Does Wanda Maximoff have anxiety? (+5 Main Causes)
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OptimistMinds
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The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Each article is written by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The article then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
The current blogpost will be explaining if Wanda Maximoff has anxiety. We will also be checking out the other mental illnesses and problems that Wanda Maximoff may be suffering from, while exploring the main causal factors.
Does Wanda Maximoff have anxiety?
Yes, Wanda Maximoff has anxiety. Her anxiety comes as a result of a lot of trauma that she experiences as a child, and even as an adult, when she loses the love of her life, Vision, at the hands of Thanos.
However, not everyone around Wanda understands that she suffers from anxiety since she tries really hard to appear calm on the surface. When she is under a lot of pressure, Wanda often loses control of her power and may cause destruction as a result.
Other mental illnesses of Wanda Maximoff
Other than anxiety, Wanda Maximoff has been observed to demonstrate signs and symptoms of many additional mental illnesses. The various other mental illnesses that Wanda Maximoff, or Scarlet Witch may be suffering from have been explored in the following section.
Depression
The main reason why Wanda Maximoff suffers from anxiety and acts the way she does is because of her depression. Considering the trauma that she has gone through when she was a child, and also when she is an adult, it can seem likely that this character is depressed.
Depersonalization
Wanda Maximoff, also called the Scarlet Witch, can also be seen to be showing signs and symptoms of depersonalization. This is mainly depicted in WandaVision where the Scarlet Witch goes ahead and creates an alternate reality where she lives out her dreams.
While this seems very realistic and may even seem romantic in the viewer’s eyes, it is not actually healthy since the character cannot seem to let go of her grief and is instead creating a new world entirely around it.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Considering the enormous trauma that Wanda Maximoff has gone through, a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is not surprising. The character shows extreme paranoia of others and also depicts a lot of anger throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As a child, Wanda saw her parents killed by a bomb and lived with an un-triggered bomb for several days with her twin until they both were rescued. They both went through a lot of torture by HYDRA as part of their modeling to become superhuman.
After her twin brother was killed, Wanda found promise in a beautiful life in her relationship with Vision. However, killing him to get the Mind Stone and then seeing Thanos do the same after going back in time, left some deep gashes in Wanda Maximoff.
Split Personality Disorder
Wanda Maximoff can also seem to suffer from Split Personality Disorder. Split Personality Disorder, or Multiple Personality Disorder, causes a person’s mind to break off into ‘alter’ personalities as a way of coping with stress and anxiety.
This disorder can be particularly seen in WandaVision. She can also be seen to be struggling with her personality, Wanda, and her superhero personality, Scarlet Witch constantly throughout the movies and comics.
Borderline Personality Disorder
Borderline Personality Disorder is another mental illness that Marvel experts explain that Wanda Maximoff is suffering from. Due to this, the character shows frequent anger outbursts and difficulty in coming to terms with her innermost emotions and feelings.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Another mental illness or personality disorder that Wanda Maximoff seems to be suffering from is Antisocial Personality Disorder. Due to the presence of this personality disorder, Wanda can be seen finding it difficult to empathize with the feelings of others.
The presence of such a personality disorder is also confirmed by the high impulsiveness levels of Wanda Maximoff. Apart from this impulsiveness, the character can also be seen to constantly break rules that are set for her.
Schizoaffective Disorder
Wanda also shows many psychotic symptoms and therefore some mental health experts explain that the superhero suffers from schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. This is mainly because Wanda can be seen to think clearly at times, while portraying psychosis at others.
Reactive Attachment Disorder
Many mental health experts who have studied the Wanda Maximoff character explain that she might be suffering from Reactive Attachment Disorder. As a result, Wanda is not shown to build healthy relationships with others, with the exception of Vision.
Megalomania
In WandaVision particularly, Wanda Maximoff can be seen to be showing traits of Megalomania, especially due to the Darkhold. As a result of this influence, the character can be seen to be acting very selfish and has a delusion of grandeur.
Prolonged grief
Throughout the Avengers movies, into WandaVision, Wanda Maximoff is shown to have a terrible grief pattern. She cannot seem to come to terms with the loss of anyone. This is mostly because the character experiences a chain of losses rather than a single one.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Some mental health experts also say that Wanda Maximoff suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This is again due to the influence of the Darkhold. Wanda shows an increasing obsession with the Darkhold and changes her behaviors and attitudes as a result.
Causes of Wanda Maximoff’s anxiety
Wanda Maximoff’s anxiety and other mental health issues can be blamed on numerous reasons since her story arc is complex and filled with turns and twists. In the following points, we have discussed the different causes of Wanda Maximoff’s anxiety.
- Her parents dying in front of her: The first trauma that affects Wanda Maximoff is witnessing her parents die in a bomb-blast in front of her. This cultivates hatred towards Iron Man and the Avengers whom she blames for the chaos that is happening in the world.
- Her experience with the un-triggered bomb: After witnessing her parents dying, both Wanda Maximoff and her brother Pietro Maximoff live with an un-triggered bomb for several days before being rescued.
The sight of the bomb near them while they were awaiting rescue, completely at the mercy of others, traumatized both Wanda and Pietro. This trauma can be seen later on when Wanda retells the story and shows immense anguish and anxiety as a result.
- The experiments with HYDRA: After they were rescued, Wanda and Pietro fell into the hands of HYDRA after certain genetic oddities were discovered. Seeing potential in them for the creation of human weapons, HYDRA experimented leading to the superpowers.
However, the experiments were also traumatizing since both Wanda and Pietro went through a lot of physical torture and pain. The visions of her brutal experience in HYDRA are shown clearly through flashbacks in WandaVision.
- Wanda witnessing her brother’s death: Wanda Maximoff shared a very close relationship with her fraternal twin brother, Pietro Maximoff. However, in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, Pietro is killed while trying to help others escape the city. This also traumatized Wanda.
- The whole Vision experience: After going through so many ups and downs, and losing the only person whom she loved in the world, her brother Pietro, Wanda finds herself falling in love with Vision and both of them start a romantic relationship.
However, Vision is powered by the Mind Stone which Thanos is after. In ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, Vision asks Wanda to kill him and take the Mind Stone to keep it away from Thanos’ hands. Wanda does this for the greater good, despite killing her lover on her own.
Just after this, Thanos can be seen to be using the Time Stone to go back in time to kill Vision on his own and pry the Mind Stone out of Vision’s head. This experience left Wanda brutally traumatized; something she would never recover from as seen in WandaVision.
Conclusion
The current blogpost has explained if Wanda Maximoff has anxiety. We have also checked out the other mental illnesses and problems that Wanda Maximoff may be suffering from, while exploring the main causal factors.
If you like this blogpost, please leave your comments and questions in the space below.
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