What Mental Condition Does The Joker Have?

Joker's release has sparked mixed reviews. While the backlash is somewhat understandable, its support is not something to ignore.

From the beginning of the movie, the sense of heaviness and gloom was unshakeable. Its underlying truth was that Joker was a bad guy; however, the incredible storytelling successfully turned the villain, human. The phenomenon of which probably disturbed most viewers. Its ability to have presented how society affects a person with mental illness and how they go unnnoticed cannot be more relevant than it is now.

Arthur Fleck was portrayed to have a Tourette syndrome-like disorder known as the Pseudobulbar Affect, or PBA. His case was manifested through uncontrollable laughter. According to WebMD, "[Tourette's] is a problem with the nervous system that causes people to make sudden movements or sounds, called tics, that they can't control."

PBA, on the other hand, is when you'll experience emotions normally, but you'll sometimes express them in an exaggerated or inappropriate way. As a result, the condition can be embarrassing and disruptive to one's daily life. Pseudobulbar Affect often goes undiagnosed or is mistaken for mood disorders. Once diagnosed, however, pseudobulbar affect can be managed with medication.

In reference to each other, the mental illness causes episodes that affect a person's navigation of social interaction and relationship building.

The disorder was clearly shown in one of the movie's defining moments: Arthur was seated behind a boy and his mother, and he tried to make the boy laugh. When the mother asked Arthur to leave them alone, he burst in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. He then handed over a card to the lady explaining his mental illness.

Now, you may consider that one of his coping mechanisms. But aside from that, he was provided medication to treat the 'tic' by the social worker as seen early on in the movie. The said medication was meant to lessen dopamine levels and help reduce the occurrence of the tics.

However, after being fired from his job and having been betrayed by his co-worker, stress and anxiety levels were riding high for Arthur. These external factors, of course, heightened his tics and made it harder for him to manage his composure.

This eventually led to him shooting the three men in the train-more specifically, when he killed the third man with more confidence and gusto. The pivotal moment, however, is when you see Fleck descend into his villainous character Joker when he breaks into dance in a public restroom after having killed the three men.

While the movie portrays extreme conditions for both the society and Arthur Fleck, people in real life deal with the similar mental illness differently. Most focus on stress and anxiety and how to better cope to reduce instances that put them in danger with the assistance of medication to control dopamine levels. Most methods also include staying active, getting support and continuous learning on the mental illness to keep in the know on the many ways to deal with it.