Half Way There on Their Portrayal of Mental Illness

Rating: 5/10 (13 July 2014)

The film 'Silver Linings Playbook' undoubtedly had flaws in its depiction of mental illness, though there were portions of the various illnesses that the creator set out to depict that were very well done.
While I am no expert, the manic phases that Pat went through were quite accurate and upon speaking to people with more personal experience with bipolar than myself, they said that those parts felt very familiar. On the other hand, there was no substantial mention of depressive phases, Pat instead went between Angry (a form of mania) and Energetic (another form of mania). Also, while the depression that Tiffany went through in the past sounded very typical, during the time frame of the film there was nothing to suggest that she was any more than a moody young person. Danny, in the short snippets of the film that he featured, did a fairly good job of portraying OCD and given more time on screen he could perhaps have been the most accurate representation of someone who was going through a mental illness. It seemed that Silver Linings Playbook was half way there in their portrayal of mental illness, simultaneously displaying and completely avoiding aspects of life with a mental illness so for that it deserves a 5 out of 10.