And That's When It Hit Me; Winnie The Pooh Mental Illnesses

I may just be extremely unobservant, but I've only just been made aware of the revelation of the Winnie The Pooh series.

I've always thought that the collection was about a group of animated animal friends and the journeys in which they lead, but as it turns out, each character represents some form of a mental disorder.

Christopher Robin is said to have schizophrenia, where he imagines that the characters are alive and well, when really they're just stuffed animals sitting on a shelf. I actually remember watching the television series, where at the end of one episode it zoomed out of the animations straight onto a load of toys on a shelf, in a real-life room. I didn't really pay attention to that scene, but it must have had some affect on me as I still remember it now.

I found several versions of Pooh's disorder on the interweb, but I think that he is either an addict or has an eating disorder, or both. This perception is merely based on the fact that he is so het up over his honey.

As it turns out, Tigger has severe ADHD, which means that he acts without thinking, is extremely hyperactive, and he also has trouble focusing. I could actually have guessed this, if I had been looking out for the fact that he had a mental disorder, of course.

Image credit http://wordmachines.wordpress.com

Piglet is represented as having anxiety, and after some research I did for this post, a few people said that the reason for this is that he had experienced some childhood trauma. Piglet was one of my favourite characters in the books, films, and television shows, to to realise this was a tad disheartening.

Rabbit is demonstrated as having OCD - an anxiety disorder in which the person suffers from obsessive thoughts and compulsive tendencies. I just thought that Rabbit loved cleaning, and I only made the link with OCD when I read about it, although now I realise it is incredibly obvious.

After reading several versions of what Owl represents, I finally decided that the most suitable disorder is NPD, which means this he is excessively preoccupied with himself. Remember when he said about being smarted than everyone? When he said they were all just fluff? The mirror that he constantly checked himself in? It all links.

Even I could work out that Eeyore suffers from extreme depression. He was always another one of my favourite characters, despite his gloomy state. But I've always remembered him as always being without a tail, and being sad because he missed it.

I found a bit of trouble trying to find out what Kanga and Roo have, but have finally decided that they are just extremely codependent, and have trouble trusting what may happen if they are away from eachother.

It is now incredibly obvious what each character portrays, and I cannot believe that I never picked up on it before. Then again, as a six year old I never thought of making the connection from my beloved book characters to representatives of mental disorders.

Although, my sources show that A. A. Milne, the author of the Winnie The Pooh books did not base his characters on mental disorders, readers just happened to pick up on the fact that some character traits matched those of mental illnesses. The only reason that I find it to be such a revelation is because Winnie The Pooh was aimed at younger generations, and I guess the media is dishevelled at portraying a 'darker' side.