Vivi's Mental Illness: What's the name?


Does anyone know of the name of Vivi's mental illness? I haven't seen this movie, my Father in law is dealing with some anger management issues and all I can find out is that he's got the same disorder as Vivi from the ya-ya sisterhood. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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[deleted]

| Vivi losing Sidda's twin, etc.)|

Did I miss something? I've seen this movie several times before and I just caught the entire movie, start to finish, yesterday on HBO and don't remember any mention of Sidda having a twin??





That'll do pig. That'll do.

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It was in the books, but never mentioned in the movie.



www.freerice.com

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[deleted]

I could be wrong but it seems to me that Vivi may have suffered from manic-depression, which nowadays is called bi-polar disorder. She had such extreme highs and lows so randomly that could have stemmed from all the pain in her life. Dealing with that many losses without enough time to cope with each of them in between seemed to have thrown her into a depression that was combined with a lot of anger (Depression is often times suppressed internal anger). Along with the fact that in those days, doctors didn't know what they know now about the disease (which was very taboo) and how to medicate their patients suffering with it. I wouldn't say that everyone who acts like Vivi has bi-polar, nor would I say that everyone with bi-polar will act like Vivi. It's different for everyone and I also think a lot of it was just Vivi's bold, vibrant personality. Hope this helps.

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I am a psychology doctoral student and one professor used Vivi as an example of Borderline Personality Disorder.

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I am a psychology major and I would guess Borderline Personality Disorder also.

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There is no such thing as BPD or Bipolar. Oh you can call it that but its all just a way to label normal people who have a greater ability to feel pain and anger.

There are some people who have great ability to feel pain and anger and they hate that so they welcome your assessments and all the un necessary medecine that doesnt do anything but hurt in the long run. But there are also people who like being able to have a wide range of emotions and get sick of people labeling them.

Vivi had unresolved issues. She was angry, She was sad, She was in emotional pain. She didnt have BPD.

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Ok, not to sound pissy, because we are all entitled to our opinions, but I take it you have never experienced bipolar disorder. Or if you have, maybe not a very extreme case. I'm speaking from personal experience, but when in one week you've experienced staying up all night for three days in a row being completely manic and then sunk so low that all you wanted to do was pull the covers over your head and sleep, or worse at times, you'd understand a diagnosis of Bipolar.

I didn't understand the disease of the diagnosis until I started experiencing the symptoms. Then I just thought I was going nuts. But please don't just discredit something if you haven't experienced it.

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Well im not going to say I have bi polar because I dont.
Now, many doctors have told me that I have it.
They have also called me ADD and Manic depressive and Borderline PD and ive at times been called a sociopath.

All of that is BS.

I am a woman with a wide range of emotions.
That doesnt mean I have any kind of disorder.
The word disorder implies that there is some sort of order.
Tell me what about human beings is orderly?
Tell me what is "normal".



They can call me whatever the hell they want but I prefer to be called "Stacy" or "mom" or "hunny".
Ill also take
friend
and silly and crazy
you can call me sensitive, compassionate, passionate, and emotional.
But I simply WONT accept negative names.
Im not broken and I dont need medecine.
If I need anything I need people to stop thinking people like us are messed up.
God made us all this way for a reason.


If you have been told you have BPD you should tell them to stfu.
When you are sad, embrace it. Be sad when you feel sad.
Be happy when you feel happy.


If people spent as much time adjusting their decisions and thought processes as they did seeking medication......

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[deleted]

Thanks for being rude and discouraging when im trying to empower people to stop being victims.

You sound like a traitor. What are you? a feminazi lesbo?

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I am not a victim. I was relieved when I was finally diagnosed. During my childhood, I was called stupid and many other horrible vile names. Now we know that I am extremely smart, graduated from a 2 year college with honors and was accepted into OU for pre-law, the only reason I couldn't go was I am a single mom that has to work full time. Now we know what is wrong with me, why some days I was suicidal for no apparent reason. I WAS a victim. Now I'm not. Now they have me on the right medication so that I can feel as close to normal as anyone can feel. People are entitled to their opinions, yes. But people like you are uneducated idiots. Medications saved my life. I went into a depression several years after my daughter was born that lasted for at least 2 years. Then got better, then got worse. Now I don't have that. I feel regular emotions and I don't cry at stupid commercials, or at the washing machine, or whatever else made me cry for no reason. I am bi-polar and am not afraid to admit it. Not all people with this disorder are like the crazy people who pick up guns and shoot people. Your the traitor. SO STFU! Unless you are a doctor, shut up. People like you make it hard for people like me. People like you were the ones that called me stupid as a child and said I was acting out for attention. I couldn't control my feelings back then. I can now and people like you do nothing but piss me off.

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How am I uneducated just because I dont buy into lies?

You actually dont sound ok at all. You sound angry. Do your meds not deal with angry? Only happy and sad? Re read your message, you are not controlling your feelings at all.

You might feel close to normal but your just buying into what they define as normal for you.

No I wasnt the one calling names dear. I was ALSO the one being called names and having rocks thrown at me. I have always been the underdog for people being picked on. You can ask anyone who knows me.

Youre problem doesnt seem to be meds or bi-polar. Your problem seems to be that you wont take ownership for all the crap you have caused in your life and you wont forgive the people who have caused crap for you. Your biggest problem is that you dont seem to love yourself. And no im not a doctor but it doesnt take a diploma to see things. Ive DEF walked a mile in your shoes...

I see some blame shifting in there too. You want to blame me, some random person on the other end of the world for stuff that happened to you? Who else are you blaming? Mom, Dad, God?

The only way any of us can really be happy and med free is to account for being f-ups, apologize when we are, forgive everyone who has let us down and most importantly love and FORGIVE ourselves!!!

Meds dont fix bi-polar. All they do is hide what is really there and will never go away until you deal with it.

But keep this in mind. It really only hurts for a minute and on the other side it is so much better!!!

I come in peace. I really do, and im here to talk if you want. Add me on FB if you want.

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Apologies - my last post was aimed at littlegoldwoman.

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There is no peace in you. You get a kick out of spewing your ignorance all over the internet. You are what is referred to as a TROLL.

You have no idea what kind of intense personal inventory those of us are going through. The fact that you obviously assume people who "buy" into this "witchcraft" known as science is because we want an easy way out just proves how ignorant you are. I might have to agree with the sociopathic diagnosis seeing as it is extremely apparent that you lack any sense of empathy.

And DON'T ever tell another person - especially one whom you don't even know/haven't even met - that you've DEF. walked a mile in their shoes. WTF? Seriously. Get over yourself. You're the most whacked out person on this board by far.

Lastly, it doesn't "hurt' for a minute. And what is a minute for those of you "normal" people is like days for those of us who've felt the "hurt" and if you've ever even known someone who's felt that kind of pain (and you weren't a sociopath lacking any ability to empathize with human kind) you would know that living with that kind of pain is unbearable.

I really hope that you either 1. F off or 2. have some kind of miraculous awakening. Either way, I'm off to live my full life which is nothing but getting better since I've found the right combination of medication and an awesome, understanding therapist! Best of Luck to you. Must be really HARD knowing soooo much about soooo many things and having to explain to the world how wrong it is and that your perspective is the only one that is correct because an antiquated book (and some priest or pastor who's obviously pushed his/her skewed values down your throat) told you it was.

Peace OUT!

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I actually just thought she sounded angry because people tend to get angry when talking about issues like this, and because, no offense, you seem to kind of be pushing people's buttons here. And you WERE the one who called someone a "feminazi lesbo," whatever that even means.

I'm just saying.

And frankly, you can be widely emotional without being BP, but you can also be BP. For people who are, medications can help a lot. I personally wouldn't want to rely on medications, just because it makes me a little nervous (I'm just wary of pills stronger than ibuprofen), but I know good medications can help a lot of people.

And when I thought I had depression for a while, I didn't deny that depression or BP existed - I just chose not to go somewhere and have myself tested, because I didn't want to have the label attached to me. Now I'm fine, so it doesn't matter (and since I'm fine, probably I was never clinically depressed...clinical depression is lifelong isn't it? Or isn't it? Psychology majors, tell me!)

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I'm with gold on this.

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Wow, so you think well educated medical professionals are just making up diagnoses in order to perpetrate a conspiracy all aimed at you? Many of your posts seem to support your doctor's findings. I have never read such angry, self-serving, defensive posts before! Also, you claim to be such a devout Christian over and over again, yet you tell people to "STFU" continuously. Are you so blind to your own shortcomings that you cannot see your own patterns? This movie was about redemption and forgiveness. People suffering from mental illness do not choose to behave the way they do. Go to the library and read up on your subject matter and stop regurgitating the Tom Cruise / Matt Lauer interview. Of course you may not even realize you are doing it. Sad...

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[deleted]

@LittleGoldWoman


1. You're obviously in denial about something serious.

2. Nobody's going to change your mind. It's obvious that your brain matter (what little there is) is made of pure concrete and in no way open to scientific and logical information.

3. I like how you speak of not wanting to be labeled but refer to "normal people" who experience more emotions... that's extremely contradictory and speaks to your illogical mental state.

4. People who have Borderline Personality Disorder (and just about any other DISORDER) can and generally DO go to Cognitive or Dialectical Behavioral Therapy or, at least, psychoanalysis to work on their issues. If medicine is in order, then God Bless modern medicine for helping us poor saps out! It sure is better than self-destruction and suicide that is so prevalent in our circles. AND let me insist that no one SEEKS medicine for bipolar disorder. It is not something you get a good "buzz" from. It's something that is necessary to stabilize the out of order chemicals in our brains and it's certainly not something I'd choose to take if I hadn't gotten to the point where there is no other option. I was once in severe denial like yourself and all it got me was in trouble. I'm very sorry for the hatred you obviously have in your heart as you obviously know everything about everything (ever heard the tale of Narcissus? I'm sure you have seeing as you are apparently omniscient.

5. Embracing the "sadness" which you refer to is like asking someone to embrace torture. It also, unfortunately, means suicide for a large percentage of people who experience true DEPRESSION - a word which "sadness" doesn't begin to even hold a candle to as a synonym for what real depression is.

6. Keep up your God-fearing, closed minded ways. You, Sarah Palin and Pat Robertson (to name a very few) are going a long way for the conservative Christian movement! My hope is that if your perfect God who doesn't make mistakes feels the need to infect you with some awful cancer, you'll take the same attitude and opt out of medical care. It's obviously God's will... and he doesn't make mistakes.

Here's to hoping you find real love before you die so that your heart might melt from its present frozen state. I'm sorry for you. I'll be sure to pray for you.


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What a wonderful reply :) thank you for a well written and thought out response!

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Agreed, but I'd just like to let everyone know that not all Christians are like this...I'm Catholic, but I believe in equal rights for gays (including gay marriage, and I realize that most gays ARE in fact born that way), etc, I'm very open-minded and it makes me sad when all Christians get a bad rap just because there are some extremely close-minded ones out there who like to forget the whole "love thy neighbor as thyself" thing.

Cheers.

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Sadly though while you " embrace" your little quirks and " feel " . Your family and loved ones are picking up the pieces.speaking from personal experience from living with a parent who also refused to get help...

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[deleted]

Exactly. The person who wrote that needs to learn the difference between mood swings and a severe diagnosis as bipolar disorder.
Personally, I think that Vivi suffered from recurring severe depression with a psychotic episode.

*They do not see what lies ahead, when Sun has failed and Moon is dead...*

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Normal people don't need antipsychotics.

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Define normal.

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I only used normal because it was the term you used ("its all just a way to label normal people who have a greater ability to feel pain and anger"), but I meant those without psychpathology.

Everybody experiences high and lows. But when the lows last so long that they meet the criteria for a major depressive episode unless they take medication to alleviate the depression then that's abnormal. Or if the highs are so long and intense that if left untreated the person can become psychotic then that's abnormal.

I will agree with you that it's unlikely that someone has bipolar (manic depressive is the same thing; depression is one pole, mania is the other; they dust came up with a new name for it some time in the 80s), BPD, and ADHD. However those three diagnoses have some similarities. For example, ADHD is technically attention deficit hyperactivity disorder but the name is slightly misleading; the criteria for the hyperactivity component includes some symptoms that are actually impulsive & not hyperactive. Someone who is impulsive might exhibit symptoms that look like risk taking behaviors (a symptom of BPD) or someone with both impulsive and hyperactive symptoms might look like someone who is manic (a symptom of bipolar); especially if that person tends to be someone who feels emotions more intensely than the average person. So it's possible that the person does have one of those but that the patient isn't being diagnosed very well.

I don't know what you have (or if you even have anything). I think you'd know if you'd experienced at least one episode of 2 or more weeks straight of depression and at least 4 straight days of hypomania (or a mixed episode of mania and depression where you experienced one or the other every day for at least a week, or a manic episode lasting at least a week) that was sufficiently severe to cause marked impairment in occupational functioning or in usual social activities or relationships with others, or to necessitate hospitalization to prevent harm to self or others, or there are psychotic features. So I will assume you are correct when you say you aren't bipolar.

But that doesn't mean that just because somebody screwed up when they diagnosed you that nobody's got it. It might just mean that you might not have had the best clinicians. That's even more likely if you're going to a community mental health center; the majority of the people they see tend to have major mental illnesses (major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar) and I think that clouds how they most clients (you've probably heard the expression "if the only tool you have is a hammer, eventually everything looks like a nail".) My personal experience with people who have been diagnosed as bipolar is they definately had symptoms that were well beyond having a greater ability to feel pain and anger (an online friend diagnosed with Bipolar II, intractable related holding her parents hostage while she broke every piece of wedding dishes and crystal they owned because the toaster told her to. I don't care how great your ability to feel emotions is; if the toaster is talking to you & you can hear it that is abnormal (which BTW means not normal).

You mentioned that some even referred to you as a sociopath; I inferred from that comment that at least some of the diagnosing was done when you were an adult (a sociopath has antisocial personality disorder which is not allowed to be diagnosed in people under the age of 18). To me that implies that at some point as an adult you may have not felt "normal" and sought help to see what might be the cause.

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I agree with the other comment. Vivi shows alot of signs of Bipolar. For you to discredit the very existance of this condition proves you have never experienced it. Both my dad and my 16 year old brother (diagnosed at 10) suffer with it and I have a mild case. When you go through a period of time where everything is fine and in a second you can "cycle" and everything is upside down, you go off on people for absolutely no reason and blow things completely out of proportion and have no control of any of it, then tell me it doesn't exist.

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It is because of opinions like the one you expressed that is has been so hard for me and people like me to finally get meds that don't have horrifce side effects to treat our disease. And yes, it is a disease. Maybe if you read something other than The National Enquirer you would be a little more current with what is going on in the real world. By the way, how many times have you been abducted by aliesn?

Free the West Memphis Three!! www.wm3.org

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I have BPD myself, and I think she may have been a Borderline, yes.

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Looks like a textbook Borderline to me. From Yahoo Health:

"People who are diagnosed with borderline personality disorder have at least five of the following symptoms. They may:

* Make frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.
* Have a pattern of difficult relationships caused by alternating between extremes of intense admiration and hatred of others.
* Have an unstable self-image or be unsure of his or her own identity.
* Act impulsively in ways that are self-damaging, such as extravagant spending, frequent and unprotected sex with many partners, substance abuse, binge eating, or reckless driving.
* Have recurring suicidal thoughts, make repeated suicide attempts, or cause self-injury through mutilation, such as cutting or burning himself or herself.
* Have frequent emotional overreactions or intense mood swings, including feeling depressed, irritable, or anxious. These mood swings usually only last a few hours at a time. In rare cases, they may last a day or two.
* Have long-term feelings of emptiness.
* Have inappropriate, fierce anger or problems controlling anger. The person may often display temper tantrums or get into physical fights.
* Have temporary episodes of feeling suspicious of others without reason (paranoia) or losing a sense of reality.

Not everyone who has five or more of these symptoms is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. For a person to be diagnosed with any personality disorder, the symptoms must be severe and must go on long enough to cause significant emotional distress or problems functioning in relationships or at work."

Hope this helps - good luck! Being a Borderline or being around one is not easy.

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Vivi is an alcoholic (remember the references to clinking ice in glasses?) and, according to the books, particularly sensitive. Her insensitive manner of treating her children (at times) I would think comes from the drink. Her father was a mean drunk as well.

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I don't feel that her character has a defined clinical ailment, more that she was a product of her upbringing and of the times she grew up in. She had a fanatically religious mother that hated her, an emotionally non-existant father that couldn't care less, she lost her true love at a young age after being thrown into a horribly repressive convent (not in the movie). She suffered at least 1 known mental break down and was the type of person that in today's age would probably never feel the need to get married and have kids. I don't think she wanted to mistreat her children, she even says as much in the book, it's just something she can't control and it was the only way she knew. She did a lot of kind things for her kids, too.

"Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent." Eleanor Roosevelt

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She beat her kids because of a pill that was supposed to make her stop drinking.

Dexamyl I believe

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I'd be interested to know whether, as with many authors, the character and her condition was described from personal experience or observation?

It seems there was a fair amount of casual drug use in the film, from alcohol to dexamyl to rufies (quite amazing & illegal to drug & kidnap someone... are these ladies out of the slammer yet?)

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I'm gonna say she was just a mean, mean person tho and the drug just lowered her inhibitions.
I think it's terrible that they asked the daughter to forgive her. the mother didn't deserve it.

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After reading the book, seeing the movie, and dealing with a Borderline Personality Disorder-suffering mother, I agree that Vivi probably had BPD, mixing with the alcoholism.... nasty mix.
~We are just too pretty for God to let us die.~

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*beep* Crazy

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