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The Portrayal of PTSD in The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Aradhya Sharma

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a story about a young Charlie, who recently moved to a new high school. The summer before moving to high school, he was hospitalized after finding out about the suicide of his best friend Michael which triggered him to remember the first traumatic event in his life - the death of his favourite Aunt Helen. As the year continues, Charlie starts doing well in high school - he makes some very good friends and even develops a very good relationship with Sam, a girl he likes. Only at the end of the movie, after he sexually engages with Sam, right before she and all his other friends leave for college, do we discover that Charlie had PTSD due being sexually abused by his aunt.  
Based on the DSM 5, there are four main symptoms of PTSD: Intrusion/ Re-experiencing of traumatic events, Avoidance, Negative alterations in cognitive and Arousal or Reactivity (Hooley, Butcher, Nock, Mineka & Kapur, 2018). Charlie shows all four of these symptoms. He often sees flashbacks of his aunt - the first one was after he sees his sister get hit by her boyfriend. He sees his aunt coming home for the holidays and of Charlie greeting her with his other siblings. Continuation of the previous flashback happens later after she came home for his birthday, she tells him that she’s going to get him his present. While Charlie goes to Sunday mass, he has repeated flashbacks to going to his Aunt’s funeral with his mother. Charlie has his final flashback of his Aunt molesting him while having  sex with Sam. 
Charlie also exhibits some symptoms of  avoidance, for example, when Charlie seems to get nervous and avoids sexually engaging with Mary Elizabeth, his date for the school dance. This could be a combination of the fact that he is interested in another girl - Sam, and also because of the abuse he experienced as a child. Furthermore, charlie not remembering that he was abused by his aunt is another example of avoidance. Charlie had unconsciously repressed the distressful memory to avoid the stress and trauma associated with it. 
Towards the end, after Charlie comes back from saying goodbye to Sam and his other friends, we see that charlie has recurring flashbacks of his aunt and immediately starts repeatedly banging his head on the door while saying “My fault” as soon as he gets home. Afterwards, he calls his sister and asks if he is the reason his aunt died. “Candace...I killed aunt Helen, didn’t I? She died getting my birthday present so I guess I killed her, right? I’ve tried to stop thinking that, but I can’t. She keeps driving away and dying. I am just thinking, what if I wanted her to die, Candace?” This is an obvious example of negative alterations in cognitive and mood where we see distorted blame on oneself. Though there are very strong examples of blame, there isn’t much of shame or anger seen in Charlie. 
Lastly, in terms of arousal and reactivity, charlie doesn't exhibit symptoms of hypervigilance or excessive response. Aggression and reckless behavior also do not seem to be obvious symptoms, the only time Charlie displays these symptoms is when he  beats up people in his school to protect his friend Patrick. We also don’t see too much self-destructive behavior in Charlie except towards the end when he sees a knife in the kitchen and is tempted to harm himself. 
Overall, the portrayal of PTSD and it’s symptoms are quite accurately presented in this movie. Other than correctly portraying a psychological disease, The Perks of Being a Wallflower also illustrates the importance of proper medical attention to cure mental health issues. Charlie is shown to improve once he is taken to Mayview Hospital and his psychologist is shown to be very attentive and dedicated to Charlie. While the movie had begun with one of his friends committing suicide, the movie ends with Charlie going through the tunnel with Sam and Patrick after two months at the hospital. As he stands up in his car, the narrator speaks: "Even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there". 
In this way, The Perks of Being a Wallflower demonstrates the life-saving power of confronting past traumas and seeking help from others in dealing with them. The movie both accurately depicts the symptoms of a psychological disorder and sheds a positive light on mental health facilities and professionals. It is rare to see a film provide this kind of insight into psychiatric conditions which makes The Perks of Being a Wallflower a very special and important film.


Bibliography
Halfon, L. Smith, R., & Malkovich, J. (Producers), & Chbosky, S. (Director),  (2012). Perks Of Being A Wallflower. United States: Mr. Mudd. 
Hooley, J. M., Butcher, J. N., Nock, M. K., Mineka, S. & Kapur, P. (2018). Abnormal psychology. India: Pearson Education South Asia Pte Ltd.

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