Character Analysis Paper Mean Girls PDF

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Character Analysis Paper: Mean Girls

Kasara Rodriguez Grand Canyon University PSY-470: Abnormal Psychology David Arena 12/12/2021

2 Character Analysis Paper: Mean Girls Many shows and movies usually have one character or more that shows some type of personality disorder. After watching the movie Mean Girls it was clear that more than one character suffered from personality disorder. The one character that stood out the most was Regina George. Within this paper it will explain the manifestation of Regina’s personality disorder, her diagnosis within the DSM diagnostic code, and the psychological model that best supports her disorder. Manifestation When the movie starts Regina doesn’t seem as if she has a personality disorder. Once Cady gets invited to the “plastics table” to eat for lunch Cady soon finds out how much of an attention seeker Regina is (Waters, 2004). Before Cady came to the school Regina was the most popular girl in school (Waters, 2004). Every girl wanted to be her, and every boy wanted to date her, all the attention she was receiving was enough to keep her personality disorder had kept her in control (Waters, 2004). Although the movie didn’t really touch on how her childhood was, when it showed her home life her parents lived a carefree lifestyle. They allowed her to do what ever she wanted, her mom referred to herself at a ‘cool mom’ (Waters, 2004). She also has a little sister and in one part the little girl was watching and imitating the movie Girls gone wild (Waters, 2004). This may be the reason that Regina has a personality disorder, if her childhood was anything like her sisters then she had absent parents that really didn’t show her the attention that was needed. Diagnosis According to the DSM model Regina suffers from a personality disorder called histrionic personality disorder (Bakkevid & Karterud, 2010). Histrionic personality disorder is when a

3 person shows a pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking (Comer & Comer, 2018). The person needs to be the center of attention can complicate their life (Comer & Comer, 2018). A person with histrionic personality disorder usually uses theatrical gestures, mannerisms, and grandiose language to describe their everyday life events (Comer & Comer, 2018). To be diagnosed under the DSM-5 she would have to meet five or more criteria under the histrionic personality disorder category (Bakkevid & Karterud, 2010). The first is that she is very uncomfortable when she is not the center of attention (Bakkevid & Karterud, 2010). When she sees that Cady is the new “hot” girl she decided she needs to make her one of the plastics (Waters, 2004). When she tells Cady that she would talk to Aaron to get him to ask her out, when she talks with him, she sees that he has interest in Cady, so she starts to make up lies that makes Cady look bad and ends up hooking back up with Aaron (Waters, 2004). Other criteria that are met is that of the interaction between the person with the disorder often engages with others by inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behavior (Bakkevid & Karterud, 2010). Regina throughout this movie displays this type of behavior, when preforming in the winter talent show the dance was very seductive and at the Halloween party she dressed up as a sexy bunny (Waters, 2004). The person must also show rapid shift and shallow expressions of emotions (Bakkevid & Karterud, 2010). The is seen a lot with Regina, she shrugs off the rumor she started that changed an old friend’s life, and she tells a girl her skirt was beautiful then turns around and says it was hideous (Waters, 2004). Consistently uses physical appearance for attention (Bakkevid & Karterud, 2010). Regina is focused on her appearances throughout the movie and when that attention is taken from her, she finds a way to refocus it back to her. People with this disorder usually has a style of speech that excessively impressionistic with the lack of detail (Bakkevid & Karterud, 2010). Regina uses words like ‘skeeze’ to describe someone, this word has no meaning

4 but to her it does (Waters, 2004). Another criterion is the person must show self-dramatization, theatricality, and over the top expression of emotion (Bakkevid & Karterud, 2010). This is seen in Regina when she has the group focus on her weight loss and when the dress, she wants for spring fling doesn’t fit she has a theatrical outburst (Waters, 2004). The last criteria that she meets is that the person is easily influenced by what another think and speak (Bakkevid & Karterud, 2010). This is seen throughout the movie when she constantly looks for praise for how she looks from her friends, she also starts to eat a bar that Cady says were to lose weight (Waters, 2004). Instead of doing research on it she takes what she says and starts to eat them like crazy (Waters, 2004). If Regina were to have gone and seen a therapist and he was to use the DSM model to diagnose her she would be fit the criteria for Histrionic personality disorder. Psychological Model The best psychological Model that best represents this personality disorder is the Cognitive-behavioral theorists. It is believed that people with this disorder become less interested in knowing about the world due to being so self-focused and emotional (French and Karterud, 2021). This transpired from no little to no detailed memories of things that they never learned (French and Karterud, 2021). Due to the lack of knowledge and attention the person then seeks out others that will meet their needs (French and Karterud, 2021). In this movie it shows Regina’s parents as not very parental. Her dad was shown in the movie he looked sad but quiet, her mom referred to herself as the ‘cool mom’ (Waters, 2004). He mom was more active in the movie always wanting to be in the girls’ conversations and allowed her girls to watch and do whatever they wanted (Waters, 2004). Due to this Regina feels that due to the lack of attention she got from her parents is then filled by all the attention from all the students at the school. Cognitive-behavioral therapist treat this disorder by helping the client change their belief of

5 helplessness, develop better ways to think and problem solve (French and Karterud, 2021). Therapists try to help the clients overall find inner satisfaction and become more self-reliant (French and Karterud, 2021). A treatment plan that can be put into play for Regina, but the first step is getting her diagnosed. Once she can be diagnosed, she can then begin therapy. Therapy will help her become self-reliant and find a better way to problem solve (French and Karterud, 2021). Conclusion Overall, Regina’s need to seek help for her histrionic personality disorder. This disorder can cause her many problems in her social, work, and personal life as she gets older (Comer & Comer, 2018). She is still young and if treatment is started soon than she can correct this disorder and find a more stable lifestyle. Within this paper it explains the manifestation of Regina’s personality disorder, her diagnosis within the DSM diagnostic code as histrionic personality disorder, and the psychological model that best supports her disorder.

6 References Bakkevig, J. F., & Karterud, S. (2010). Is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, histrionic personality disorder category a valid construct? Comprehensive Psychiatry, 51(5), 462–470. https://doiorg.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2009.11.009 Comer, R. J., & Comer, J. S. (2018). Abnormal psychology (10th ed.). Worth Publishers. French JH, Shrestha S. Histrionic Personality Disorder. (2021). In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK542325/ Paramount Pictures. (2004). Mean girls DVD [DVD]. United States....