Meg Griffin

**Megatron "Meg" Griffin** is the oldest child of Peter and Lois Griffin, and the sister of Chris and Stewie. She is currently attending James Woods Regional High School as a Senior.

## Dangerous Behavior

Despite generally being emotionally fragile and meek, yet at the same time, passive and kind-hearted, and notably more well-behaved than her siblings and more thoughtful than the rest of her overall family, Meg has, from time to time, shown a surprisingly darker side from her generally well-natured character, often triggered by the family and other people's coldness and contempt for her. In "Untitled Griffin Family History", Meg is charged for forcing herself upon a group of would-be captors and grows violently obsessed with Brian after a drunken kiss at the Junior Prom in "Barely Legal". In the same episode, Meg threatens to commit suicide when nobody at school would be her date to the prom and she also tells her parents that she's going upstairs to eat a whole bag of peanuts. When her parents stare at her blankly, she cries, "I'm allergic to peanuts!" in "The Kiss Seen Around the World".

Meg also speaks of habitually cutting herself and throwing up after meals. Meg's dangerous behavior, however obvious, is rarely noticed by her parents even when stated. Such as in "Sibling Rivalry" after Lois had her fat removed she states to Meg, that eating to solve ones problems is the wrong thing to do, apparently referencing that she's somewhat fat, while complimenting Chris's hat despite him being the one who is overly obese. In this Meg replies, "I don't eat to solve my problems, I cut myself."

Peter also doesn't pay attention when she loses her temper and assaults a man who crashed into the back of the car while driving him, Cleveland, Joe and Quagmire around when they have been drinking in "Road to Rupert". He exclaims that her actions were "awesome" and this leads to her engaging in other erratic behavior to impress him. In "Dial Meg for Murder", Meg was desperate enough to date a criminal. Meg later stated no one cares about her while robbing Mort's Pharmacy and knocking Peter's teeth out and rapidly beating him. In "Go, Stewie, Go!", she rips out one of her teeth to prove that she is tougher than Lois. In "April in Quahog", it's alluded that she strangles stray cats. In "Road to the North Pole" she wishes for "softer voices" in her head.

It is possible that Meg has a type of mental illness similar to Borderline Personality Disorder. Meg has exhibited behaviors that closely match the diagnostic criteria for BPD, as described by the Fourth Volume of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV):

*A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, as well as marked impulsivity, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:*

1. Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment (excluding suicidal behaviors).
2. A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation.
3. Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self. - Claims to be a lesbian in "Brian Sings and Swings" to be accepted in their group, easily swayed by religious recruitment.
4. Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging, excluding suicidal behaviors.
5. Recurrent suicidal gestures, threats, or self-injuring behavior. Meg admits that she cuts herself in "Sibling Rivalry", threatens suicide in "Barely Legal" and "The Kiss Seen Around the World".
6. Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood. Flattened affect (lamp scene) in "Barely Legal".
7. Chronic feelings of emptiness.
8. Inappropriate anger or difficulty controlling anger. - Has frequent outbursts, particularly at her parents in "Peter's Two Dads".
9. Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation, delusions, or severe dissociative symptoms. She became deluded into thinking that Brian in "Barely Legal" and Joe in "The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair" are in love with her.