Empowerment Plan: Overcoming Personal Challenges As A Case Manager & Case Study Of Patrizio Solitano From Silver Linings Playbook

Creating a Comprehensive Assessment for Your Case Study

Patrizio Solitano is one of the main characters from the film Silver Linings Playbook, who is a patient of bipolar disorder. At the beginning of the film, it is shown that Patrizio, in short Pat, is being released in the custody of his parents from a mental health facility after eight months of treatment for his disorder.

Pat is a character who wants evolve. Although, his wife cheated him, he forgave her and wanted to get her back in his life. His time in the mental health facility gave him the opportunity to learn, and he learned that every experience in life has a positive side. This shows that Pat is a character that is capable of changing himself for betterment. He exhibited a strong determination power. In his determination to get his wife back, he even denies his feelings for Tiffany and goes through inner struggle. In spite of being known as an abrasive person, he showed great morality when it came to racism, which only proves that in his heart he is a good human being.

Pat used to be a teacher in a high school. He was asked to resign after he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. One day after returning home, he found out his wife Nikki with one of his colleagues in the shower with their wedding song as the background music. This incident triggered his rage and he almost killed the man by beating him brutally. Only after this, it was revealed that he has bipolar disorder. After the violent incident with the man, Nikki left Pat and got a restraining order against him. While Pat was sent to the mental health facility, they got divorced. When Pat was leaving the facility, his therapist tried to convince him to keep on taking the medicines as any trigger can make his aggressive nature come out and as a consequent of that outburst, he will be admitted to the facility again for treatment. Pat assured him that this would not happen as he found out a new way to see life. Pat’s new approach on life was that there is a positive aspect of every incident, which is called the silver linings. His only aim, after returning to his parents, was to reconcile with his former wife Nikki. He was determined to change himself, which is to control his moody, aggressive and short-tempered nature, and show Nikki that he has changed to get her back in his life.

Pat’s behavior has always created a problem for him. His temper and abrasiveness kept people away from him. He wishes to change this attitude of him, and show people that he can be kind and has a caring side too. In order to do this, he is trying to focus on the smaller things in life that make a person happy and content. He is trying to show a positive attitude towards life by thinking that whatever happens, it definitely has a good and constructive consequence. He is determined to convince Nikki that he is capable of change by demonstrating her his changed behavior. When he met Tiffany, they instantly connected and were attracted to each other. Yet, for the constant thought of getting Nikki back, he denied the attraction to himself. Reluctantly he agreed to help Nikki with her dance practice and be her dance partner in the competition to show that he now cares about others feelings too. When his friend from the mental health facility Danny came to help him and Tiffany with the dance, Pat started to feel jealousy. His jealousy made him display affection for tiffany but he tried to brush it off as he thought this could be good opportunity to show Nikki that he has changed.

Components of an Empowerment Plan

Pat agreed to go to the Philadelphia Eagles match as a good luck charm for his father. Before he could even enter the stadium, he get himself involved in a fight against racism. There were a few racist fans, who were targeting some Indian supporters including Pat’s therapist Dr. Patel. Although Pat exhibits his uncaring side mostly, he always had good intensions for everyone. He could not resist himself after seeing the harassment of the Indians and to protest. This triggered his violent nature, and the police took him.

Therefore, it has been clearly demonstrated in the film that whenever Pat tries to change his behavior and think about other’s needs, his true nature comes in way. Despite his attempts to help his father by attending the match, his aggressive nature made a barrier for him to achieve that. Earlier, his attempt to help Tiffany was interfered by his jealous nature.

Pat’s social network has been weak for his rude behaviors Although, Pat blamed His parents for his disorder and violent nature, his parents was his only support. They took him in when he was released from the facility. They cared for him and planned to bring Tiffany and Pat together as they understood that their son actually loves her. His only friend through his journey to change himself was Ronnie, Veronica, Danny and Tiffany. Ronnie and veronica even invited Nikki to the dance competition so that she can meet that Pat can show her that he has changed and get a second chance. However, no matter how much he denied it to himself; he definitely fell in love with Tiffany and grew a strong bond with her during the dance practices. Pat also demonstrated that he has a good relationship with his therapist.

Pat’s greatest challenge, however, was his uncontrollable rage and short-temperedness. As Dr. Patel said, when Pat was being released from the facility, that it would be easier to trigger his anger if he discontinue his medication, he did lost his control and got involved in a fight. What he needed the most is a normal stable life. He felt the need of letting people know that he is capable of controlling his disorder in order to adjust to the world. He wanted to reconcile with his former wife to get the life back that he had before the diagnosis, as he thought that would make everything normal.

While watching the movie, I felt that Pat needed help from his friends to change himself and have a better and stable life. He needed to communicate more with his friends and family (Duck, 1994), who were his support system to make them understand what he is going through and why he wants to get back Nikki. His denial of his feelings for Tiffany was only for the reason that he thought if did not get his old life back with Nikki, he would never be able to adjust in the society. The case management course helped me to understand that it is important to analyze a character in order to understand his needs (Gursansky, Kennedy & Camilleri, 2012). This can only be achieved by increasing meaningful communication (Street et al., 2009). Each individual has different perspectives and thus, has different needs. Therefore, it is crucial that everyone is treated according to the individual needs. The people recovering from various disorders should be given attention to their needs and support so that he can get back to the society comfortably.

References:

Duck, S. (1994). Meaningful relationships: Talking, sense, and relating. Sage Publications, Inc.

Gursansky, D., Kennedy, R., & Camilleri, P. J. (2012). The Practice of Case Management.

Street Jr, R. L., Makoul, G., Arora, N. K., & Epstein, R. M. (2009). How does communication heal? Pathways linking clinician–patient communication to health outcomes. Patient education and counseling, 74(3), 295-301.