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Essay on Secret Window

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Secret Window

The movie, Secret Window, is a psychological thriller that is based on a novella called Secret Window, Secret Garden by Stephen King. Like most psychological thrillers, the character that has a mental illness is portrayed in a very exaggerated and dramatic way. Some portrayals can be very accurate while others are simply for reeling in the audience. For the purpose of this paper, I will discuss the accuracy of David Koepp’s portrayal of Dissociative Identity Disorder in the main character of Secret Window, some symptoms that are clear and maybe not so clear, as well as treatment options for DID. Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously known as “multiple personality disorder”, is a mental disorder in which a …show more content…

Along with those symptoms, people with DID may experience depression, mood swings, suicidal tendencies, sleep disorders, anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, alcohol and drug abuse, compulsions and rituals, and auditory or visual hallucinations. Headaches, time loss, trance, and “out of body experiences” are also not unheard of in people with DID. According to the DSM-IV-TR, the person must meet certain criteria in order to be diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder. This includes two or more distinct identities or personality states being present, each with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and self, at least two of these identities or personality states recurrently taking control of the person’s behavior, the person having an inability to recall important personal information that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness, and the disturbance not being due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (such as blackouts or chaotic behavior during alcohol intoxication) or a general medical condition (such as complex partial seizures). Now that you know more about Dissociative Identity Disorder, I will discuss how it is portrayed in the character, Mort Rainey, in the movie Secret Window. In the movie, Mort Rainey is a famous author. He moves to Tashmore Lake with his dog after finding his wife cheating on him with another man. During the time he is

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