Lets Diagnose Phoebe

She's one twwwwwwisted little kitty cat. Displacement... Pretending to be someone else, inventing an entire life to fool someone and/or use them for their own bizarre end, schizophrenia quite possibly, maybe even a bit of Asperger's or Autism which could be indicative of why she has problems relating to other people?

The more I watch her, the more uncomfortable I feel - so I guess that's the sign of an actress who has really 'got' her character, her acting's really bowled me for six so to speak.

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"You'll best be puttin down that gun now... [click] Or we can talk some more"

The word is "schizo", as in "schizophrenic". :) I believe she already had a condition before she did that. She obviously had a lot of repressed anger as well.

YES...she's a classic Borderline.

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I agree with WMP2304...BPD, but APD definitely as well. BPD isn't always THAT ruthless and extreme, I don't think.

I think you hit all the nails on the head with your intuition about this movie. I think her state of mind is a direct result of her friend's happiness, not only that, but think of the scene at the restaurant when her friend is telling her how grateful she is to her, and Phoebe is stabbing her own hand with her fork under the table.
About the scene with the women in the limo, she is hellbent on doing just that, destroying things-she defaces their limo just as she defaced her friend Phyllis's new Lexus SUV. Good points.

Her state of mind was a direct result of her Borderline Personality Disorder. Here is the criteria for it, she fits it perfectly

1.Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment such as lying, stealing, temper tantrums, etc. [Not including suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5]
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.
4.Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., promiscuous sex, eating disorders, binge eating, substance abuse, reckless driving, overspending, stealing). [Again, not including suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5]
5. Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, threats, or self-mutilating behavior.
6. Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days).
7. Chronic feelings of emptiness, worthlessness.
8. Inappropriate anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights).
9. Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms

She didn't hold a grudge about 9/11 she loved that day because everyone felt like she did. Everyone on 9/11 felt out of control and unable to function normally.

She was obviously mentally ill before she allowed her circumstances to spiral her deeper into madness.

As far as the pressure of big city living causing people to snap, sure it happens, but not on this absurd level depicted in this film.

We are dealing with so many types of mental illness going on, people here are stepping over each other to define her characters type of mental illness! She's also self absorbed, arrogant etc. 'Everything' is about her, Meanwhile, in the scenes where she's dealing with Sandra Oh's character in the office, she appears awkward, withdrawn, beaten by her circumstances and just plain sad.

Of course, tying her mental illness in with both 9/11 and her over the top obsessive jealously about her co-workers successful career and happy marriage, brings her illness into a whole other level.

I didn't get what she was doing with the limo......did she pour some toxic chemical on the the car? I was expecting her to light a match at that point to blow up the car. Y'know...some random act of violence to show us just how 'sick' she was, a little something to prove to the audience she would kill 'anyone', not just a mid Eastern person.

What was the point of even scrapping the limo with her heel? The car didn't belong to the women laughing inside, she was hurting no one by doing that.

She sure was hell bent on destruction, others and perhaps her own.

She was so out of control, the last few acts made it appear as if she would eventually commit suicide, especially when she then got rid of the only thing she supposedly loved so much and obsessed over, her beloved dog. On the other hand, she was so mentally ill, did she really love that dog?

p.s. with all respect I seriously doubt it is just because she is a midwesterner living in NY or has a dead-end job while her friend's career took off. There are thousands of midwesterners living in NY and they are not doing acts of domestic terrorism. Also I think that her stagnant career and personal life are a result of her psychosis not the other way around. After all her friend worked her way up from the bottom, they both started out sharing a cube in the same company and if anyone would have had an advantage it's all-American Phoebe not Chinese-American Phyllis. Also her friend even tried to set her up with a guy but Phoebe didn't give him 2 glances..she was too busy lusting after her friend's life to create one of her own...I agree her friend was a little snooty about her success but how many friends have you had like that...

psychopath (plural psychopaths)

A person with a personality disorder indicated by a pattern of lying, exploitiveness, heedlessness, arrogance, sexual promiscuity, low self-control, and lack of empathy and remorse. Such an individual may be especially prone to violent and criminal offenses.
A person diagnosed with antisocial or dissocial personality disorder.
A person who has no moral conscience.
Popular A person who perpetrates especially gruesome or bizarre violent acts.

In her case, for one thing, she was head trippin' on her co-worker's success and seething with jealousy. She was very self centered and looking for ways to act out. She wanted any kind of revenge for anything. She wanted to get away with it, not get caught. She kind of reminds me of a female antichrist, except that she serves no one, not even Satan. She just serves her twisted impulses.
She reminds me of those type of movies where a kid is real evil, and a bully and pushes people down wells and things and everyone keeps doting on her anyway and not suspecting a thing.
I keep picturing her in a robe scuffling around in a mental institution. That's where she (her character) needs to be. In the movie "Needful Things" the store owner was Satan, or his minion. He did anything he could to cause chaos and havoc, destuction and pain. He had all of these news articles where he had been like with Hitler, the Atomic bomb at heroshima, on and on. She reminded me of that. Someone who is a catalyst for ruination and downfall.

That movie definitely makes you think. It does me anyway.

~Hollar, don't hit- Mr Ed~