fictional stars, real problems

I just ran across a copy of the Wall Street Journal from 2010 that I clearly kept as comic relief because of this feature: “Fictional Stars, Real Problems – the diagnoses psychiatrists & medical school classes give characters as a way to practice for treating real people.”

And here they are:

Willy Wonka (“Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”/”Charlie & the Chocolate Factory”) – Abused child with schizotypal personality disorder

Tony Soprano (“The Sopranos”) – Panic attacks, depression

Bella Swan (“Twilight”) – Chronic low self-esteem, depression

Edward Cullen (“Twilight”) – Emotionally stunted for a 100-year-old man

Anton Chigurh (“No Country for Old Men”) – Antisocial personality disorder

Scarlett O’Hara (“Gone with the Wind”) – Narcissistic personality disorder

Winnie-the-Pooh – Obsession & cognitive impairment disorder

It’s probably a writer thing, but this amuses me to no end! :smiley4

I’d love to hear the diagnoses for even more fictional characters—if only I had the psychology/medical degree to come up with them on my own. :smiley13

Comments

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  1. Minna says:

    Fifty Shades of Grey comes to mind. I would have needed brain bleach after reading it! :smiley7 Christian Grey: the guy is a psychopath. Anastasia Steele: I don’t know what her problem is exactly, but someone who is less than sympathetic towards a sick friend, keeps talking about her “inner goddess”, shrugs off the fact that her boyfriend is stalking her as joke, and thinks dating a guy like Christian is a good idea, well, she definitely has some serious problems. (Some of the reviews I saw on Goodreads were much more fun to read than the book itself.)

  2. Mary Kirkland says:

    Oh those are too funny.

  3. LeeAnn Pratt says:

    I think all were spot on diagnosis’s is that a word? Well..it is now..lol
    A friend of mine lent me all three of the 50 Shades of Grey/Gray books ..however they spell it. Anywho so I read the first one…read a chapter in the second and gave them back….Can I just say…imo…ewww ick..didn’t care for it but hey…that is just me .

  4. Dee says:

    I was seriously laughing at the Twilight ones. I have not read the 50 shades books either. I have heard mixed reviews…a few of my friends could not get past the “horrid writing style” and the ones who loved it I wondered if this was their first foray into “romance” or not.

    I agree with the whole cup of tea thing, but I like my books to be readable and have an actual plot.

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