I don't believe the specific, clinical form of mental illness that Virginia Cunningham suffered from was identified in the film. "Nervous breakdown", of course, really doesn't provide much information. I'd be grateful if anyone can provide this information, or identify the mental condition that Mary Jane Ward, the author of the autobiographical novel the film is based on, actually suffered from.
shareI would guess some type of anxiety disorder.
It's more than likely she has Generalized Anxiety Disorder just by looking at her symptoms. It might also be a personality disorder such as paranoid personality disorder.
I'm doing a paper on it for my psych class.
I've always read that Mary Jane Ward spent some time in a few state hospitals because she had a "nervous breakdown" and the exact sort of illness she had was never specified. In her book, THE SNAKE PIT, she never specified either.
The film writers decided to make Virginia Cunningham a schizophrenic (split personality) who suffered from a guilt complex and they devised the death of her fiance (Gordon) and her father (whom she loved). She felt responsible for their deaths, when in actuality she wasn't responsible at all.
Although her illness is never mentioned by name in the film, Dr. Kik does give her some lengthy explanations of how it all started, going back to her childhood and family relationships, etc.
A "split personality" would be a manic-depressive disorder, which alternates between moods of mania (euphoria) and strong feelings of depression. A schizophrenic is one who suffers delusions, hallucinations, and incoherent conversations.
But it's difficult to determine Virginia's specific mental illness in the film.
A schizophrenic is what the writers made Virginia and this is documented in many articles about the film. Olivia herself said (while doing research at a mental institution): "I met a young woman who was very much like Virginia, about the same age and physical description, as well as being a schizophrenic with guilt problems." And Time magazine said: "The writers decided to make Virginia a schizophrenic, suffering from the most common of serious mental diseases. As the source of her discomfort, they chose inadequate parents, who burdened her with a guilt complex plus a father fixation...The case history was worked out with three prominent psychiatrists, and experts claim that it is accurate and typical."
And Peter, if you do a Google search on Olivia's name with "schizophrenic" added, you'll find a lot of places where her illness is identified primarily under that category of mental illnesses.
At another point in the Time article it states: "The picture is more specious than convincing when it tries to tell us that schizophrenia is "somthing that can happen to anyone".
I'm surprised that you don't agree. The term doesn't just mean "split personality" in the narrow sense of that word which is what you are focusing on. The more general "split" is between normal behavior and psychotic behavior.
Another article suggests that she is a "paranoid schizophrenic" hearing voices behind her, misidentifying people (even her own husband), suspecting them of being someone else or changing into someone else (delusions) and including the guilt complex. I think paranoid schizo is probably the best description of all.
Even though this is a response to a rather old post, I thought that I'd respond.
This movie was made in 1948, long before any of the currently recognized mental illnesses were classified. Even though they may have referred to the character as schizophrenic at the time, it may not be the proper classification any longer.
Mania, paranoia, and even breaks from reality are dissociative and not necessarily schizophrenic.
The fact alone that the character is recovered at the end of the film implies that she didn't have schizophrenia, because there is no way that a person can be cured of that particular disorder, given that it is related to the functioning of the brain. It can be regulated nowadays, but back then, regulation of schizoprenia didn't happen. People can however recover from dissociative disorders and manic episodes through therapy.
I can look the symptoms up in a DSM IV-TR if you wish.
Trespassers will be shot
Survivors will be shot again
Anyone who survives is invited to dinner
Exactly, the viewers are seeking a classification from a system that came into existence after the movie. The commentary track says it's schizophrenia.
shareit is amazing how many people confuse schizophrenia with dissociative identity disorder.
shareMy point exactly. People who seem to act like they know what they are talking about classify Schizophrenia and Dissociative Personality Disorder (new term for multiple personalities) as the same. I don't know where that came from exactly.
Schizophrenics don't "have multiple identities"...they hear voices, have delusions and hallucinations. They will speak in a language they create themselves from the altered thought process running through their brain. Their brain make-up is actually altered. There is no cure. But it can be regulated with medication. A paranoid Schizophrenic (best one to have if you have it) thinks everyone is talking about them, out to get them, the voices can tell them things to support this and ways they should act out.
Dissociative Identity Disorder is where, usually from a trauma in childhood, the pt's personality or identity breaks..and one or more new personalities appear to "protect" the original (weaker) personality. The "extra" personalities are aware of the "primary" personality...but the "original" or "primary" personality is NOT aware that they have other personalities. They will report "lost time" and "black outs" when these other personalities come to the surface, usually to protect them from a real or imagined threat.
I have seen both of these types of patients and they are very different...but can coincide in one person. I think perhaps Virginia, if diagnosed today, would be Dissociative, with schizotypal, but she certainly wouldn't just "get better" and walk out one day because she realized her past. It would take a combination of therapy and anti-psychotics. But for a movie that was soooo groundbreaking for it's time, to reveal the treatment of mental patients...it was amazing.
I've been watching this movie and came here to see what it was she had. It was definitely NOT manic depression. Personally I don't think there was anything wrong with her except she didn't conform to the "type" of woman of the time period. For a while I thought she was being gaslighted. If she had anything, it seems as if it might be anxiety.
shareFunny, I just watched the movie too about 30 min. ago on tmc. Good film for its date.
There was something definately wrong mentally with Virginia, but remember in those days they knew practically nothing. Psychotropic drugs had not come out and the sources of their barbaric treatments were electric shock and ice baths.
"Long days and pleasant nights"
King
True. I can remember as a kid back in the 50s and 60s, sometimes a friend's mother would "go away" because she had a "nervous breakdown", which even to me as a kid made no sense. As an adult I suspected it covered a range of things like alcoholism, prescription drug abuse, or even just being fed up a spouses's affair or the fact that she might have been stuck in a bad marriage with no hope of supporting herself.
shareIn the end of the film, when she goes to Staff again, one of the head doctors seems surprised that Dr Kik (?) has used and been sucessful with Psychoanalysis almost exclusively...I think it was a new thing for the time and they doubted it's use.
shareThey still know practically nothing.
Let's just say that God doesn't believe in me.
I can more or less guess where the treatment of mental illness via electric shock came from, but wonder how, or why, anyone came to think cold or ice baths were helpful.
shareYou have hit it square on. She was another of those women who did not conform to the norms of her time. Notice how she says she's a writer and they either don't believe her, don't take her seriously, or act like this means she thinks she is superior to others. This is brought out even more in the book.
There are lots of books written by and about women who develop anxiety and other psychological symptoms due to society's expectations and repressions. You could feel "crazy" even if you were not. Seeing through society's lies and having everybody deny it. I know a lot of people have gotten real help from counseling and psychotherapy when the doctors are good, but there's still too much of psychiatry that is male authority figures in charge telling women what to think, be and feel.
Let's just say that God doesn't believe in me.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's novella "The Yellow Wallpaper" was another, earlier example of that which you're speaking.
Interestingly, the main character in that was also a woman writer.
I quit reading the replies after a few minutes because they were becoming more and more incorrect so if someone actually pointed out the true mental illness, I'm sorry for being redundant.
Some people mentioned "multiple personalities," "Schizophrenia," and "Manic-depressive" disorder.
Schizophrenia is a separate disease and it does not involve multiple personalities or manic-depressive disorder. It is a disease where the patient hears voices, and may also have other auditory or visual disturbances. Their thought process is very skewed...many more details, but the main one is "voices" that often tell them to do things.
Manic-depressive is now called "Bipolar." It is where the pt has a range from one extreme to the other ...Mania, or highs, and deep depressive lows.
Multiple Personalities...is different as well. It is where the pt's personality has actually "split" usually due to some trauma in childhood. The "original" personality is often frail and needed protecting, thus the other personality or personalities arise. (Think "Sybil" with Sally Field)
What is really hard to get at from watching a movie made so long ago, is what her clear cut diagnosis would be. "Nervous breakdown" does not tell you very much. It definitely was not GAD, or General Anxiety Disorder, as someone suggested. The DSM-IV-12 manual for categorizing all Psychiatric Illness has 5 "Axis" diagnosis... so she would actually have been given and Axis I--Clinical disorders, Axis II- Personality disorder or Mental Retardation, Axis III- General Medical Condition, Axis IV- Psychosocial and environmental problems, Axis V- GAF (Global Assessment of Functioning)
If I had to guess I would say she was possibly A Dissociative Personality Disorder with Schizotypal tendencies...but it's really hard to tell from a movie.
I love Olivia de Havilland though and agree she should have won the Oscar.
Sorry to go on about Psychology. Just finished my Psych rotations and thought I'd clear up about a millionth of what there is in that field. (:
I find this very interesting because as I watch this movie, I see more and more symptoms that could be caused by head injury or other organic cause. I have a genetic disease, with episodic memory lapses, dementia, labile anger, and other fun stuff that looks like mental illness (though responds to specific non-psychotropic medicine for my disease). I've had the psi diagnosis in the ER when I have gone in due to exacerbation. Only a significant amount of paperwork and return to normal function have kept me out of such a place as in the movie.
Another case is a friend with Alzheimer's who has multiple physical symptoms, but the focus is on the mental illness aspects. It's like the lack of manual dexterity and speech problems are written off as mental illness too.
Anyway, I wonder about multiple concussion syndrome causing such symptoms as the woman in the movie had (the memory loss in particular, emotional lability also). As someone who has run the gamut from 100% "on board" to can't tie my shoes or recognize them, perspective and proper diagnosis is a very interesting issue.
I think too that she behaves like someone who migh have an organic brain disorder, maybe an infection in her brain has made her like this or a brain tumor (I have met a person with brain tumor who behaved almost like her, very confused, loss of memory, hallucinations and agressive), she could have some kind of dementia too (even if her symptoms seems to have come too fast for that) but her behavior reminded me very much of people I have met with dementia . Or maybe even a head trauma might cause this (don't know). With this kind of behavior like hers people need to see more than just the typical mental illnesses, she definitely did not only have anxiety disorder but something more, of course very likely she had a meltdown and severe depression even if it must be very uncommon to forget your husband, unless it was because of him or that she couldn't face al the stress with her new life. I doubt about schizofrenia.
shareIt looked to me like depression and really bad panic attacks.
I went to school with a guy with multiple personalities (we're still in touch) and he was a sane person, or people. He says it's nothing like Sybil and some day he and his "family" want to write a short book and set the record straight.
Don't forget your tsvets!
I'm jumping into this discussion late in the game -- is there any possibility that her mental instability was caused by the car accident in which she lived and he didn't? Blocking out the incident, in addition to feelings of guilt for her survival? Just sayin'. And in those days, that kind of anxiety was little understoon, and so as a result, she was "sheltered" in a state hospital.
share>> (Think "Sybil" with Sally Field)
Better not. That whole story has been debunked. The patient and doctor admitted that they fabricated it to get attention and money.
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Please put some dashes above your sig line so I won't think it's part of your dumb post.
The news articles of the time claimed schizophrenia a mental condition that has several different subtypes.
I kept trying to guess what she had while watching the movie. I went with Manic depressive/bi-polar disorder but was not exactly comfortable with that. What I saw was a hodgepodge of several different types of mental illness.
Like the other posters here stated, schizophrenia cannot be cured but it can be treated with medication to the point where a person suffering from it does not have to be hospitalized.
It was not her main condition, but there was an element of Capgras syndrome when Virginia was mistrusting her husband, thinking it was somebody else impersonating him.
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