The Dysfunctional Psychology of Winnie The Pooh Cartoons
In 1966 Disney had a featurette called “Winnie The Pooh and the Honey Tree” which in short told of Pooh’s quest to get some honey because he had no more. On this quest we meet all of the characters of the Hundred Acre Wood, Rabbit, Piglet, Tigger (Tee-eye-double-gerr-err) Kanga and Roo, Eeyore, Owl and Gopher (the only character added by Disney). So, in a bit of light humor, here’s the psychology of the characters of Winnie The Pooh.
Winnie The Pooh — Eating Disorder. He has an eating disorder, and Freud would automatically recognize it as an oral fixation. Pooh Bear’s constant quest for food and eating with his hands is unhealthy. Aside from the weight issues, which cause him to get stuck in Rabbit’s hole (wow! no pun intended) leading out of his warren, Pooh is trying to fulfill the loneliness as well. His food is acting as a comforter. Some people shop compulsively, some people drown their sorrows, Pooh eats compulsively. Just a cursory look at his house, you’d see nothing but discarded honey pots all around; they stand as a memorial to his disorder.
Tigger — Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Tigger couldn’t sit still. He was always bouncing from one thing to the other. He was always distracted, and above all didn’t care. Tigger would mess up Rabbit’s garden and bounce all the way down the road, and not care. Tigger needed to be on ritalin or some type of psychostimulant drug. His ADHD was destructive because he always found himself in trouble. This got more fleshed out in the subsequent cartoon series, but even still, he was a nuisance to the people around him and it resulted in a near alienation from the group.
Piglet — General Anxiety Disorder. In lamens terms, Piglet was a pussy. He was a wimp and was always scared. His fear result in him being anxious about everything. Piglet could barely function. This anxiety disorder almost manifests itself in paranoia having irrational and delusional fears about everything. Piglet has made up fantastic creatures such as “Jagulars” and “Hefflaumps” in his own mind (by the way, how is an imaginary creature going to have imaginary friends?). Piglet’s main statement is “Oh d-d-dear” and is especially scared of Tigger because he doesn’t know what Tigger is going to do next.
Owl — Narcissitic Personality Disorder. Owl was quite clear that he had all of the right answers. He was even given a British accent that seems to speak to his know-it-allness. Owl was so full of himself that he barely did any work. He was even a character, owls, associated with wisdom and knowledge and being a flying creature, he always hovered above everyone else.
Eeyore — Major Depressive Disorder. Frankly speaking, Eeyore was borderline suicidal. He didn’t much care about anything one way or the other. To say that he was gloomy was an understatement. He wasn’t bipolar or manic depressive because he never had any bouts of mirth mixed with fits of melancholy; he presented chronically as always being depressed.
Christopher Robin — Schizophrenia. This boy is talking to animals. Well, that’s one thing, but these animals are actually speaking back, therein lies the problem. Not just that, these animals have distinct personalities, and psychological disorders to boot.
And in the midst of all of this, these animals don’t wear any clothing. And the older you get, the fact that Winnie the Pooh wears a shirt with no pants makes it even the more weird and astonishing.
But the apparent benign messaging of cartoons of old may really be shaping the future consciousness of children. These cartoons are art not just in the sense of creating something for entertainment purposes, but art in the way that an artists pours their emotions into their creation for the public to give their own feedback. These cartoons don’t exist in a vacuum of vapid childhood entertainment; they are instrumental in creating and fashioning a set of ethics and morals that these children will inevitably carry with them into adolescence and possibly even adulthood.
literary syndromes
- Alice in Wonderland Syndrome
Unlike the namesake of this disorder, sufferers of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome perceive their body parts and other objects in altered sizes. AIWS is commonly associated with migraines, brain tumors, use of psychoactive drugs, and signs of epilepsy and mononucleosis. This is also called Todd’s Syndrome. - Rapunzel Syndrome
This syndrome is named after the fairy tale princess with beautiful and astonishingly long hair in one of Brothers Grimm’s bedtime stories. The Rapunzel Syndrome is a rare intestinal condition in humans resulting from tricophagia, or the abnormal urge to eat one’s hair. This diagnosis is medically referred to as trichobezoar. In ancient times, the hair found in intestinal tracks are believed to be an elixir of some sort, able to cure lots of diseases. - Cinderella Syndrome
Named after the main character in one of Charles Perrault’s fairy tales, this syndrome refers to the common phenomenon in kids where they make exaggerated stories about how they are abused, mistreated, or neglected by adoptive/step-parents. This is different from ‘Cinderella Complex’, which is said to be women’s fear of independence and an unconscious desire to be taken care of by ‘stronger’ others (like metaphorical Fairy God moms or Princes Charming). - Peter Pan Syndrome
“I don’t want to grow up!” says J.M. Barrie’s popular character from Neverland. According to pop-psychology, sufferers of Peter Pan Syndrome are adults who are socially immature. They tend to avoid responsibilities and often feel the need to be mothered. - Dorian Gray Syndrome
This syndrome is named after the handsome main character of Oscar Wilde’s book The Picture of Dorian Gray who sells his soul so that his portrait will age instead of himself. Sufferers of DGS are characterized by an excessive preoccupation with their physical appearances and youth, thus having problems in terms of coping with aging. Often, people with DGS have narcissistic traits and are heavily reliant on cosmetic procedures and products. - Othello Syndrome
Sufferers of Othello syndrome, very much like the namesake of this disorder from one of Shakespeare’s works, are characterized by intense and often delusional distrust of their partners. This syndrome is also called morbid jealousy and is often associated with alcoholism and sexual dysfunction. It can also be found in the context of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. - Pollyanna Syndrome
Named after Eleanor Porter’s protagonist in her best-selling children’s book, Pollyanna Syndrome is the psychological phenomenon wherein a person becomes blindly or foolishly optimistic to a point that it’s almost delusional. - Emperor’s Clothes Syndrome
The Emperor’s Clothes Syndrome is more like a mentality than a disorder. It got its name from Hans Christian Andersen’s tale where no one in town—until the kid speaks—is pointing out that the Emperor is naked because no one wants to be called ‘stupid’ or ‘unfit’ for their positions. People who have ECS claim that they know something even if they don’t, in order to avoid being judged as stupid or intellectually inferior to others. - Mowgli Syndrome
This syndrome is named after the beloved main character of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, Mowgli. Mowgli is a boy who is raised by animals. Kids with this syndrome are said to have weak mental and/or physical traits, especially those who have suffered tremendous emotional stress due to parental neglect and abuse. - Huckleberry Finn Syndrome
This is named after one of Mark Twain’s boy characters that became darlings to the readers, Huck Finn. It’s a psychodynamic complex in which the obligations and responsibilities avoided as a child, eventuate into frequent job changes and absenteeism as an adult. The HFS may be a defense mechanism linked to parental rejection, low self-esteem and depression in an intelligent person.
Christopher Payne: Autopsy Theater, St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Washington, DC
From Asylum: The Closed World of State Mental Hospitals
“Asylums offered a life with its own special protections and limitations, a simplified and narrowed life perhaps, but within this protective structure, the freedom to be as mad as one liked and, for some patients at least, to live through their psychoses and emerge from their depths as saner and stabler people. In general, though, patients remained in asylums for the long term. There was little preparation for return to life outside, and perhaps after years cloistered in an asylum, residents became ‘institutionalized’ to some extent, and no longer desired, or could no longer face, the outside world.”
—Oliver Sacks
+A lumbar puncture (also known as a spinal tap) is a diagnostic procedure where samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are collected and analyzed to help with the diagnosis of certain conditions such as infections (meningitis), demyelinating processes (multiple sclerosis), elevated pressures within the brain (hydrocephalus), ruptured aneurysms and brain cancer. While at the end of a lumbar puncture the needle used to withdraw CSF is removed, occasionally, a catheter can be place through the needle into the space that contains the CSF in order to continuously drain this fluid, this procedure is called a lumbar drain placement.
