MovieChat Forums > Mad Love (1995) Discussion > What do you think her real psychiatric i...

What do you think her real psychiatric illness was???

posted 18 years ago by ndonges5
21 replies | jump to latest

I watched this movie tonight and I wondered if anyone else noticed that she showed signs of more than "Clinical Depression" I think that she was bipolar with also borderline personality disorder. There were also some areas that paranoid schizophrenic where also appropriate. I think that the movie shows the confusion people have when they don't understand true psychiatric illness. Great movie!!! Any other psych majors out there that want to discuss???

[–] maniclife 18 years ago

Why did they keep saying she is clinically depressed or has clinical depression, which she did , but there was a hell of a lot more to it than that. For this movie to mislead the uninformed public about the extent of her illness was irresponsible.

She was manic a lot in the film and clearly bipolar. She may have even been schizoaffective which is the more extreme case of bipolar disorder as it has traits of schizophrenia as well.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] KAnnD86 18 years ago

Yeah. It definitely seemed like she was manic-depressive. Maybe when her mom said she was clinically depressed, she was referring to how she was at the moment Matt was calling. Not really a good explanation... but possible. She could've known she was off her meds for long enough to be in a depressed state by then.

Tomorrow's just your future yesterday!

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[–] Aceisannoyingforever 18 years ago

I have boarderline personality disorder and boarderline schitzoid disorder and I understood how she felt in the parts when she was around all the people and feeling overwhelmed, like when she was waiting by the car while he went into the store to get her that outfit and in the restaraunt, I don't have as bad as her character that I snap like she did but it can still get to me.

Quote from my daughter "I can't pick up anymore toys mom, I'm not an octopus you know"

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[–] Moekat1318 18 years ago

To be honest, I don't think she seemed that messed up in the movie. Yea, I agree with paranoid schizophrenia at times and definitely bipolar disorder. I don't know, I think they could've done a better job at making her mentally ill.

[–] 0-enigma-0 18 years ago

She was in my opinion Manic Depressive and also at times she seemed emotionally disturbed and unstable. I think they did a good job at making her mentally ill.

[–] maryh91162 17 years ago

She definitely has borderline personality disorder (all that acting out); and i think that facination with the eyes of people (and the magazines), from what i've learned might lean toward schizophrenia

[–] kiradl 16 years ago

I always thought she was bipolar the way she went from over-the-top highs to the serious lows. I've seen bipolar and when people are manic they can be completely out of control, irrational, obsessed, etc. I don't know why they insist she was just depressed.

[–] lissa100771-1 16 years ago

She reminded me of my Mom, who is Bipolar and has slight schizophrenia. ESPECIALLY how she acted when she was gluing those eyes to the walls of the place they were staying.

It was not, after all, so easy to die.

[–] LizardKingBey 14 years ago

she had a borderline personality disorder. trust me i would know. and they did a GREAT job at portraying her illness.

Shake your derrière in them Deréon.

[–] indiefilmslover 13 years ago

Yes they did. It was dead on, i would know, not only did I study mental illness in college and in my own free time, I have Borderline Personality Disorder and know how it feels. I can tell you they did do a great job of portraying her illness. This movie must have been created by a Borderline.

[–] BulmaPunkRocker 10 years ago

I don't think so. I had been missdiagnosed more than once with Borderline PD, but I do not have that illness. Shrinks gets confused because I still have some issues regarding PTSD and I do have major clinical depression.
To shrinks, almost everyone is "borderline". Drew's character seems to have Bipolar Depression (aka Manic-Depression).

Please excuse my terrible redaction, english is not my native language.

[–] indiefilmslover 13 years ago

Absolutely without a doubt i know this was Borderline Personality disorder. I've studied it in and out in college and on my own time so I know. Also i have Borderline, i can't see them doing a better job at portraying it, it was nearly flawless in every way possible. The families, Chris O'Donnell character, the effect on the families, perfect. I ran my boyfriend through the ringer just like Drew, did the same things almost, have the same behavior yet not as bad now. I saw myself in Drew's character, she was absolutely brilliant.

[–] TongueFu 11 years ago

Her problem is too much Drew and not enough Barrymore.

[–] BulmaPunkRocker 10 years ago

Remember the time when everyone was diagnosed with Bi-polar Depression? nOw everyone is diagnosed with "Borderline Personality Disorder". I had been missdiagnosed more than once, just because they confused some older issues regarding my PTSD and my major depression.
I think Drew's character have Bi-Polar Depression (aka manic-depression) and some personality disorder (no need to be borderline, could be schyzotype, paranoid, etc, you name it, there it is).

Please excuse my terrible redaction, english is not my native language.