Their bodies are often very rigid and stiff, and unwilling to move. Occasionally, these people have peculiar movements like facial grimacing or strange postures.
Or, they might mimic a word or phrase just spoken by another person. People with catatonic schizophrenia are at increased risk of malnutrition, exhaustion, or self-inflicted injury. What Causes Schizophrenia?
The exact cause of schizophrenia is not yet known. It is known, however, that schizophrenia — like cancer and diabetes — is a real illness with a biological basis. It is not the result of bad parenting i. Researchers have uncovered a number of factors that appear to play a role in the development of schizophrenia, including:. Genetics heredity : Schizophrenia tends to run in families , which means the likelihood to develop schizophrenia may be passed on from parents to their children.
Brain chemistry : People with schizophrenia may have an imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain. They may be either very sensitive to or produce too much of a brain chemical called dopamine.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a substance that helps nerve cells in the brain send messages to each other.
An imbalance of dopamine affects the way the brain reacts to certain stimuli, such as sounds, smells, and sights and can lead to hallucinations and delusions.
Brain abnormality : Newer research has found abnormal brain structure and function in people with schizophrenia. Environmental factors : Evidence suggests that certain environmental factors, such as a viral infection, poor social interactions, or highly stressful situations, may trigger schizophrenia in people who have inherited a tendency to develop the disorder.
Schizophrenia more often surfaces when the body is undergoing hormonal and physical changes, such as those that occur during the teen and young adult years.
How Is Schizophrenia Diagnosed? If symptoms of schizophrenia are present, a physician will perform a complete medical history and physical exam. While there are no laboratory tests to specifically diagnose schizophrenia, a physican may use various tests, such as X-rays and blood tests, to rule out a physical illness as the cause of the symptoms. If a physican finds no physical reason for the schizophrenia symptoms, he or she may refer the person to a psychiatrist or psychologist- mental health professionals who are specially trained to diagnose and treat mental illnesses, and use specially designed interview and assessment tools for their evaluation.
A person is considered to have schizophrenia if he or she has characteristic symptoms that last for at least six months. Can Schizophrenia Be Prevented? And we're straight up told by Thomas what defines each of the swans. The Black Swan is about seduction, imprecision, effortlessness, lack of control, letting go, an evil twin, someone with bite.
As we see Nina in those backstage moments, it's easy to read her mood swings as a complete psychological break. But it could also be representative of an artist inhabiting their character in order to perform to the best of their ability and even approach perfection.
To dance the part of the Black Swan, Nina allowed herself to fall under a spell. She drove herself to that darkness. By letting go, she surprised herself, surprised everyone else, and found transcendence.
To reach that state, she stopped rejecting the pressure and duress of her career and mother. Instead, she let it devour her. She gave into her urges and rage. She allowed the repressed part of her to emerge. At first in the mirror, but then in reality. That dichotomy explains the hallucinations we see. On the whole, the hallucinations serve to coax out of Nina either the fear and fragility of the White Swan or the darkness and negative energy of the Black Swan.
A lot of the time it's a mixture of the two. The hallucinations ramp up for a reason: Nina's getting into character, and the closer we are to the performance the more in character she has to be. The night of show, of course, she's at her most psychologically broken. Superficially, it's because she's overwhelmed by everything that's happened: the pressure of the role, the pressure from her mom, the years of psychological deterioration, the mix of paranoia and sexual confusion regarding Lily.
It's a lot. But what's scary is that this is also what she wants, it's a choice. Nina's such a perfectionist that in order to perform as the Swan Queen, as the best version of the Swan Queen, she needs to embody the character completely. So it's kind of like she lets herself be consumed by all of these emotions in order to bolster the performance.
Real fast, I do love that Nina's dropped during her White Swan performance. It increases the fragility and fear because it's a huge flaw in the overall show. But at the same time, that kind of imperfection is part of what Thomas tells her makes for a perfect performance.
So she applies that lesson to increase the vulnerability and fragility of her White Swan character in the moments before the Black Swan emerges. With most of the hallucinations, the movie tells us what happened. Like we're told Lily never stayed the night with Nina. We know Nina's legs didn't break backward because she can walk perfectly fine the next morning.
There are two hallucinations we really don't get an answer to. Did Nina see Lily and Thomas hooking up after hours? And did Nina stab Beth? With Lily and Thomas, the answer probably doesn't matter much. Nina wants to be Lily, as Lily is her role model for the Black Swan. So it's likely that Nina imagined Lily and Thomas together because it helps her imagine herself and Thomas together. It's part of her growing sexuality, while also being part of the fear and fragility she needs as the White Swan.
So for Nina, it's a win-win. With Nina and Beth. I honestly don't know. I imagine if she had stabbed Beth, we would have heard someone mention it the next day, the same way we heard about Beth getting hit by the car. With Beth, we see Beth use the shoe knife on her own face which then becomes Nina's face , causing Nina to run to the elevator.
In the elevator, Nina's holding the shoe knife. The implication is Nina attacked Beth. Which is why we think, later, Nina attacked Lily. But since it turns out Nina just stabbed herself and Lily was never in the room Given Nina's insanity levels, it could just be she imagined the whole thing—the shoe knife was still on the table, no one had ever touched it.
She could have cut herself somewhere though we never see it. Or she really could have stabbed Beth. It's a "is the glass half full or half empty" kind of situation. We don't have enough information to say conclusively one way or another what the truth is, meaning that it's up to each of our own interpretations. Personally, I could see Nina attacking Beth as a precursor to her harming herself, also as a means of sealing her own fate—if she doesn't go through with the "perfect" performance then what awaits her is prison.
But I think more likely is that she just imagined it as part of her ramp up to the performance. Overall, the main takeaway from the Beth scene would be, I'd argue, how it plays into the concept of perfection. As Nina tells Beth, "I was just trying to be perfect like you. I'm not perfect. I'm nothing. If it's Nina attacking Beth, that'd be because Nina's so violently against the ideal of imperfection and ending up imperfect that she tries to destroy the representation of that fate which is why she sees herself imposed on Beth.
There you have it. I hope this was helpful. I think if you re-watch Black Swan after reading this, then the movie is going to feel way more obvious in what it's doing and why. If there are any other questions you have, then please leave a comment and I'll get back to you!
Thanks for reading. Chris Lambert is co-founder of Colossus. He writes about complex movie endings, narrative construction, and how movies connect to the psychology of our day to day lives. View all posts. Join our movie club to get similar movie recommendations and stories delivered to your inbox every Friday.
Hi Chris, Good day. I just wanted to thank you for sharing your insight into what is a great movie. I had just finished watching Black Swan after having not seen it for at least 5 years and the question I had concerning the plot and what was real and what was just imagined arose again. I must have watched this movie half a dozen times when it first came out. Aronofsky is defiantly in my top 10 directors and I have seen most of his work I saw Pi when it first came out and was impressed but what really got me was Requiem for a Dream, which I consider to be a masterpiece.
I love to read about the subtext and not so obvious messages some movies are able to provide and you did a great job in answering all the questions I have had for a long time about a great movie. Please keep up the great work. Thank you. Was Nina really the black swan or was all that in her head? Did she really sleep with Lily or was that in her too?
I just have so many questions. If you could answer them that would mean the world to me. So I just watched the actual ballet, Swan Lake after having watched the movie about 3 or 4 times. While the ballet originally has the two parts, the white swan and the black swan, increasingly, both parts are danced by the same ballerina. The few parts where the two dancers would appear onstage together have been gradually removed and merged into a part of just one dancer.
Which begs the question, did Lily ever exist at all? Karen-I had the same thought process regarding lily. Or Lily could be real, but just simply a soloist. I thought Lily was a hallucination multiple times while watching. I think there are multiple scenes that allude to this interpretation. Half of the article is about The Wrestler. They are two different movies. Yeah but after watching Black Swan, I have a question regarding the relationship between Nina and her mother.
Was Nina abused by her mother? Was her mother jealous of her? He has included a few clips from the movie! Also what was the point of the lipstick, like what did it symbolize? Nina stole the lipstick to be more like Beth. My question is Does Nina really die at the end of the movie? She actually stabbed herself. She dies at the end, just like how the white swan kills herself at the end of the performance.
The ballet performance in the movie are supposed to parallel. Not necessarily. I think that both Aronofsky and Portman have said that Lily survives. What dies what she killed! Thomas and the dancers run to get help immediately, putting pressure on the wound fights the bleeding, and Lincoln Center is across the street from a hospital.
She was the black swan, in a Tyler Durst role. Pulling out the very essence of the passion Nina needed in order to sacrifice herself for the art. I only noticed this on my third viewing. Annie—Thomas introduces Lily in one of her first scenes as having flown straight in from SF.
Lots of side characters acknowledge her presence. There are moments where Lillys character even denies things that Nina was hallucinating. It was getting to her head that Lily wanted her spot, and she saw her face more and more. Thanks for such an in-depth analysis of Black Swan. I wanted answers behind the story plot and yours was the first article that appeared and the only one I needed to read. Referring to a great review in the N Y Times — we were in an elevator going to the fifth floor in the Hotel Ansonia.
Yes, I identified with Nina because she was me and I was her. First you were the mortal enemy of any baritone who roamed the face of the earth. Being hit on by everyone from Mr. X at Columbia to divos and divas backstage or in the coffee shops of Broadway.
If you sang like a God and I did, and you were drop dead good looking and I was — you were red meat. This was the asphalt jungle. Take away the green and smell of the jungles of Vietnam and you have just as deadly a theater to play in. The psychological abuse is rampant — whether tolerated from a jealous teacher who was a flunky tenor and became a member of the New York Vocal Teachers Association, or an overpriced coach playing for one of your auditions at City Opera.
The undermining comments were the same. I entered the stage from stage left and looked out to see someone who was supposed to be the director behind the glare of the stage lights under the balcony. Schizophrenia is a mental disease in which reality emerge as confusing. Schizophrenia most often comes in late minority or early adulthood.
Through my own evaluation, the protagonist of the movie, Jody Sawyer, goes through many personal and social difficulties in the duration of her journey to earn a place at the American Ballet Company. Jody exhibits strength and determination to fulfill her role as an elite ballet dancer whilst going through her own personal struggles.
Conversely, there are some inspiring and memorable scenes throughout the movie which highlight how a passion for dance and hard work pays off. Jody is given the opportunity to perform in a major role for an audience of thousands, which earns her a standing ovation and a place as the principal dancer in the new Cooper Nielsen…. Another difference between a person with schizophrenia versus a person without schizophrenia would be personality. A simulated video of what it is like being a person with schizophrenia shows one having anxiety from the voices they hear and constant negative thoughts.
If someone with schizophrenia were to take a personality test, the results may show a high score in neuroticism. A high score in neuroticism means the person may not be as emotionally secure as someone who scores lower in the same category. The person with schizophrenia could also be more insecure.
The story is based in one princess that was enchanted by a witch to be a White Swan, and only a love could avoid this, but her bad sister, the Black Swan, seduces the man the princess loved, and knowing this the White Swan kill herself. Nina, the dancer, has mental problems, because her behavior was not normal. She had unreal thoughts and visions, hurting herself, especially in her nails, seeing herself in mirrors with other face and movements that she had not done, and….
While there is no percent effective treatment, there are very beneficial treatment options which vary from person to person. Depression is a very serious mental health disease, which if left untreated can lead to even further problems down the road.
While people often feel sad, lonely, or down, having too much of these feelings is a sign of depression. Often times people with depression do not know why they feel so sad or down, they just do with…. Essays Essays FlashCards. Browse Essays. Sign in.
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