The Representation Of Mental Disorders In The Movie "Finding Dory"

From, the beginning of the movie itself we see that Dory experiences from short-term memory also known as “Anterograde Amnesia”. The opening scene of the film highlights Dory as a youthful fish figuring out how to disclose to others about her ailment. The one thing that Dory's parents wanted her to learn is that she can state: "My name is Dory and I suffer from short-term memory." So that if she gets lost on her way back, she can say that she suffers from short-term memory loss.

Looking at a perspective from an audience I think she also suffers from ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). She gets distracted by things around her very easily. Dory was living her normal childhood with her father Charlie and mother Jenny at Open Ocean in California. Dory suffers from short-term memory since her childhood. When she was a child she would often be forgetting her way back home or what she was doing the moment before she forgets. The disorder did make Dory’s parents worry about her, but somewhere they trusted Dory that she would find her way to all the problems that she faces in her life.

At the beginning of the movie we can see that Dory gets separated from her parents due to her getting distracted by a purple shell that she goes to get it for her mother as she is extremely fond of it, and her parents would often collect shells for Dory to find her way back home, until she was swept by the “strong current of pipes” also called as the “undertow”. Getting separated scared Dory the most as she was never alone; she always had someone around to help her out. But after that day, Dory had a hard time asking for help as she would not remember who her parents are or where she came from when someone would ask her that, but the only thing she remembered was that she suffered from short-term memory. After, years of trying to find her parents she became good friends with Marlin and Nemo. While Dory was attending field trip with her friends; they were talking about their birthplace and that’s when Dory suddenly started to have some vague flashback from her childhood. After, that day Dory started to have flashbacks about her past because of the incident that kept happening in her present life. Dory decided to go on a hunt to find her parents with the help of Nemo and Merlin. But, before the fate decided to unite Dory and her parents she had to go through a lot of trouble because she was separated from Marlin and Nemo, which leads her to find many new friends who help her outreach her reach one step closer and closer to her mission.

Dory has been suffering from Anterograde Amnesia. Some of the psychological factors to prove my points from the above is that: we can see it since the beginning of the movie that she suffers from short-term memory in many ways. For example, she got separated from her parents, and does not remember who her parent is or where she was from. At the point when Dory initially met Merlin, she describes how she saw a boat pass by and she asks Merlin to come along with her. while they are going towards the boat Dory gets diverted on how wonderful the sea looks amid the day, and she overlooks what she was doing, and once Dory looked back she sees Merlin is following her which freaks her and she gets frantic at Merlin. When Destiny informs Dory that her parents live at the “open ocean exhibit” she goes through the pipes with the direction given by destiny “yep. Take two lefts, swim straight you’ll hit it.” As Dory is moving ahead in pipes she forgets the direction given by Destiny, and gets lost in the pipes.

Dory also has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Dory gets distracted by her surrounding which is one of the reasons she forgets what she was doing. While Dory is swimming around she notices the sparkly purple shell from far, and as she goes to get it she completely overlooked and neglected that she is somewhere very far from her house, and lost the track of where she is. Dory understands and accepts the facts that she suffers from short-term memory, and she tries extremely hard to not forget things by repeating over and over so that she does not cause trouble to anyone. Dory’s is extremely kind, fun, loving, and naive. After losing her family Dory was very close to Merlin and Nemo as no one had stayed with her for this long because of the Anterograde Amnesia. At the beginning of the movie when Dory was lost and naïve she did get affected with people ignoring her and not talking to her, but as she grew up she coped up with it and became brave and more confident. Dory was born with the short-term memory. The movie showed no indication of the genetic passing of the disorder. Dory’s parents were definitely her biggest supporters as they never tried to change her, they loved her the way she was. They would try their best to help her remember things through different poems.

The most important thing a parent can do is not doubt their child, and that’s what Dory’s parents did; by not doubting Dory even after having Anterograde Amnesia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Dory’s parents never lost their trust in Dory as they knew that Dory will definitely find them one day. Merlin and Nemo were as important as her parents for Dory as when Dory was alone for all the years Merlin and Nemo were her family. Merlin did lose his patients on Dory few times, but he would soon realize his mistake and apologize. There is no treatment in this movie as it’s a comic movie. We as a human definitely learn a good lesson in the end that as humans being we do not have any right to judge anyone by their disorder or other problems that they have in their life. But, there are many helpful treatments for Anterograde Amnesia such as, an occupational therapy which helps in “strategizing for organizing information so that it is easier to remember and for improving memory.”

Currently, there is no medication for any type of amnesia or memory loss, but we do have the therapy which helps improve memory. ADHD also as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has multiple different types of medication such as, “central nervous system stimulants are the most commonly prescribed ADHD drugs.” But it can also have some side effects such as a headache, irritability, weight loss, and many more. There is therapeutic treatment too if the patient is not comfortable with taking medicines or don’t want to have medicines. The therapeutic treatments are “psychotherapy or behavior therapy.” Opening up to a therapist can help cope up with the emotional feeling that a person does not express clearly. Try and have a positive environment around the people who are suffering through disorder.

Overall, Finding Dory has many characters in the movie that suffers from different types of disorder, but the main theme of the movie is not making anyone feel bad about their disorder, it is helping them overcome the challenges that they face in their life. Dory has always been positive despite her disorder, she definitely knows how to live her life by being adventures and fun.