The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, better known as PTSD, is a mental health disorder. This disorder can be caused by either witnessing, experiencing, or hearing of a traumatic event. This may include but is not limited to: a death of a loved one, attempted murder, rape, and abuse. While treatment and recovery rates vary for everyone, it is possible for PTSD to be either acute or chronic. Symptoms may also manifest differently in victims, ranging from being startled easily or “jumpy” to severe panic attacks, mood disorders, and insomnia. In this essay, I will be exploring the causes, effects, and treatments of PTSD and the portrayal of it in the entertainment industry. I will specifically be reviewing The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which tells

These may include recurring intrusive thoughts, feelings, or memories of the traumatic event, either while awake or dreaming, as well as flashbacks, vivid reactions in which one feels as if they were experiencing the traumatic event all over again. People with PTSD may avoid situations or stimuli that might trigger the recollection of the event and may also experience a number of persistent cognitive symptoms, such as a distorted self-image and self-blame associated with the trauma, and persistent emotional and physiological reactivity” (MheReaderUI, n.d.). By this definition, as well as the symptoms and reactions, I believe that The Perks of a Wallflower accurately portrays this illness. In the movie, Charlie is shown as an introvert and socially avoidant, not talking to anyone but his family during the summer. We are informed that he spent two months in a mental hospital, after he learned his

Charlie unfortunately falls victim to this fact. Throughout the movie, we see that while he is mildly antisocial and socially awkward, Charlie attempts to talk to, and befriend those around him. Despite his efforts, he is still seen as weird and is treated as though he is a freak. However, Charlie finally gains these friends, who are also outcasts, but make him feel seen nonetheless. When he attains and loses this, he is left alone, and once again we see that having society look down upon you can be very detrimental. Charlie begins to spiral, not being able to “turn it off” this time. Following his sexual encounter with Sam leading to his remembering of the abuse, and with the departure of Sam and Patrick to college, Charlie has a mental episode. During which he has continuous flashbacks of all the traumatic events he has endured. This in turn fed into this spiral, in which he calls her sister and asks her if he was the reason she died, feeling as though he was. In this event, we can see that Charlie is exhibiting traits of distorted blame. This is also a reaction to trauma, where one begins to believe they were at fault or the cause of the trauma they witnessed, endured, or were informed of. These thoughts and feelings lead to one of the biggest climaxes in this story – Charlie walking towards a knife on his table. In the next scene we switch immediately to him sitting in a hospital