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15 Park Avenue: The Tale of a Schizophrenic

Payal Somani


Schizophrenia is perhaps one of the most debated about disorders in the field of psychology, with all the curiosity surrounding it. Strangely, it is also the disorder that has perhaps received the most portrayal in mainstream media, both in India and abroad. It makes for a phenomenal plot in thriller movies and even in the genre of horror. In this regard, there are very few movies that show schizophrenia in a domestic setting. Starring Konkona Sen Sharma, the 2006 film 15 Park Avenue portrays schizophrenia and aims to shed light on how devastating this disorder can be, both for the patient and for those around them. This paper will analyze the accuracy of schizophrenia in the movie and conclude whether it manages to capture the crux of the disorder. 

15 Park Avenue is based in Calcutta and revolves around the life of a schizophrenic Meethi. She lives with her older sister and mother, but in her head, her family consisting of her husband and their five children live in an imaginary house in 15 Park Avenue, which is a road that does not exist in Calcutta to begin with. In this delusion lies the essence of her schizophrenia, since delusions and hallucinations wherein the patient creates an alternate reality for themselves, which is far removed from the real world, are the hallmark symptoms of schizophrenia (Ghosh, 2019). These delusions are “fixed and firmly believed despite clear contradictory evidence” (Ghosh, 2019). We see in the movie that despite hearing from others and seeing for herself that there is no such address as 15 Park Avenue in Calcutta, Meethi refuses to believe the truth.

Meethi’s hallucinations are mostly auditory, and the psychological explanation for this in schizophrenics is that their own thoughts appear to them as coming from outside (Ghosh, 2019). Meethi thus often hears the voices of her children and husband calling out to her. She also believes that everyone in her family is against her, and even questions the identity of her parents at one point. This kind of paranoia is highly comorbid with schizophrenia (Lake, 2007). She also sometimes suffers from seizures— “patients with schizophrenia are more prone to seizures than the general population” (Hyde & Weinberger, 1997).

Although the movie gets many things about schizophrenia right, it does not dig deep enough into the disorder. The only sure sign of Meethi suffering from the condition is her grandeur delusion, and symptoms that are highly associated with schizophrenia, such as disorganized speech and behavior (Ghosh, 2019), are absent in her. Schizophrenic patients also often suffer from avolition, where they lack the motivation to carry out the simplest of tasks (Foussias & Remington, 2010), but Meethi does household work such as washing the dishes entirely voluntarily. In the movie, Meethi is quite suicidal, and “suicide and suicide attempts occur at a significantly greater rate in schizophrenia than in the general population” (Samuel, 2001). However, her suicide attempts seem a little forced because it is unlikely that she would want to commit suicide when she believes that her children are waiting for her.

The treatment shown in the movie is also questionable. Although Meethi is highly delusional, she is only on medication and not on any form of therapy. The medicines seem to have little to no effect on her, which is not surprising as "a combination of pharmacological and psychological treatments produces the best treatment outcomes" (Silverstein, Spaulding, & Menditto, 2006).  Moreover, the cause of Meethi’s schizophrenia is not explored fully and not given much importance. Her psychiatrist hints that her schizophrenia could have been triggered by a traumatic event of her life if she already had a propensity for it, but it is left at that and not delved into.

15 Park Avenue does a much better job than many other movies that show schizophrenia in portraying the disorder, but there is too much emphasis put on the lives of the people surrounding the patient than the patient herself. Had there been more emphasis put on Meethi’s schizophrenia and the comorbidity associated with it, the movie would have been elevated even more. Regardless, it is a fresh take on the disorder since it does not aim to show any element of thriller and instead focuses on showing how such a condition affects the lives of ordinary people.  










References:



Foussias, G., & Remington, G. (2010). Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia: Avolition and Occam's Razor. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 359–369.

Ghosh, S. (2019). Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders. [PowerPoint slides] Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1U07HEV4rLfZEbHtkLVKPSCt-02bh0pU0/edit#slide=id.p1

Hyde, T., & Weinberger, D. (1997). Seizures and Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 611-622.

Lake, C. R. (2007). Hypothesis: Grandiosity and Guilt Cause Paranoia; Paranoid Schizophrenia is a Psychotic Mood Disorder; a Review. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 1151–1162.

Samuel, S. (2001). Suicide and schizophrenia. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 127-135 .

Silverstein, S., Spaulding, W., & Menditto, A. (2006). Advances in Psychotherapy: Evidence-based Practice. Ohio: Hogrefe & Huber Publishers.



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