Teaching differential diagnosis with Anakin Skywalker
the duel between borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder
Abstract
Objective
Previous publications have focused on a leading pop culture phenomenon, Star Wars, to teach nseveral issues in psychiatry, which can make understanding challenging themes easier. This article delves into matters of differential diagnoses regarding two psychiatric disorders.
Methods
We examine and compare the symptoms and specificities of borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder in the light of the fictional villain of the films, Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker.
Results and Conclusion
Our considerations of his diagnosis should be interpreted as an academic exercise with two main goals: to discuss the differential diagnosis between borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder in an illustrative, soft, and ludic way; and to teach how to connect one’s behaviors with diagnostic criteria – in this case, those related to borderline personality disorder
Downloads
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5.
Bayes, A. J., McClure, G., Fletcher, K., Roman Ruiz Del Moral, Y. E., Hadzi-Pavlovic, D., Stevenson, J. L., Manicavasagar, V. L., & Parker, G. B. (2016). Differentiating the bipolar disorders from borderline personality disorder. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 133(3), 187-195. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.12509
Biskin, R. S., & Paris, J. (2012). Diagnosing borderline personality disorder. CMAJ, 184(16), 1789-1794. https://doi. org/10.1503/cmaj.090618
Bøen, E., Hummelen, B., Elvsåshagen, T., Boye, B., Andersson, S., Karterud, S., & Malt, U. F. (2015). Different impulsivity profiles in borderline personality disorder and bipolar II disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 170, 104-111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2014.08.033
Bray, A., Dougherty, K., Horton, C., & Kogge, M. (2017). Star Wars: absolutely everything you need to know: updated and Expanded. Dorling Kindersley Limited.
Bui, E., Rodgers, R., Chabrol, H., Birmes, P., & Schmitt, L. (2011). Is Anakin Skywalker suffering from borderline personality disorder? Psychiatry Research, 185(1-2), 299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. psychres.2009.03.031
Carvalho, L. F. (2017). From Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader: understanding Star Wars based on Theodore Millon’s theory of personality pathology. Revista de Medicina y Cine, 13(3), 121.
De la Rosa, I., Oquendo, M. A., García, G., Stanley, B., González-Pinto, A., Liu, S. M., & Blanco, C. (2017). Determining if borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder are alternative expressions of the same disorder: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 78(8), 994-999. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.16m11190
Fornaro, M., Orsolini, L., Marini, S., Berardis, D., Perna, G., Valchera, A., Ganança, L., Solmi, M., Veronese, N., & Stubbs, B. (2016). The prevalence and predictors of bipolar and borderline personality disorders comorbidity: systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 195, 105-118. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2016.01.040
Friedman, S. H., & Hall, R. C. (2015a). Teaching psychopathology in a galaxy far, far away: the light side of the force. Academic Psychiatry, 39(6), 719-725. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-015-0340-y
Friedman, S. H., & Hall, R. C. (2015b). Using Star Wars’ supporting characters to teach about psychopathology. Australasian Psychiatry, 23(4), 432-434. https://doi.org/10.1177/1039856215590032
Hall, R. C., & Friedman, S. H. (2015). Psychopathology in a galaxy far, far away: the use of Star Wars’ dark side in teaching. Academic Psychiatry, 39(6), 726-732. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-015-0337-6
Haslam, N., Holland, E., & Kuppens, P. (2012). Categories versus dimensions in personality and psychopathology: a quantitative review of taxometric research. Psychological Medicine, 42(5), 903. https://doi. org/10.1017/S0033291711001966
Kupka, R. W., Altshuler, L. L., Nolen, W. A., Suppes, T., Luckenbaugh, D. A., Leverich, G. S., Frye, M. A., Keck Jr., P. E., McElroy, S. L., Grunze, H., & Post, R. M. (2007). Three times more days depressed than manic or hypomanic in both bipolar I and bipolar II disorder 1. Bipolar Disorders, 9(5), 531-535. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1399-5618.2007.00467.x
Leibenluft, E. (2014). Categories and dimensions, brain and behavior: the yins and yangs of psychopathology. JAMA Psychiatry, 71(1), 15-17. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.2810
Lyden, J. (2003). Film as religion: myths, morals, and rituals. New York University Press.
Mazer, A. K., Cleare, A. J., Young, A. H., & Juruena, M. F. (2019). Bipolar affective disorder and borderline personality disorder: differentiation based on the history of early life stress and psychoneuroendocrine measures. Behavioural Brain Research, 357, 48-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2018.04.015
Millon, T. (2011). Disorders of personality: introducing a DSM/ICD spectrum from normal to abnormal. John Wiley & Sons.
Novick, D. M., Swartz, H. A., & Frank, E. (2010). Suicide attempts in bipolar I and bipolar II disorder: a review and meta-analysis of the evidence. Bipolar Disorders, 12(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1399- 5618.2009.00786.x
Phelps, J. (2014, September 15). Bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder: what’s the difference? PsychEducation.org. https://psycheducation.org/diagnosis/bipolar-disorder-and-borderline-personality-disorder/#Overlap_between_diagnostic_criteria
Phillips, M. L., & Kupfer, D. J. (2013). Bipolar disorder diagnosis: challenges and future directions. Lancet, 381(9878), 1663-1671. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60989-7
Rocha, F. F., Malloy-Diniz, L., & Corrêa, H. (2012). Revisiting the Anakin Skywalker diagnostic: transcending the diagnostic criteria. Psychiatry Research, 198(1), e179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2011.07.024
Springer, T. A. (2014). von Willebrand factor, Jedi knight of the bloodstream. Blood, The Journal of the American Society of Hematology, 124(9), 1412-1425. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2014-05-378638
Tobia, A., Draschil, T., Zimmerman, A., Breig, J., Peters, S., Rudge, D., & Velez, D. (2015). Darth Vulcan? In support of Anakin Skywalker suffering from borderline personality disorder. Psychiatry Research, 1(229), 625- 626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2015.07.039.
Walker, G., Salmon, P., Bedinger, M., & Stanton, N. (2016). What the Death Star can tell us about ergonomics methods. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 17(4), 402-422. https://doi.org/10.1080/146392 2X.2015.1130879
Widiger, T. A., & Trull, T. J. (2007). Plate tectonics in the classification of personality disorder: shifting to a dimensional model. American Psychologist, 62(2), 71. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.2.71
Wilson, S. T., Stanley, B., Oquendo, M. A., Goldberg, P., Zalsman, G., & Mann, J. J. (2007). Comparing impulsiveness, hostility, and depression in borderline personality disorder and bipolar II disorder. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 68(10), 1533. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.v68n1010
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Lucas de Francisco CARVALHO, Fabiano Koich MIGUEL, Giselle PIANOWSKI
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.