Results: Mental Illness According To Winnie The Pooh
Published on 05/30/2018
"Piglet?" said Pooh.
"Yes Pooh?" said Piglet.
"Do you ever have days when everything feels... Not Very Okay At All? And sometimes you don't even know why you feel Not Very Okay At All, you just know that you do."
Piglet nodded his head sagely. "Oh yes," said Piglet. "I definitely have those days."
"Really?" said Pooh in surprise. "I would never have thought that. You always seem so happy and like you have got everything in life all sorted out."
"Ah," said Piglet. "Well here's the thing. There are two things that you need to know, Pooh. The first thing is that even those pigs, and bears, and people, who seem to have got everything in life all sorted out... they probably haven't. Actually, everyone has days when they feel Not Very Okay At All. Some people are just better at hiding it than others.
"And the second thing you need to know... is that it's okay to feel Not Very Okay At All. It can be quite normal, in fact. And all you need to do, on those days when you feel Not Very Okay At All, is come and find me, and tell me. Don't ever feel like you have to hide the fact you're feeling Not Very Okay At All. Always come and tell me. Because I will always be there.
QUESTIONS
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Comments
1.
1.
The 2017 biopic 'Goodbye Christopher Robin' focusing on author A. A. Milne's struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but several years before the movie came out, pediatricians, including Canadian Doctor Sarah Shea released a paper Pathology in the Hundred Acre Wood: a neurodevelopmental perspective on A.A. Milne. The paper theorised that Winnie the Pooh, along with chums Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet, displayed symptoms typical of psychological illnesses or developmental disorders. While it angered many, the paper basically pointed out how quick we were to diagnose everyone, and that everyone basically has something, whether it be severe or very slight -- and everything in between. Basically the paper says that we should celebrate our differences, and not focus on them as negative, but positive characteristics. Have you ever seen the connection between mental health disorders and the Winnie the Pooh characters?
No
48%
943 votes
Absolutely
16%
313 votes
I thought perhaps there was a connection
12%
239 votes
Not familiar enough with Winnie the Pooh
24%
477 votes
2.
2.
Here are the connections the paper pointed out. Do you see the connection between these characters and these mental health disorders?
Winnie the Pooh: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, possible bulimia
16%
306 votes
Piglet: Generalised Anxiety Disorder, low self-esteem
24%
466 votes
Eeyore: Dysthymia – or 'Persistent Depressive Disorder'
28%
549 votes
Owl: Dyslexia, possible signs of Alzheimer's
13%
259 votes
Tigger: recurring pattern of risk-taking behaviours, possibly bipoar
19%
372 votes
Rabbit: possible narcissism and OCD
16%
310 votes
Roo: Autism spectrum disorder
9%
180 votes
None
34%
669 votes
Not familiar with Winnie the Pooh characters
27%
533 votes
3.
3.
As with the top conversation between Pooh and Piglet, perhaps the most important thing we can get out of Winnie the Pooh and his friends, is that even though some may seem "all together" everyone is going through "stuff". The reason why some of children do not get the help they may need early on in life to cope with things like anxiety, depression and other symptoms, is that to all they look "OK". Sadly, we don't pay as much attention to the signs of mental illness as we do physical illness. Nor do we seem to put the same amount of concern when dealing with mental illness. No one ever says "oh, it's just a little bit of cancer" or "he'll grow out of his seizures", but we hear these types of comments all the time with mental disorders.Do you feel we should focus more on these mental illnesses and disorders?
Yes, as much as the physical ones
45%
896 votes
Yes, even more than the physical ones
10%
202 votes
No, physical ones are more important to focus on
8%
158 votes
Not sure
36%
716 votes
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