The film Silver Linings Playbook depicts the struggles of two characters, Pat and Tiffany, living with bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder respectively. Pat was released from a mental health facility after an outburst related to his bipolar disorder. He meets Tiffany at a friend's house and they connect over their shared experiences. Tiffany offers to help Pat reconcile with his ex-wife in exchange for being his dance partner in an upcoming competition. Through their time practicing together, they grow closer as their disorders cause challenges in their relationship and lives. In the end, Pat realizes he has fallen for Tiffany rather than his ex-wife.

1. SILVER LININGS
PLAYBOOK
BIPOLARDISORDERANDBORDERLINEPERSONALITYDISORDER

2. Silver Linings Playbook gives a glimpse of what its like living
with uncontrolled bipolar disorder and crippling depression. The
main characters in this story are Patrizio “Pat” Solitano Jr., an
erratic man struggling with bipolar disorder and Tiffany Maxwell,
a young widowed woman dealing with severe depression.

3. The story begins with Pat who was just released from a mental
health facility in which he spent the past eight months receiving
treatment for his bipolar disorder. Pat had a violent outburst when
he came home one day to find his wife in the shower with another
man and his anger caused him to beat the man, landing him in the
clinic.

4. Pat attends therapy with his therapist Dr. Patel. Dr Patel is
always reminding Pat of the importance of taking his
medication to avoid another violent situation that could
possibly land him back in the rehab facility. Pat assures him
that he’s got a new outlook on life where he finds the “silver
linings” in all things, and that his main focus now is to win
his wife back.

5. • Pat’s bipolar disorder is a condition in which he experiences very high, highs and
very low, lows. Medically speaking, bipolar disorder causes what are known as
manic phases and depressive phases. These phases can last for weeks or months at
a time and suddenly switch to the other without warning. Manic phases, like the
one that caused Pat’s violent reaction, can make the patient experience great
bursts of energy, intense happiness and sudden anger. Depressive phases are the
complete opposite, in a depressive phase the patient experiences sadness,
hopelessness and loss of interest in life. Both types of phases can be very
dangerous and keep the patient from leading a normal life.

6. Pat attends dinner one night at his friends’ Veronica and Ronnie’s house, where he
meets Veronica’s sister Tiffany Maxwell. Tiffany is recently widowed, and in the
midst of severe depression stemming from Borderline Personality Disorder. She
and Pat connect over their mental illnesses and similar experiences with
medications, all of which make Veronica and Ronnie uncomfortable because they
are unable to relate. Tiffany and Pat obviously share a spark. Dinner has just begun
when Tiffany abruptly stands up and decides she wants to leave and tells Pat to
walk her home, Pat unwilling to admit to himself that he is interested, points out
Tiffany’s “poor social skills” and she claps back with “you say more inappropriate
things than appropriate things, you scare people.”

7. Tiffany’s behavior is characteristic of someone with Borderline Personality
Disorder. This condition causes the patient to have frequent mood swings
and impulsiveness. People with Borderline Personality Disorder can have a
fear of abandonment and paranoia, but their intense shifts in behavior can
push people away. Unstable relationships are common with people living
with BPD which tends to worsen mood swings. Symptoms can be impulsive
or risky behavior, anxiety, intense happiness, sudden anger, and violent
reactions.

8. In this story Tiffany uses dance as a form of therapy to refocus
her energy. After several failed attempts at trying to get Pat to
admit his attraction to her, Tiffany offers to help Pat reconcile
with his wife in return for something else. She needs a partner for
a dance competition she wants to join, and Pat being so desperate
to get his wife back (who at this point has filed a restraining order
against him and wants nothing to do with him) reluctantly agrees.

9. The two embark on this journey which makes up a great part of this story.
They become closer and closer the more time they spend together practicing
for the competition. Tiffany obviously develops feelings for Pat, and Pat still
refuses to allow himself to admit he likes her too because he’s obsessed with
getting his ex wife back. Tiffany types up a letter and passes it off as being
from Nikki Pat’s ex wife to keep him in good spirits for practices. She uses
this to her advantage to spend more time with him, and even has Pat’s
parents rooting for her to win Pat over because of the change they’ve seen in
him lately.

10. Throughout the story we get to see the way their mental disorders interfere with their
lives and the lives of their families, especially Pat’s. A lot of his triggers for violence
stem from memories of his marriage which he obsesses over. There’s a dramatic scene
one night when Pat angrily wakes his parents because he can’t find his wedding video
which they have purposely hidden from him because of how it makes him react. He
ends up accidently hurting his mother in the process. We also see they way Tiffany’s
parent’s are uncomfortable with the ways Tiffany has dealt with her disorder when Pat
comes asking for her. They are appalled that she’s no longer ashamed to have multiple
men come seeking her in one day. Her reputation for getting involved with multiple
men to cope with her depression has reached the whole town.

11. Although Pat’s father Patrizio Sr. is not made out to be a main character in the story, we also get
to see him express his own form of mental disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Patrizio is a
huge Eagles fan, he has tons of memorabilia including years of games recorded on tape. He’s
superstitious and has a very strong belief for how things have to be in order for the Eagles to win.
We even get to see him get very upset during one scene when the tv remote is not in its correct
spot to ensure the Eagle’s success. He’s lost his job and has resorted to illegal book making, and
he’s made a bet on an Eagles game with a powerful man who could destroy him. Now that Pat is
out of rehab he’s become Patrizio’s good luck charm. Patrizio insists Pat has to attend the Eagles
game he bet on for them to win, so he goes but gets in a fight in the parking lot before he even
gets inside. The Eagles lose and Patrizio is in great trouble. All the while Pat was supposed to be
at the final most important rehearsal with Tiffany, but instead he’s failed both of them.

12. Patrizio is in hot water and makes a new agreement, he bets the next Eagles game
and Pat and Tiffany’s competition score of at least a 5 out of 10. In the midst of all
the chaos Tiffany storms in and confronts Pat about not showing up and yells “if it
were me reading the signs” an uncommon line that also happens to be in the typed
letter that was supposed to be from Pat’s ex wife. In that moment he realizes she
was never trying to help him get back with her and that she was the one that wrote
the letter not Nikki. He becomes angry and says he’ll no longer do the competition,
but his parent’s plead him to do it lying saying Nikki will be there and seeing him
changed might persuade her so he agrees to do it.

13. The Eagles win just as the dance competition is set to begin. Instead of being
ready by the dance floor Tiffany has gone off to the venue’s bar after seeing
that Nikki is indeed there to see Pat perform having been invited by Pat’s
friends. Pat finds her and somehow in her inebriated state they manage to get
a 5 out of 10 saving Pat’s father. They briefly celebrate and Pat builds up the
courage to talk to Nikki, but he realizes things are not fixable. Tiffany runs
out when she sees him talking to Nikki and he runs after her, confesses that
he’s fallen in love with her and we see them begin a relationship.

14. Bipolar Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder share several similarities, but are not
to be confused with one another. Both disorders deal with differing behaviors and moods.
The phases of Bipolar Disorder are complete opposites, a high an a low hence the name
“bipolar”. A patient can remain in each phase for extended periods of time. With Borderline
Personality Disorder, the mood wings are not necessarily more severe, but much more
frequent and unpredictable. The changes in behavior tend to last less time. Treatment for
both conditions can be similar as well but one might not work for the other, as we got to see
in the way Pat and Tiffany connected over dinner. As with any mental illness, trial and error
is the only way the best treatment can be found. There are no fix all treatments, different
combinations work for different people and genetics and environment also play a part in
recovery or maintenance.

15. REFERENCES
https://childmind.org/article/silver-linings-an-irreverent-but-real-look-at-
mental-illness/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bipolar-disorder/symptoms-
causes/syc-20355955
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/borderline-personality-
disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20370237