Nina Sayers is the lead character in the film The Black Swan. She lives with her overprotective mother and suffers from schizophrenia, experiencing hallucinations and delusions. Her obsessive dedication to ballet is encouraged by her mother's ambitions. Nina's treatment plan would involve medication to reduce symptoms, relaxation techniques, assertiveness training to build confidence and independence, and cognitive behavioral therapy to challenge irrational thoughts. Her mother would also receive counseling to support Nina's recovery and establish healthy boundaries in their relationship. The goal is for Nina to gain control over her mental health challenges and pursue ballet on her own terms.

1. Psychological analysisof ‘The BlackSwan’
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Psychological analysis of ‘The Black Swan’ (2010)
The Black Swan is a psychological thriller that brings together severalpsychological phenomena.
Keeping aside the exaggerated scenic depictions of the characters,certain issues can be clearly noted,
some of them are:
Positive symptoms of Schizophrenia (Hallucinations and Delusions)- The lead characters hallucinations
increase as the movie progresses. Starting from being the lead in the ‘The swan Lake’, her hallucinations
of bleeding fingers, Lily stealing her role, the haunting presence of Beth (ex-lead ballerina) wanting
revenge. The character totally starts living the play as her real life. The delusion that Beth is after her for
stealing the role, and she getting fired from the ballet organisation was all her fault are seen,Nina also
feels guilty because she steals some of Beth’s belongings from her dressing room. This delusion has a
striking effect on Nina’s psychological well-being, since Beth meets with an accident and loses her legs,
Nina feels there’s all the more reason for her to want to harm her, Nina experiences Persecutory
delusions. Slight erotomanic delusion is also seen; Nina’s boss Thomas is a known play boy and tends to
flirt with all lead ballerinas, but Nina feels she is special as noted in her conversation with Lily. Since she
may have had her first seductive experience with a man through Thomas, her expectations are heightened
and she starts to believe like the white swan in the play she is her love that would save her, and he instead
(like the play) is falling for the wrong girl (Lily).
Drug intoxication- On the eve of her stage rehearsal, Lily lures Nina into consuming alcohol, and also
introduces to her Ecstasy (MDMA),the symptoms of which surface as the character starts to sweat,she
loosens up and has conversations with boys, dances, smiles and laughs, finds pleasure in rubbing her
cheeks against Mila’s character,she also kisses her and even dreams of having sex with her, while
forgetting that she may have slept with the boys they hung out with that night. The symptoms of the
intoxication make her more assertive with her mother, and she breaks out of her timid shell. The
aftereffects of the drug intake can be appreciated as the character experiences memory loss of the night
before, there’s an increase in her anxiousness. She also becomes restless, all of these symptoms especially
are pronounced in the case of Nina because of her already stressed mind, and fear that Lily would steal
her role, her doubt is confirmed when she finds Lily practicing on stage because she’s late for the
rehearsal. She tries to confront Lily about it, but realizes that she has been deliberately manipulated with.
Self-harm and anorexia- Nina’s already has scars from her previous episodes of scratching her back, the
mother too shows concerns and makes sure her nails are clipped regularly. This is the anxiety response of
Nina to her issues. Her mother toward the end of the movie after her major mood swing puts on mittens
so that she wouldn’t scratch herself. The character eats less,and while doesn’t binge, throws up and is
conscious about weight gain. This is something that comes with the territory of being a ballerina, however
Nina is happy when the seamstress takes her measurements and informs her that she has lost weight. The
satisfaction shows that she made a conscious effort to lose weight. In the beginning of the movie, her
mother serves her a considerably small portion of breakfast,which she appreciates,but is clearly
insufficient for someone who has to strain herself physically as a ballerina. The character also avoids
eating the cake her mother gets in celebration of her securing the lead role. She also seen consuming very
tiny portions of her dinner when out with Lily.

2. Psychological analysisof ‘The BlackSwan’
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Client: Nina Sayers
Nina Sayers lives with her mother who gave up her career as a ballerina because she got pregnant. The
dream of becoming the lead ballerina though is as much Nina’s is also of her mothers. It can be noted that
from a very young age Nina may have been positively reinforced with her behaviours that were directed
toward building a career in ballet. B.F.Skinners behaviour theory of operant conditioning holds true here.
The clients over dependence on her mother, not having a social circle to rely on, signify a restriction in
her exposure. Her obsessiveness and routine brings her satisfaction that she’s almost worshipping her
career. The Cognitive behaviour theory states that a person’s cognitions can change their behaviour, and
this also applies to Nina, wherein her delusions take over her and enable her to not just perform (She
exclaims that she experienced “perfection”), but also develop a sense of assertiveness against her mother,
and resilience. The client is complex as she presents severalsymptoms that require attention. Her range of
issues can be managed initially through medication and counseling till she’s able to pin point what she
wants to work on.
Treatment plan:
1. Client would be first referred to a psychiatrist for medication aimed at reducing the hallucinations
and delusions from her Schizophrenia.
2. Teaching relaxation techniques along with medication will help client to be calmer during the
course of the day. Since the client already gets plenty physical activity being a ballerina, the
therapy would have to be applied when the client is not in that set up, probably alone, during
early morning or late nights where there is no disturbance or intrusion.
3. Assertiveness training to overcome basic everyday life struggles and gain confidence while
building self-esteem. For the client to be able to live with schizophrenia, she would have to build
a strong support system. This would require the client to build healthy boundaries, not get
manipulated, and become victim to sexual harassment at work or anywhere else. This should also
help her build her confidence, and could eventually lead to solving her eating problem.
4. Cognitive Behaviour therapy would work for this client as the client seems insightful, she is able
to relate to depth of emotions and thoughts, and with the reduction in the positive symptoms of
schizophrenia she will be able to gain clarity on her own thought processes. Even though this
would take a lot of time to work for the client it would help in a close-to-permanent and self-
manageable state for her. Identifying the negative automatic thoughts (NAT) and testing them
would help the client tremendously. HW for the client will help keep on target, noting down
thoughts that creep up, when they come and how they make her feel, Some therapeutic hobby or
activity apart from ballet that would enable exploration of skills and distract hers from her routine
everyday life, making life-goals, dreams,aspirations etc. would be a constructive HW activities
for the client.
5. As part of the client’s therapy the mother too would have to be called in for counseling, as the
client doesn’t have any other family member, and is very attached to the mother, it would help if
the mother too was on the same page. In fact it would prove crucial for them to work out any
relationship issues that may surface during counseling Nina. This can be dealt with individual
counseling sessions or as family therapy. Cooperation from the mother shouldn’t be an issue, as
the mother seems dedicated.