The Film
The film opens with Treadwell talking to camera as
two large grizzly bears roam in the background. He repeatedly
states how he loves the bears, that he is a peaceful warrior whose
role is to protect the bears, and how it is really only his special
skills that keeps him from being decapitated and eaten by these
wild animals. A spine tingling premonition as Herzog uses footage
of the encounters between Treadwell and the bears to show an
alternative view that the grizzlies are just being tolerant of a
human who insists on getting close to them. It becomes apparent
that Treadwell treats them almost like human characters in bear
skin costumes, giving each names and representing them as his
family in the wilderness. By way of background, the film informs us
that when Treadwell left home to study in California, he changed
his name and told people that he was an orphan from Australia.
After dropping out of his studies, he wanted to become an actor,
but his failure to do so led him to drink and drugs. Treadwell
speaks of his early struggle with alcohol and drugs and how he
nearly died after an overdose. He describes how he credits a
friend, who suggested he might find purpose in studying the grizzly
bears, for rescuing him from his self-destructive behaviour. In
fact, it seems that he swapped his earlier addictions for another
all consuming one. When he was not in Alaska, his aim was to
educate people, especially children, about the bears and he did
this by touring schools and giving presentations. He appeared on TV
and became a celebrity of sorts, as he campaigned to protect the
bears that he believed were being threatened by humans.
On one occasion, Treadwell discusses his failure in having any
lasting relationships with women, genuinely struggling to
understand why. Many clips show Treadwell with boyish exuberance
playing in the wilderness with the bears he has grown to love. At
one point in the film Herzog interviews Treadwell’s parents, who
state that he had been ‘a normal young boy growing up’ as his
mother is shown clutching Treadwell’s large childhood teddy bear, a
toy he had apparently taken with him on every trip to Alaska. In
fact the teddy bear appears in several sequences to camera filmed
in his tent in the wilderness. However, a darker side of Treadwell
is revealed later in the film, when he rages to camera about the US
park rangers, whose rules he is constantly breaking, and whom he
blames in a paranoid manner for failing to care for the bears.
Another example of his paranoia is seen when he misinterprets a
smiley face carved on a stone as a sinister threat towards him.
Throughout the film, Herzog explores the circumstances leading
up to and including Treadwell’s final minutes. Herzog is seen
listening to the audio recording which captured the moments of
Treadwell and Amie’s deaths that now belongs to Treadwell’s ex
girlfriend, Jewel. The film concludes with Treadwell’s three
closest friends scattering his ashes in the Alaskan wilderness near
to the site of one of his previous camps.
Relevance to the field of Mental Health
Presenting us with the candid records of Treadwell’s thought
processes, emotions and his behaviour with wild animals, Grizzly
Man offers the viewer an opportunity to consider the nature of his
undoubted psychological dysfunction. As such, the film provides a
very good platform for a discussion about the differential
diagnoses that might be relevant in Treadwell’s case. With his
obvious grandiosity, exaggerated sense of self-importance and
‘specialness’ to the fore, there is a strong argument for a
personality disorder with narcissistic features (of the two
diagnostic systems of classification [ICD and DSM], it is DSM-IV
that identifies narcissism as a specific personality disorder). His
energy and exuberance might also suggest adult ADHD and would be in
keeping with the report of Treadwell having suffered from substance
misuse and depression in the past. There is a history of him being
prescribed a mood stabiliser drug, which Treadwell stopped taking
because it ‘dampened him down’. It therefore seems reasonable to
consider the diagnosis of a Bipolar spectrum disorder with or
without a concomitant narcissistic personality disorder. A
contribution from other personality disorders, such as borderline
and histrionic types would need to be considered
too.
The topic of personality disorder has recently been considered
in an excellent article in Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2012)
18: 162-172, entitled The nature of
personality disorder by G Adshead and J Sarkar, where the
authors argue that personality disorders are like other mental
disorders, the social manifestations of a pathological process. An
editorial in the The British Journal of Psychiatry (2007)190:
189-191 by J Angst MD entitled The bipolar
spectrum considers the dimensional and categorical principles
for classifying mood disorders and is now freely available to read
in full. The topic of diagnosing bipolar disorders using
categorical or dimensional approaches is discussed in another
article in The British Journal of Psychiatry (2011)199: 3-4 called
Detection
of bipolar disorder by A Young and H MacPherson. For further
reading on the long-term manifestation of bipolar disorders, the
article published in Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2010) 16:
318-328 by K Saunders and G Goodwin called
The course of bipolar disorder might be of interest. These
articles, read alongside a viewing of Grizzly Man, could provide a
very good introduction to the subject of personality disorders and
their precise relationship to the bipolar disease spectrum. Grizzly
Man is a film that I would highly recommended for anyone interested
in debating these issues further or in teaching them to students of
mental health.
* More information about Grizzly Man is available at IMDB as is a short
trailer.
* The film can be purchased at
amazon.co.uk
* Minds on Film is written by consultant psychiatrist Dr Joyce
Almeida.
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