Toget diagnosed with ObsessiveCompulsive Disorder the person must meet the following criteria. They must have obsessionsor compulsions, which also significantly impact your daily life. Intrusive or persistent thoughts, images, or urges that cause distress. Youunsuccessfully try to suppressor ignore these disturbing thought, images, or urges. And, excessive and repetitive behaviorthat you feel you mustperform. People aren’tusually aware they are doing some ofthese things. Being diagnosed with this disordermeans having a chronicmental illness that requires lifelongmanagement. Nina’s life only revolves aroundballet.
She is very obsessed with ballet and the thought of beingcompletely perfect. Nina is alwaysvery meticulous about preparing her pointe shoes, lining up and organizing all ofthe makeup in the dressing room, she cutsherself, and she feels the need to washher hands constantly, at everychance she has. At several pointsin the film we see that shehas a lesion on her upper back, caused by her constant scratching which she is not aware of. Thetwo best treatments are Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and medications.
In the movie she always experiences Anorexia Nervosa.Anorexia Nervosa is a potentially life threatening disorderthat makes one very cautiousof what they eat, orstarvation and is followedby vomiting. Nina monitorsand minimizes what sheeats with very little effort. She mostly only eats grapefruits, and turns away all sweetsand other foods. She self inducesvomiting daily in the movie.After these episodesshe experiences some temporary relief.
The DSM-5criteria fits Nina’s symptoms. The criteriais intense fear ofgaining weight, even thoughvery underweight, and disturbance in the way inwhich one’s body weight is orthe shape of their body. The treatment for thisdisorder would be medication to gain some weight, and therapieshelp with self-esteem and changesbehaviors.Nina also experiences visualhallucinations frequently everydaywhich would go along with psychosis. According to the DSM-5 criteria, this would be classified as Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia lists five key symptoms of psychotic disorders.
Delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech,disorganized or catatonic behavior, and negative symptoms.Only one of the five were requiredfor this diagnosis if delusions were crazy or ifhallucinations included a runningcommentary of a person’s thoughts or behavior. Throughout the movie she encounters loss of contact with reality and they includefalse beliefs or delusions while hearing and seeingthings. She believes people are out to get her when infact they are not. She has stuffed animals in her bedroomand she sees them comingto life, talkingand mocking her in a scary way.
She conjures fantasies and delusions of a love encounterwith her biggestcompetitor, Lily. She has numerous times where she has auditory hallucinations ofgirls laughing at her after herperformance, which is made up in Nina’shead. She believes that sheis her biggest competitorandoften sees her own faceas she is going on thetrain, and passing by different places.She also imagines herself actuallyturning into a swan.The treatment for this is usuallylifelong which consist of therapies and medications as wellas her other disorders.
