Anthony Tobia, a psychiatrist at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, is available to discuss the psychiatric undertones in the hit movie Us.
“The movie introduces many concepts pertaining to personality development as it relates to trauma. The traits exhibited by Adelaide/Red, the main character in the movie, are similar to what we see in borderline personality disorder, which often results from trauma,” Tobia said. “Such people are often at risk for self-harm. People afflicted with borderline personality disorder may cut themselves, often not in an overt suicide attempt, but for various reasons such as to relieve emotional pain and numbness. The scissors carried by the doppelganger could represent the intent of self-harm often exhibited by people with maladaptive personality traits and coping strategies. The film also delves deeply into psychodynamic theory. In practice, we may see people with a lack of [Freudian] ego strength act on their base impulses — ironically described as the Jungian shadow, a clinical term Jordan Peele uses to name the “other us.”
Tobia noted that the point of discussing these psychological issues in the context of the movie is not to stigmatize persons with mental health issues, but to use popular culture as an entry point to better understand these issues.
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