American Splendor Psychological Analysis

Mental distress lies at the heart of counselling, psychotherapy and counselling psychology. Psychopathology derives from two Greek words psych meaning soul and pathos which means suffering. In summary psychopathology is the origin of mental disorder it is the development and the symptoms associated to mental disorders. The discussion aims to present a psychological perspective on mental disorders. Secondly draw a character analysis based on the movie American Splendor by referring to psychiatric diagnoses of depression, personality disorder and family dysfunction, in conclusion highlight the differences between the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV-TR (DSM) and the DSM 5.

Depression, personality disorder, attention

An individual may describe depression as living in a black hole or a feeling of impending doom however some depressed people do not feel sad at all they may feel lifeless, empty, and apathetic men often feel angry, aggressive and restless (Steger & Kashdan, 2009 ). It is important to note that this disorder comes in many shapes and forms. There are different types of depression which have unique symptoms, causes and effects. Depression makes it difficult to function and enjoy everyday life.

There are numerous forms of depressive disorders, such as major depressive disorder, or major depression, Dysthymic disorder, or dysthymia, Minor depression, Psychotic depression, Postpartum depression, Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), for the purpose of this discussion one will emphasis on Dysthymic disorder, or dysthymia, which is characterized by long-term (2 years or longer) symptoms that may not be severe enough to disable a person but can prevent normal functioning or feeling well. Individuals with dysthymia may also experience one or more episodes of major depression during their lifetimes (APA,

My favorite is Harvey Pekar a male in his mid-thirties who comes from a bad neighborhood and has no formal education. As a child who grew up in a bad neighborhood Pekar portrays an image of an I do not care attitude, which is one of the features of depression which is a loss of interest in daily activities for example in the opening scene of the movie it is Halloween and all the children are dressed up in costumes and Pekar is dressed in his usual everyday attire jeans and shirt and a jersey when he is asked what he is dressed as he furiously replies “I aint no superhero I’m Harvey Pekar im just some kid from the neighborhood” from a young age Pekar seems to be angry at the world as he refers to people as being stupid this could be as a result of his upbringing as a child this could be because he had a single parent and he had a lot of anger for the absence of the other parent although in the movie this is no highlighted