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Perks Of Being A Wallflower Mental Illness

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Perks of Being a Wallflower is all about a freshman boy named Charlie and his experience with his first year of high school. Charlie’s best friend, Michael, recently took his life so Charlie is trying to manage going through life without his best friend. Because of his circumstances Charlie prefers to be a “wallflower” and rather watch from the sidelines and not be the center of attention. Charlie ends up meeting Sam and Patrick who become his very close friends and are destined to giving Charlie the friendship he deserves. What doesn’t get revealed until the end of the movie is that Charlie’s detachment is caused from his traumatic experience of being sexually abused by his Aunt Helen as a child. The main mental condition that Charlie has …show more content…

Charlie has various flashbacks throughout the film and each time it is a memory of his aunt and him. The DSM-V explains the flashbacks as causing a person to have a complete loss of awareness and surroundings. When Charlie has these flashbacks, it usually feels as if everything around him has stopped and nothing else is relevant other than the flashback. As stated early, Charlie has a hard time opening and trusting others which is one of the symptoms explained in the DSM-V. Charlie has a hard time opening and trusting others because he fears what others may think of him or his past. He doesn’t feel like anyone would be able to relate. One of the symptoms of PTSD in the DSM-V is blaming oneself for the traumatic event. Charlie believes that he is the reason that his aunt passed away in a car crash and has constant guilt and shame from that experience. He explains that if is aunt was never going to get his birthday present, she never would have passed away. DSM-V states that one of the symptoms of PTSD is being in a persistent negative emotional state. I would say that Charlie is in a persistent negative emotional state, because almost every day he experiences some sort of negative emotion. One symptom Charlie has that is different from the DSM-V is he can still participate in daily activities. He goes to school every day and has a social life with his

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293 Words | 2 Pages

1. Charlie doesn’t feel like he belongs ever. Either he is not smart enough or too smart. There is never a happy medium with society. When he can tell he obviously is different it makes it harder when everyone points it out.

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718 Words | 3 Pages

But when Charlie got the surgery, he realized when his intelligence was wearing off, he got super depressed but he powered through the depression. One quote from the book that indicates depression is “please... please let me not forget how to read and write.” (keyes 25). Even though he is forgetting how to read and write and he is getting depressed, he powers through the depression. On the last page he says “im taking a cuple of books along and even if i cant reed them ill practise hard and maybe i wont forget every thing i learned.

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458 Words | 2 Pages

Also do you believe that Charlie is starting to mature or does everyone do this regardless of maturity level? Comment below. Also, I read an interesting article titled '27 Signs of True Maturity '. Lots of these signs posted in this article mirror Charlie 's actions and thoughts.

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897 Words | 4 Pages

He has a good natcher hes interested and eager to please,” on page 185.   This quote is what the doctors were saying about Charlie. This quote reveals that his perspective is surprising because most people of his level of of intelligence are hostile and do not want to

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219 Words | 1 Pages

World War I was one of the worst wars humankind has ever seen. World War I was a war fought in Europe between Germany, Russia, France, Great Britain,the United States,and many others. However,the cause of WWI is still unknown, but a few things that could have started one of the biggest wars anyone has ever seen are the alliance system,militarism, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Alliance System was an underlying cause of World War I because of the Triple Alliance that consisted of;Germany,Austria-Hungary,and Italy. The Triple Entente formed between France,Britain,and Russia,but a problem with this alliance was that France and Britain were enemies but since they both feared germany they came together

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775 Words | 4 Pages

On page (Keyes 205) Charlie says, “ I lie in bed for days and I don’t know who or where I am …. Fugues of Amnesia.” After being smart he now has periods of memory loss and doesn’t know even himself! Another quote is “Dr. Strauss comes around almost every day, but I told him I wouldn’t see or speak to anybody” (Keyes 207).

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In Charlie's case, he has flashbacks to the trauma he's witnessed. He has flashbacks to when his aunt molested him as a child while he was in high school. His symptoms occur throughout his entire school year which fits the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. In addition, Charlie avoids talking about going through these traumatic experiences. He refuses to talk about what happened to his best friend and his aunt.

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884 Words | 4 Pages

The most discussed example of mental illness in the novel and film is depression. Stereotypically, a person suffering from this is depicted similarly to Charlie- an introverted and

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1046 Words | 5 Pages

1. The Perks of being a Wallflower is a story about a high school freshman named Charlie. Through the entire novel Charlie is writing letters addressed to an anonymous friend. In these letters, he talks about his journey throughout his first year in high school. Where he experiences everything for the first time – first dates, family drama, drugs and new friends. In other words; growing up.

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1917 Words | 8 Pages

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder develops in some people who have gone through distressing, dangerous, or startling events. According to Psychology Today, the symptoms of the disorder can range from mild to severe, but often include flashbacks to the event, nightmares, and or stressful thoughts. Furthermore, sexual assault accounts for the highest PTSD rates in both men and women, yet on screen, it is normally depicted as a war-driven disorder. In the film, Charlie suffers from PTSD due

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576 Words | 3 Pages

For example, on page 299, “I felt sick inside as I looked at his dull, vacuous smile, the wide bright eyes of a child, uncertain but easy to please. And I had been laughing at him too. Suddenly, I was furious at myself and all those who were laughing at him.” Here, Charlie was realizing that people were mean and rude to people who weren’t like them. That people looked down to people who were different than them or not as smart.

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598 Words | 3 Pages

Other instances include when Charlie walked in on his sister and her boyfriend having sex, when he watches his friend hook up with numerous men, and when he remembers that he was molested by his aunt as a child. Each of these situations are explained in detail, not sensitizing any of them in the least. These instances have caused many people to deem the entire book as inappropriate and even borderline

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1494 Words | 6 Pages

Charlie in The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a freshmen in high school battling depression, and having no friends. Charlie finds his identity through his new friends and his first romantic relationship. The Perks of Being a Wallflower represented adolescence and the developmental challenges it bring in an accurate way. The Perks of Being a Wallflower can be very helpful to adolescents who are going through a difficult year of high school, or battling any kind of mental illness.

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834 Words | 4 Pages

After a large meta-analysis has been conducted following traumatic events, the results showed a consistent association between avoidance coping and psychological distress (Bekes, Beaulieu-Prevost, Guay, Belleville, & Marchand, 2016). This gives some understanding to why Charlie seems like he is almost always in psychological distress. He copes by attempting to avoid any situation that reminds him of his family. By doing so, his post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms only worsen.

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737 Words | 3 Pages

In the modern day, segregation in schools occurs too often in schools across America. This division has created the claim that “segregation in schools makes sense”, although inaccurate, this statement was created by African Americans deteriorated morals from segregation, segregation of races in their residences, and the lack of integration in public schools. It is no coincidence that racist attitudes exist when segregation exists in today's schools, causing prejudice individuals to encourage this division, claiming it makes sense. W.E.B. Dubois, an advocate for African American integration in white public schools reported the detrimental affect segregation has on its students. This generation of inferiority propelled students to believe

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