Does Elsa from Frozen have BPD? (+3 Additional diagnoses)
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This detailed article will be explaining if Elsa has BPD by listing out the various signs and symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder that she shows in Frozen. Furthermore, we will be discussing the other different mental health disorders that Elsa might be struggling with.
Does Elsa from Frozen have BPD?
Yes, Elsa has BPD. In Frozen I, Elsa depicts a number of signs and symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder, which has led many fans and viewers of the movie to give her an arm-chair diagnosis of BPD.
However, Elsa’s BPD has never been confirmed by the creators of the character. Apart from BPD, Elsa also shows signs of struggling with a number of other mental health disorders and issues.
Elsa’s Borderline Personality Disorder can be explained by many of her actions and behaviors in the first part of Frozen. Some of the signs and symptoms of BPD that Elsa shows in the movie have been showcased in the following section.
She finds it hard to control her emotions
It is easily understandable that Elsa is definitely struggling to control and regulate her emotions. Elsa, in the movie, has the powers to turn anything to ice. In an accident, she injures her only sister Anna.
After the injury, Elsa and Anna are isolated from each other to prevent any more accidents like this. While Anna does not go through much upheaval since her memories of the accident were removed, Elsa lives with the guilt every single day.
While Elsa is supposed to be proud of her powers, she is also afraid of losing control at a moment’s notice. This is especially since she was never allowed to practice her powers openly by her parents.
Her powers are also affected by her emotions and feelings, and Elsa finds it hard to control these as well. This lack of control and inability to regulate emotions is a characteristic sign of Borderline Personality Disorder.
She shows many impulsive behaviors
Elsa also shows numerous impulsive behaviors in both the parts of Frozen. She is known for her impulsiveness right from the start, which originally led her to hurt her sister Anna when they were playing as children.
Her impulsivity can be mainly seen when Elsa flees to the North Mountain to create an ice palace, rather than living her life with her sister in Arendelle. This high level of recklessness in Elsa even causes her to create a snow monster called Marshmallow.
She shows a distorted self-image
Elsa swings between high self-confidence and low self-confidence throughout Frozen I. At times, Elsa can be seen really swinging her powers over ice and using them to her fullest. However, most of the time this confidence in Elsa is absent.
Borderline Personality Disorder is often characterized by a distorted self-image, just as how Elsa struggles with hers. Between the two sisters, Anna is more knowledgeable of Elsa’s personality and her identity.
In trying her best to control her feelings and her emotions, Elsa finds that this is impossible and can even hurt others close to her. However, only when she finally lets go of the controls and shackles binding her powers does Elsa find the ability to use the best of her talents.
She has a fear of abandonment
Throughout her life, Elsa has been abandoned by people. The only person she ever truly loved and cared for was her sister, Anna. After she hurt her by accident, even Anna was kept away from her.
As a result of this incident, Elsa is terrified of even more abandonment episodes from other people. When their parents die and Elsa is about to get the throne, she is still very afraid of her true powers causing a rift between her and Anna, which leads to her freezing Arendelle.
Fear of abandonment issues is quite common in Borderline Personality Disorder. The person might try their best to keep someone close to them, but may also abandon them in order to prevent the other person from leaving them first, just as in the case of Elsa and Anna.
She has anger episodes
Elsa also has frequent anger episodes which are manifested in a number of ways. For instance, her anger or inner turmoil is revealed when her emotions get the better of her and she ends up freezing Arendelle for a long time.
Another sign of her anger can be seen in the creation of her ice palace. While the structure is definitely grand and beautiful, it still is very pointy and spiny in nature, which can represent her cold-internal feelings.
Still one more sign of Elsa’s anger is her creation of Marshmallow, the giant snow-monster who aims to hunt down Anna when she comes looking for her sister. The largeness of the giant represents the actual intensity of Elsa’s anger that not many people realized.
It may seem like Elsa has rarely anything to be angry about, considering the fact that she was born into royalty and had the very best of everything. As a bonus, she also had powers over ice, which is basically a super-power.
However, Elsa had a long list of reasons to get tremendously angry. Firstly, her powers were never encouraged by her parents and other adults around her. Secondly, her powers inadvertently hurt the only person she cared about, i.e. her sister, Anna.
She was also enraged at the people of Arendelle who saw her as a monster and never accepted her as their to-be queen. Furthermore, she was enraged at the requirement for her to marry a stranger in order to have the throne.
Elsa’s anger might be justified due to many reasons. But the intensity of her anger, and the way it manifested itself was unhealthy and toxic. Borderline Personality Disorder can certainly lead a person to develop anger issues like this.
Elsa’s mental health issues
Elsa from Frozen is a beautiful icon of mental and physical strength, and a role model to many little girls everywhere. At the same time, she comes with her share of mental health issues. Apart from Borderline Personality Disorder Elsa seems to have a number of other mental issues like,
- Paranoid Personality Disorder: Some fans of the movie Frozen think that Elsa might actually have Paranoid Personality Disorder. This is mainly because of her suspicious nature of others, including her own sister, Anna, who comes to save her.
- Agoraphobia: Elsa also seems to struggle with open spaces and crowds, leading people to assume that she might have Agoraphobia. This is mainly since she was locked up in a room and kept isolated from the world for years together.
Elsa definitely depicts a number of signs that she is struggling with Agoraphobia. For instance, her emotions unleash completely when she is surrounded by others who push her buttons. She also runs away to create her own ice palace where she won’t be bothered by others.
- Depression: It can also be assumed that Elsa might actually have depression. This is not only because of her negative perceptions of the world and other people, but also because of her ‘iciness’ which can symbolize her cold and dead mentality.
Many people think that the ice palace that Elsa creates is a symbol of her cold nature, which is a by-product of her struggles with depression. Furthermore, Elsa starts to isolate herself and is truly not happy, which fuels theory much more.
Conclusion
This detailed article has explained if Elsa has BPD by listing out the various signs and symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder that she shows in Frozen. Furthermore, we have discussed the other different mental health disorders that Elsa might be struggling with.
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