Winnie The Pooh Psychology

Piglet, one of the major beloved characters of the children’s movie The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, has all the symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Generalized Anxiety Disorder falls under the category of Anxiety Disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), which states the diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder is Excessive or ongoing anxiety or worry, for at least three months, in relation to 2 or more events, restlessness and/or muscle tension, behavior may be affected by anxiety and worry, and significant distress or impairment. Piglet, throughout the film is dealing with a variety of situations that cause him a great deal of anxiety and worry. In nature Piglet is also naturally jumpy,

In this film, Piglet shows considerable stress related to any kind of weather changes. Earlier in the film Piglet became very anxious and worried about it becomes very rainy and his home begins to fill with water. He was trying his hardest to stay in his home and keep the water and weather outside, but he was unsuccessful. Another example of this anxious behavior related to weather is on a fall windy day. Piglet is very worried about blowing away and being “taken up”. The language that he uses suggests that he feels that the wind is going to consume him, showing his overwhelming need to stay away from this wind. Another situation that Piglet found anxiety provoking was the discussion and the existence of jagulars in the Hundred Acre Woods. Jagular’s are similar to tigers and are, according the rest of the movie’s characters, as fearsome and frightening, but never mentioned to be harmful. Piglet avoids looking up to the sky, even when he hears something above him, due to the fact that he is worried that a jagular will jump on him. It is seen that Piglet views most, if not all, of the situations in his life as anxiety provoking due to the way that he perceives two of the major aspects of his everyday life. It can be seen that these two activities that are causing Piglet stress are

While it is never explicitly stated that Piglet has this disorder, he does meet all of the diagnostic criteria. It is interesting to look at the other characters of the film and see then many of them also have symptoms of mental illness, making the assumption that the lack of relationship with parents and animals of their species may be the cause. Winnie the Pooh shows signs of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder through the recurrent counting of his honey pots every time that he leaves the house. Eeyore can be seen having many of the symptoms compatible with depression which include little interest or pleasure in doing things, feeling tired and having little energy, feeling bad or down about yourself, and moving and speaking so slowly that other people notice. While none of these characters are explicitly diagnosed in the movie, they all meet the diagnostic criteria. The information that has been used to make these diagnosis was not presented in a way that draws attention to them, but, if attention is properly drawn to these areas it can be very beneficial for those who watch