Reign Over Me Alex Chaput 0810758 The movie Reign Over Me is about a man named Charlie Fineman. Charlie used to be a practicing dentist. His whole life was turned upside down when he lost his wife and three daughters in the terrorist attacks on 9/11. One day while Charlie is on the street his old roommate from college, Allen Johnson, sees him and tries yelling for him, but Charlie does not stop. Allen then seems like he knows that something is wrong with Charlie and wants to help. In this movie it is clear to see that Charlie is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This is what would go on Axis 1 of the multi-axial system. For this diagnosis he needs to have 6 or more symptoms from 3 different areas. These …show more content…
He also is constantly irritable and has outbursts of anger. He refuses to get help and will not talk about his feelings or his family with anyone. This leads to what seems like him considering attempting suicide. He however then takes a gun out into the city. He gets into a standoff with a cop and it seems like he wants the cop to kill him. For axes 2 and 3 I didn’t think that Charlie would have anything. He didn’t seem to have a personality disorder, mental retardation, or any medical conditions. There were many psychosocial and environmental factors that Charlie faced for axis 4. One of these environmental factors would be that he still lives in the house that he lived in with his family. This is what caused the flashback of his family. Another factor is the loss of his career. He used to be a successful practicing dentist. He now has no career and lives off of settlement money and money from the government. He has very little social interaction. He doesn’t confide any of his feelings in friends. All of these things cause distress and impairment in Charlie’s life. On axis 5 I would give Charlie a GAF score of 22. His life is not functional. He cannot control his emotions when memories and thoughts of his family come up. He seems to be a very dirty individual who doesn’t care about what he looks like. He says that he often sees his family’s faces in other people on the street. His life is dangerous to him as well as those
Charlie’s friendship with Jasper Jones, his parents, and witnessing the intolerance of Corrigan are the three biggest factors in Charlie's development from innocence to experience. Jasper Jones exposed him to fear and forced him to be brave and face his fears, the rampant intolerance in Corrigan, both racial and otherwise, exposed him to the injustices of the real world, and his relationship with his parents taught him to be diplomatic and control his
Also Charlie is one of the most menial kids around he would never go with Jasper if he didn’t have courage. All of the choices Charlie makes impact his life in some way for example; if he didn’t go with Jasper his life would be normal, but because of one simple decision his life changed forever with the fact that he hid a body hovering over him at all times.
This entire book highlights both the high and low points in Charlie’s life, and how he changed and has not changed all from his constant value of friendship to his many realizations, based on the one experimental surgery that gave him insight on what life would be like if he was “normal”.
First of all, why Charlie shouldn’t have gotten the surgery is because he started understanding everyone and how they felt. This stressed him out a lot. He felt like he didn't belong with others. “Now I know what it means when they say “to pull a Charlie Gordon.” I'm ashamed.” (209). In this sentence, Charlie recognizes why his friends liked having him around so much. It was so that they could make fun of him and play tricks on him for their own fun. Also Charlie had felt bad about a kid at a restaurant. “I jumped up and shouted, “Shut up! Leave him alone! It's not his fault he can't understand! He can't help what he is! But for
Charlie was faced with many losses throughout the story. For example, he had the surgery that made him intelligent, but he soon regressed to his previous self. Secondly, he also lost a mouse named Algernon, who he raced with at the research hospital. Lastly, Charlie lossed
After the operation, in only a couple of months, Charlie starts showing signs of new intelligence. His grammar, improved, and he is able to reflect on what his does in the past something he wasn’t able to do before. He had finally gotten something use had always desired. Then, everything and everyone turned on him. In “PROGRESS REPORT 12” April 30th (pg. 60) Charlie writes: “now, they hate me for my knowledge and understanding. What in the name of god do they want of me? They’ve driven me out of the factory. Now I more alone than ever before…” Charlie got what he always wanted, and now he lost everything he had. It was a sacrifice it sounded like he didn’t want to make. I can tell just be the tone of his writing. This shows that we should embrace everything that we have. Charlie didn’t embrace everything, although he appreciated most of the thing he never became happy not being able to just enjoy life as it is.
Throughout the novel Charlie’s personality and intelligence level changes a lot. In the beginning Charlie is happy, has friends, he’s retarded, and can’t remember a lot of things. “I fergot his last name because I dont remebir so good.” (Keyes 2),
One reason as to why this is the theme that sticks out the most is because the operation harmed Charlie’s social life. He had a lot of people to call friends, like Joe Carp, Frank Reilly, and Gimpy, but after he had the operation, he realized that they weren’t really his friends. “April 22- People at the bakery are changing. I can feel the hostility.” Charlie had become smarter than the people who worked at the bakery, and they started to push him away, and Charlie started to feel upset and hurt by their actions. He thought that he had lost all of his friends were lost, and that upset him. This is one of the many reasons why technology was a bad thing for Charlie.
Charlie shows symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. He seems to also suffer from depression, which can root from PTSD. The symptoms that were correct of PTSD were having flashbacks of traumatic events. The symptoms of anxiety that were correct were worrying about feeling guilty, and not becoming happy. The symptoms of depression that were correct were blaming yourself for everything, and always putting yourself down. The things that were realistic about PTSD were having flashbacks, feeling guilty, not wanting to become happy, blaming yourself, putting yourself down, and worrying; for example, Charlie became mentally unstable as a result of being sexually abused as a child. He blocked (repressed) thoughts like that out, and they never come
Charlie is very far from what most people call normal: he is shy, introverted, awkward, independent, paranoid, confused, respectable and kind; showing many examples of this throughout the book. He keeps to himself for the most part and is constantly in his own head. Aside from the many negative traits he also has many attributes: he is a loyal friend and listens to the people he talks to, he is a caring person and comforts those in need. However he has his flaws as well: Charlie can get very angry and upset at others which causes him to lash out with violence or sadness, he is extremely sensitive, crying frequently and constantly questioning himself. Several of his peers labeled him as nerd or a weirdo, which damaged
For my diagnosis, I diagnose Charlie with having clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The reason I believe that Charlie has depression and PTSD is because he had exhibits symptoms and certain behaviors throughout the film. According to Mayo Clinic (n.d.), Depression can be defined as one who has persistent sadness or anhedonia with an addition of other symptoms that can affect the person’s thoughts and behaviors. Mayo Clinic (n.d.) also lists a few signs/symptoms of this mood disorder which applies in Charlie’s case. Symptoms of depression can include suicidal thoughts, lack of energy, sadness, loss of interest, feeling guilty/worthless, anxiety, slow movements/speaking, and sleep disturbances (Mayo Clinic,
His meltdown in Alan's office one could have seen from a mile away, with it the ultimate heralding of displacement for Charlie's pain, and final straw to let Charlie live his life alone. (Displacement is but one of many defense mechanisms that involves shifting aggressive or hurtful emotions away from one’s self to a more “acceptable” or less threatening outlet.) Yet for most who watched the movie most likely, Charlie didn't get immediately better right away to their surprise. In honest words taken from an episode of House I once watched, he uttered a line that rings particularly true in this circumstance: "We tell ourselves it helps. To make [them] talk about it. To help... heal. When all you've done is make [someone] cry." After Charlie's reveal of his true past he seems to be by all standards progressing. That is until he sets out to kill himself, if not by his own gun then a police officer's. In all three main areas of his mental make-up Charlie has been both affected and ravaged, his entire being but a husk of what he accomplished four years prior. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is illustrated through Charlie as a life-changer, a psychological diagnosis that alters your entire core of being without proper therapy or treatment. (Diagnosis in
Medical Information: Charlie has no history of major surgeries, head injuries, or chronic illnesses. He currently takes medication for his anxiety he was diagnosis with last year.
“Reign Over Me” by Mike Binder shows the life of a man who loses everything on the day of September 11, 2001. Charlie Fineman played by Adam Sandler suffers the loss of his wife and three daughters in the tragic plane accident. Despite five years passing Charlie has not yet been able to deal with his loss and as a result creates his own world of vinyl records and video games. By doing so he isolates himself from anything and everything that reminds him of what he once had; leaving his once blissful apartment full of bare walls.
Charlie Kelmeckis is described as a “wallflower.” He is socially awkward and likes to keep to himself. He also really enjoys reading and writing. Charlie cares deeply for others, but has a lot of guilt about past events. For example, Charlie believes that the death of his Aunt Helen is his fault, because she was killed in a car accident on an errand to get Charlie a birthday gift. Charlie has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety, and Depression. His mental instability was mostly caused by being sexually abused by his Aunt Helen before the age of seven. Charlie experiences flashbacks of his Aunt over the course of the movie, but all are portrayed in a positive light.