Dementia Movie Analysis

The movie ‘Dementia’ is directed by Mike Testin and gives Gene Jones and Kristina Klebe leading roles. Gene Jones plays the role of a old guy who’s a Vietnam War veteran and as the title suggests eventually gets diagnosed with dementia after having a stroke. The old guy known as George in the movie lives alone and is not very connected to his family but he has a son and a grand-daughter that do come in when he has a stroke, since they aren't as close the grand-daughter has only seen her grandfather like once when she was young. George got divorced while he was young, and the reason for his divorce seems to be that he was very abusive towards the wife, also turns out he was not such a great father either. Which goes on to to explain the enterance

According to the textbook, childhood experiences can leave people at the risk of developing acute and posttraumatic stress disorders. The textbook goes on to mention that people who went through abuse, catastrophic at an early age and also those who were younger than 10 when parents got divorced. Also people whose family members have suffered from mental disorders may have an impact on them. As we know that social support is very important to the mental stability of an individual, and those who don’t have strong social supports in life are likely to develop acute or posttraumatic stress disorders in life after witnessing a traumatic event. All these factors are true for Kristine in this movie, since she has witnessed the divorce of her parents at the age of six, she has chances of developing acute or posttraumatic stress disorders, not only has she been through the separation of parents at an young age but also experienced the great abuse in her home by her Father, she comes from a unstable home environment, therefore, she never had a strong social support system. People who come from families of domestic violence or any sorts of abuse verbal or physical are damaged, they are mentally and emotionally scarred. In order to prevent a mental illness from developing they need immediate help of a professional

Also, when you take a look at some of the events that are known to cause PTSD, you will see that disasters, victimization, abuse are very likely to cause PTSD. People who’ve experienced abuse attain stress symptoms, though, Kristine may not have been directly abused or victimized, but she did witness her Mother being abused and mistreated and in a result of that she did experience the separation of her parents, which leaves her vulnerable to PTSD. George himself has done some damage in the past as well, as you can see in the movie starting at 1:20:45 there is a flashback provided from the past, a cruel and abusive behavior and Kristine is six years old recording everything in her mind while she frightfully hides under a bed. George is someone who likes to stay isolated, even now he lives alone. Kristina has been traumatized by the abuse she witnessed in her home when she was just a child, Which explains her condition today. She is not in control of her actions in this state and is a danger to herself and others as you can see in the movie starting 1:17:13 she’s pointing the gun at the granddaughter. She has displayed behaviors of grief, extreme pain while holding on memories as you can see at 45:20 and throughout the movie she’s has flashbacks. While we know that trauma and stress are roots of all types of mental illness and not just one, it could start from depression and go to schizophrenia, bipolar and so