Pat’s behavior. The DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Bipolar I disorder are having manic and major depressive episodes, during the manic episode it is categorized as
having a distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated expansive or irritable mood. During this period of elevated mood, three or more of the symptoms could occur, inflated self-esteem or grandiosity, decreased need for sleep, more talkative than usual, the flight of ideas, distractibility, increase in goal-directed activity, and excessive involvement in risky activities. Pat has frequent mood swings, has a flight of ideas, manic episodes, delusions, anger issues, doesn’t sleep much and constantly wakes his parents screaming in the middle of the night, and has an obsession with his ex-wife and believes they will get back together. We also see that he has no filter, says the wrong things at the wrong time, and thinks he is completely better and doing great when he is still recovering. He can be very confrontational and does not know how to spare people’s feelings. I feel like the movie did a really good job in portraying the manic side of Pat’s symptoms, although we never saw the depressive episode side. Additionally, with Tiffany, we also see she acted in bizarre ways, was confrontational, and unstable with her emotions. Although we do not know her diagnosis besides the grief of her dead husband, the fact that she has also been on medicine and can relate to Pat in that way we can see she also suffers from a mental illness. The reaction this gave me was one of empathy, and warmth at the end. It was a realistic portrayal and story of mental illness, I like how it accurately portrayed how being Bipolar can be most days for someone in their manic state. I empathize with the characters struggling and the difficulties within their family, and lastly, the happy ending left me with warmth and I was filled with hope. I felt like the impressions of this example were made to emphasize the struggle people have with mental illness and how easily their lives can fall apart due to that. I also could feel the stigma from every other character in the film, which was yet again realistic since mental illness is still very much stigmatized in our society. There was a lot of bias against Pat and Tiffany and you could see that they were looked down upon for their mental illness. Although it was unsettling and disheartening to see the stigma displayed I felt like it was important to show how people still view mental illness in a negative light. This film left a good impression of how realistic it was as with the warm ending. It demonstrated that although the mental illness can be hard to deal with and can make individuals act against the norm, the message is that there can always be a silver lining. Even in Pat’s case where he was hospitalized for so long, he could find happiness. Of course, it is not as easy as the film portrays it for the sake of the love story, but it shows the idea of there always being a possibility to get better no matter how bad the situation. If I could rewrite this story I feel like I would have liked to see more of Pat going to therapy and seeing how he works through his issues within that setting. I would
// “THROUGHOUT THE FILM, THE SOCIETAL ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE ADDRESSED ARE THE STIGMA TOWARDS MENTAL ILLNESS, AS WELL AS THE REACTIONS THE POLICE OFFICER WOULD HAVE TOWARDS PAT AND HIS MENTAL ILLNESS.”
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have liked to see more of how the therapy helped him and what techniques the therapist used. I also would like to have seen more of Tiffany and her struggles with mental illness as well. Throughout the film, the societal issues that need to be addressed are the stigma towards mental illness, as well as the reactions the police officer would have towards Pat and his mental illness. Cops lack training as it is but especially with individuals who have mental illness and that is how a lot of those individuals end up locked up or dead instead of being treated. Pat luckily got the intervention he needed in terms of hospitalization as well as getting outpatient therapy and continuing his medication. I think this treatment intervention is doing great things for Pat’s life yet I hope the therapist took a CBT or interpersonal/social approach to therapy for Pat as well as considering including his family in the therapy. A way that this example can serve as a tool to increase awareness of mental illness and stigma is through incorporating it in the psychoeducational aspect to clients and their families. Having a client who struggles with being Bipolar, can help the family not only understand but also allow both the client and family to see the silver lining within their struggles. The client can see they can get better if they put that effort and focus on themselves.
BY PRISCILLA CORDERO
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
DECEMBER 2020 // 020
Charlie is the Main Character in Perks of Being a Wallflower. He was unfortunately hospitalized over the summer after his best and only friend Michael commits suicide. Charlie has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and has been on medication to treat it. This diagnosis is a consequence of the serious trauma he experienced in his life. The first traumatic event in Charlie’s life was the death of his Aunt Helen. On Christmas eve, Charlie’s birthday, His aunt decided to go get his present and got killed in a car accident. Therefore, Charlie has had guilty thoughts, that it was his fault that she got in the car and was killed. He misses his Aunt quite a bit and he wishes she was still present in his life to comfort him as he struggles with his mental health, as well as with his first year of high school, and having no friends. The movie starts as he is about to begin his freshman year of high school. When he begins his first day, he has no friends to spend the day with besides his teacher, so he decides to go to the football game that night where he is brave enough to start talking to two seniors, Patrick and Sam. Charlie is happy about being introduced to their unique group of friends, they make him feel included and appreciated. Although, His new group of friends like typical high school kids, do drugs and alcohol, and one night on New Years’ they get Charlie to do LSD, this causes Charlie to freak out and start getting flashbacks of his Aunt Helen. We can see the pattern of when Charlie gets flashbacks of his Aunt, he gets them every Christmas Eve on the anniversary of her death, as well as they also seem to come during periods where there are stress and interpersonal issues with others.
Near Christmas time, An incident occurs where Charlie kisses Sam while dating another individual in the group and he has to take a break from the group for a while, causing his mental health to decline. Some time passes, and Charlie saves Patrick from a school fight. This causes the group and Charlie to come together again and this makes Charlie’s mental health improve, so now he has fewer flashbacks. Sam and Patrick get ready to leave for college right after graduation. Once Sam leaves for college after they become intimate, the intense flashbacks come back for Charlie and he breaks down in tears walking home. He then desperately calls Candace, his sister, he is sobbing and tells her how his Aunt’s death is his fault, and how he thinks he wanted her dead, after this he blacks out. This breakdown results in him being admitted into Mayview Psychiatric Hospital. Here, Charlie has the chance to uncover the repressed memories of his sexual abuse trauma with his Aunt. Charlie spends a while in the hospital and he states that his worst day in the hospital was when Dr.Burton told his parents that Aunt Helen had sexually abused him. After being stabilized and treated he returns home with outpatient care services set up with Dr. Burton. His siblings, as well as Sam and Patrick, visit Charlie, giving him love and support when he needs it most. After experiencing college, Sam reassures Charlie that after high school it does get better. In the end, Charlie is doing much better, he is being treated with psychotherapy as well as medication allowing him to feel better and begin to live a more functional and fulfilled life. In this story, the abnormality is portrayed through Charlie and his PTSD, and the way he struggles with this disorder. The DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for PTSD first determines that the person affected must have witnessed or personally experienced trauma, which Charlie did. Diagnosis is determined with the following symptoms, Dissociation reactions, difficulty remembering parts of the trauma, avoidance of topic/triggers of trauma, and physiological reactions connected to the trauma. Charlie suffered from anxiety-inducing intrusive flashbacks due to the trauma that he experienced as a child, panic, and obvious discomfort to triggers that felt similar to his trauma, and had physiological reactions to those triggers as well. Charlie also would try to avoid anything associated with the event of the trauma, as well as avoiding any time he had to speak up about the trauma. He tried to remember parts of the trauma yet it was difficult for him to do so, it was severely repressed. Charlie would black out and have some angry outbursts as well as frightened reactions during triggers. Additionally, he had dangerous beliefs about himself that revolved around guilt related to his aunt’s death and felt unnoticed and detached from others. The example shows abnormality through Charlie and the clear diagnosis of PTSD in a sexual abuse victim. His symptoms are pretty clear throughout the film as well as Charlie’s reactions to various triggers that occur within his life.
If I could rewrite this story I would have there be more focus on the sexual abuse, perhaps more of what occurred after the family found out about the sexual abuse. As well as the course of treatment for Charlie and how his life improved after the incident. Seeing more of the way someone can bounce back after coming to terms with the trauma is important and shows others suffering from this mental illness they can get better with the right help. This film portrays the societal issue of bullying as well as stigma, Charlie gets bullied a lot in the beginning as typical high school students do. There is also stigma within Charlie’s family and it is shown with how they barely talk about his mental health issues. The lack of conversation seems to be learned within the family hence why Charlie doesn’t talk about his issues much either. He also states he did not want to be known as “the weird kid who went to the hospital” which shows Charlie’s own internalized stigma as well. With Charlie’s case, I feel like he should have been in therapy after hospitalization not just on meds yet the psychotherapy and medication being used at the end after his second hospitalization I feel will be very helpful for Charlie’s recovery. This example demonstrates mental illness in a coming of age story, for teens in therapy I feel like this example is perfect. The film is very raw and has many of the aspects of a teens world and I think that it would help them fully see how their mental illness can affect them and that despite that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel and things always get better no matter what. Showing this to a teen in an outpatient setting as well as in schools could be very beneficial to not only reduce the stigma of mental illness among youth but also to show teens that their lives can get better despite their struggles.
DECEMBER 2020 // 021
The impression I was left with was a sense of sadness and understanding for Charlie. A lot of his PTSD behaviors were accurately shown and created so much empathy from the viewer towards Charlie’s struggles. I deeply enjoyed the film and the emotions it created as well as how accurate this illness was portrayed. You go into this not knowing how such a nice kind average boy is truly suffering every day with this disorder and with so much repressed trauma in his psyche. It also gave me warm feelings as there were touching moments of happiness within the film that demonstrates that regardless of his struggles, and how his mental health worsens, by the end you know Charlie will be okay. The message of how Mental illness does not have to define you or take control of your life and you can always get better is the message I hope every movie with mental illness portrays at the end and this one did just that. It also provided a positive image to psychiatric hospitals and how critically helpful they can be to individuals in crisis. Overall, the movie was well done and provided a sense of awareness of the mental illness and mental health treatment that helps reduce the stigma. The impression this left was one of empathy and concern, yet warmth. Charlie is so smart, sweet, and shy. He is a character you grow to love and to find out the trauma he went through is truly heartbreaking. In the end, it all makes sense as to why his behavior is this certain way, why the flashbacks occur, and why Aunt Helen seems to be so prominent in his life. The story introduces mental illness in a very raw way adding a cute coming of age storyline with a happy ending showing it gets better at the end no matter how hard it can be to deal with mental illness.
//TRIGGER WARNING :
DECEMBER 2020 // 022
content includes abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, self harm
suicide attempt where she took a large bottle of pills. This moment proves to be her personal rock bottom and we see her resilience really begin to kick in from here, largely attributed to Tina’s discovery of Buddhism and spiritual chanting as introduced to her by a concerned friend. Though initially she overlooked all of the red flags in her relationship with Ike, Tina starts to stand up for herself letting him prey upon her empathic nature less and less. After a final bloody fight right before a scheduled live music performance, Tina runs for her life and finds refuge at a nearby hotel whose manager was willing to help. She goes on to get a divorce by giving Ike everything except the name he gave her. Starting over with nothing, Tina launches a solo career and becomes an international rockstar winning tons of awards and selling millions of records. She remains a devout Buddhist to this day and never stopped chanting. Both Ike and Tina likely had diagnosable mental disorders as a result of unresolved childhood trauma. The way it manifested for each was very different as one went on to become the abuser while the other remained the abused. There is a sad cycle of victims becoming victimizers shown in Ike’s story. His additional alcohol and substance addiction might have been a self-soothing tactic but ultimately landed him in jail on drug charges. Ike showed no emotional response and lacks empathy unless it concerns himself. He increasingly erased any personal boundaries attempted by those in his life and became a violent sexual assailant who beat his wife and sons both privately and publicly. He had an insatiable thirst for power, control, money, and success. These symptoms and his pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others make it likely that Ike had trauma-induced Antisocial Personality Disorder according to the DSM-5. While not much is shown regarding Tina’s inner-thoughts and experiences, based on the story showing her codependent relationship plus the physical violence, sexual assault, and emotional abuse she experienced combined with her attempt at suicide make it likely that she suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This film is painful to watch while also ultimately satisfying for the uplifting ending showcasing the power of resilience and posttraumatic growth which is possible for survivors. The film does a good job showing how the abuse cycle works including the grooming/honeymoon phase, tension building then explosion back to calm/ honeymoon phase along with escalation of intensity over time. Hopefully after watching this movie more people will understand that abuse can happen to anyone as it is often insidious, slowly creeping up over time without the victim fully understanding what they’ve gotten into or who they’re really dealing with before it’s too late. What’s Love Got to Do with It is a real-life cautionary tale of what can happen to people when their trauma is unaddressed. Therapy helps people break the cycle and saves lives.
DECEMBER 2020 // 023
A MENTAL HEALTH REVIEW OF THE FILM BASED ON TINA TURNER’S LIFE STORY BY JILLIAN LOYAS
WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
What’s Love Got to Do with It is a 1993 biographical feature film directed by Brian Gibson, based on the autobiography, I, Tina by Tina Turner & Kurt Loder. It stars Angela Bassett as Tina Turner and Lawrence Fishburne as Ike Turner. From the opening scene the viewer is shown both the triumphs and tribulations that soon emerge as running themes of Tina’s Life, singing enthusiastically one moment and being neglected and/or abused the next. Born in 1939 as Anna Mae Bullock, she grew up in rural Tennessee and was raised by her grandmother. Young Tina experienced a major childhood trauma in the form of emotional neglect and abandonment when her birth mother, fleeing from an abusive husband, took Tina’s older (and only) sibling, Alline, and moved far away with no contact leaving Tina to be raised by her grandmother. The film does not show any further childhood scenes but the experience no doubt affected the talented singer who would grow up to subconsciously repeat the family cycle in the next generation by becoming entangled in a violent, abusive marriage with a troubled, controlling musician and business manager named Ike Turner. The couple met in a music club where Ike’s band regularly performed. He had a reputation for being a promiscuous ladies’ man with a loose lifestyle and large ambitions of fame and fortune. As a young adult, Tina reunited with her mother and sister in St. Louis. She moved into their shared apartment and soon joined her sister Alline in the music club where she tended bar. It was there that Ike first saw and heard the powerful voice and natural charisma of Anna Mae Bullock whom he would eventually rename, Tina Turner. From their first encounter Ike’s deadly mix of dominance, charisma, persuasion, and assertiveness shines like bright, flashing red lights to the observer warning of danger ahead. As with abusive cycles the need for power and control, intensity of attacks, and frequency of fights escalated over time. The escalation was also enhanced by Ike’s worsening addiction to drugs and alcohol. Early in their relationship Ike reveals his own experiences of childhood neglect and loss and tells Tina that everyone always leaves him. He also shared that his father was so severely beaten that he died after three years of hospitalization in Ike’s childhood. Tina promises she will never abandon him. But because of this promise Tina nearly loses her life several times while fighting off Ike and fighting to stay in the relationship out of a regrettable yet understandable warped sense of loyalty. She sees elements of herself in Ike and frequently blames herself for upsetting him which is another hallmark of abusive relationships. Victim blaming is a dangerous and powerful stigma that remains firm in society today. As the film progresses and their fame skyrockets, we see Tina enduring many physical attacks, endless emotional abuse, and a particularly stomachchurning rape scene. Shortly after Tina is shown being rushed to the hospital from an uncompleted
EVAN RACHEL WOOD
DECEMBER 2020 // 024
// DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT & PTSD SURVIVOR-TURNED-ADVOCATE BY JILLIAN LOYAS Evan Rachel Wood is a highly accomplished, awardwinning American film and television actor, a musician, and model. She is a mother, a daughter, an activist, advocate, and a role model. Evan Rachel Wood is also not only a victim-turned-survivor but also an all-around life thriver. Like many brave, willingly vulnerable, courageous contemporary public figures she bucks old social norms and chooses to speak out about her experiences, her truth, the effects of trauma on mental health, and uses her celebrity for good including coming out as a bisexual member of the LGBTQIA+ community as well as pushing for increased legal protections for abuse survivors. In 2018 she appeared before the U.S. Congress and gave a chilling personal testimony sharing her experiences of domestic violence, emotional abuse, rape and torture by a former boyfriend and an additional instance of sexual assault that occured after from a separate assailant. Evan did this in order to advocate for implementing the Sexual Assault Survivor’s Bill of Rights Act in all 50 states. She went on to testify how these traumas affected her psychologically. This included commonly found sexual assault victims’ experiences of dissociation during the attacks in the form of feeling as if she left her body and also of freezing from terror, unable to fight or take flight, which is a natural and deeply biologically-embedded ancient human survival response. Today Evan now fights with her words to break down the negative, hurtful cultural stigmas and victimblaming that many domestic violence and sexual assault survivors face. In a 2018 Time article she is quoted saying, “Because of this abuse, when I was pushed onto the floor of a locked storage closet by another attacker, after hours at a bar, my body instinctively knew what to do: Disappear, go numb, make it go away,” Wood said. “Being abused and raped previously made it easier for me to be raped again, not the other way around.” Her message is raw, powerful, and honest. She further explained the aftermath of her traumas in a 2019 Nylon magazine article which she authored detailing her battle with mental health and post-traumatic stress disorder including an unsuccessful suicide attempt as well as her healing journey thanks to a voluntary stay at a psychiatric hospital, ongoing professional therapy, temporary use of medication, unwavering family and friend support, and therapeutic processing through the creative arts. She writes, “I am not a mental health expert, but I can share with you one of my experiences with it. When I was 22, I willingly checked myself into a psychiatric hospital, and I have absolutely no shame about it. Looking back, it was the worst, best thing that ever happened to me… The beautiful thing about being at the bottom is there is nowhere to go but up… For the
was defensive, I was impulsive, and I had no healthy coping mechanisms yet. I lost friends. I lost job opportunities. From the outside, I was just a reckless trainwreck. I did a lot of things I am not proud of, and I own that now. But I also forgive myself. I had not equated this to the trauma I had suffered. Nor did I know this was a symptom of anything, except me being crazy. Most of the time my suffering was equated to just “being crazy.” I felt like because I was successful I couldn’t complain about anything, and when I did, no one would take me seriously. What we see on the outside can be so different than what’s really going on underneath the surface. Which is why we need to understand that “bad choices” are often a huge cry for help. Especially in young people who haven’t had enough experience to manage their feelings. I have the great privilege and terrible burden of being in the public eye. So getting help for a mental illness is not something I can broadcast, because people are quick to jump on a dying animal and rip it apart, especially when that dying animal is a child actor having a breakdown. My character had already been dragged through the mud quite a bit in the press, and the main consensus was: “She’s crazy.” I had really started to believe this. Most of the time we don’t see a person with a problem, we see someone we can tear down to make ourselves feel superior.” The word crazy gets carelessly hurled around far too often and can have dire consequences. I included this long excerpt here to further give voice to Evan Rachel Wood’s beautiful, truthful, difficult words succinctly describing her unique yet universal experiences of social stigma and PTSD symptoms. I hope these words will continue to be heard and ideally will help more and more people better understand the effects of trauma and the importance of mental healthcare to support psychological healing. Healing brings with it the almighty gifts of self-reflection, personal growth, gratitude, humility, and happiness all sprouting from seeds sown through adversity. The garden that later blooms is indeed a sight to behold.
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first time in my entire life, I asked for help. I admitted I could not go on without someone intervening, to pick me up off the floor. I had collapsed under the stress and pressure of being alive. My white flag was up. But dying didn’t work. Now, I must tell you, I don’t recommend having a near-death experience, at all, but I can tell you that many people who do come back end up with a very different perspective on life.” Eleven years later and now a parent with a continuously thriving career, Evan Rachel Wood is a shining example of the phenomenon known as post-traumatic growth. PTG is an empirically-supported theory regarding positive change experienced as a result of the struggle with a major life crisis or a traumatic event. It is a condition commonly associated with PTSD survivors who endure psychological struggle following adversity yet later on undergo profoundly positive transformations. As with PTSD victims, struggle she did. Evan wrote in Nylon about the moment when just before helping her self-admit to a psychiatric ward, Wood’s mother hugged her the morning after her suicide attempt and asked why she felt she wanted to end her life. Wood also further chronicles her lived experience of the symptoms of PTSD. She writes, “I just wanted some peace. And that was true. My mind was not a peaceful place. My mind at the time was filled with scars and shadows and, most importantly, so much shame. I was struggling with PTSD and didn’t know it. PTSD is considered a mental illness; it can be caused by a number of things and is not limited to brave service people. My PTSD was caused by multiple rapes and a severely abusive relationship that went on for years. I had struggled with anxiety and panic attacks during the course of my life, but this was a whole other level of fear. I heard my name in my ear while I slept, which would jolt me awake. In my hazy stupor, I would see shadows, figures of people in my room, I would scream and they would dissipate. I was afraid to be alone, but I also couldn’t be around people. I could barely leave my own house. I was too afraid to go outside. I couldn’t sleep because every little noise was deafening. I
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Fisher, R., Mathers, M., Resto, L., Wilson, A., Wilson, N. (2004). Crazy in Love [Recorded by performer Eminem]. On Album Encore [CD]. Gibson, B. (Director). (1993). What’s love got to do with it [Motion picture on Amazon Prime Video Streaming Service]. United States: Touchstone Pictures. Goronja, A. (2020, September 01). Robin Williams’ Cause of Death: How Did the Comedic Legend Die? Retrieved December 10, 2020, from https://heavy.com/entertainment/2020/09/robin-williams-cause-of-death/
Grow, K. (2014). Kesha opens up about her eating disorder and experience in rehab. RollingStone. Retrieved on November 16th, 2020 from https://www.rollingstone.com/ music/music-news/kesha-opens-up-about-her-eating-disorder-and-experience-in-re hab-189818/. Jenkins, P. (Director), & Theron, C., & Ricci, C. (Writers). (n.d.). Monster [Video file]. Koolen, M. (n.d.). Understanding Aileen Wuornos. Constructing Crime. doi:10.1057/9780230392083.0027
Mathers, M., Resto, L. Love You More (2004). [Recorded by performer Eminem]. On Album Encore [CD]. May, J. M., Richardi, T. M., & Barth, K. S. (2016). Dialectical behavior therapy as treatment for borderline personality disorder. The mental health clinician, 6(2), 62–67. https://doi. org/10.9740/mhc.2016.03.62 McCluskey, M. (2018, February 28). Evan Rachel Wood Details Rape and Torture to Congress. Retrieved from https://time.com/5179869/evan-rachel-wood-rape-congress-testi mony/?amp=true Muhlheim, L. Why CBT is usually suggested for eating disorders. Verywellmind. Retrieved on November 17th, 2020 from https://www.verywellmind.com/cognitive-behavioral-thera py-for-eating-disorders-4151114
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IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY. DON’T SUFFER IN SILENCE. // MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES: STOP BULLYING NOW HOTLINE: 1-800-273-8255 SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE: 1-800-273-8255 THE CRISIS TEXT LINE: TEXT CONNECT TO 741741 NATIONAL SEXUAL ASSAULT HOTLINE: 1-800-656-4673 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SUPPORT HOTLINE: 1-800-799-7233 -OR- CHAT NOW AT HTTPS://WWW.THEHOTLINE.ORG/ NATIONAL EATING DISORDER HOTLINE: 1-800-931-2237 -ORCHAT NOW AT HTTPS://WWW.NATIONALEATINGDISORDERS.ORG/