What Disney’s ‘Frozen’ can teach us about mental illness
By Nadia Ali May 14
family apart.
Even when help is available, it is not
Just like little boys and girls everywhere
Perhaps it’s because I am a psychologist
reach out for it, for fear of the labels that
this year, my 4-year-old daughter has
that this shot reminded me so strongly of
might be attached to them, by employers,
been singing “Let It Go” from the Disney
many of the patients I have seen, both in
by friends, and even by family. Despite
movie, “Frozen,” incessantly around our
and out of hospitals, trying to control and
anti-stigma campaigns, including via the
house for quite some time now. She sings
hide the evidence of their struggles for
mainstream media, and despite many
it at the top of her lungs in the car and
mental health – and the loneliness they
courageous well-known people coming
sings it at night in bed after she is
often feel in doing so.
forth with their own struggles (Billy Joel,
unusual for people to feel hesitant to
supposed to be asleep. In March, “Let It
Brooke Shields, Buzz Aldrin, and more)
Go” won an Academy Award for Best
Indeed, Elsa’s character can be used as a
Original Song, and “Frozen” won for Best
powerful metaphor for understanding
Animated Feature and is now rated the
how individuals and families grapple
highest-grossing animated film of all time.
with mental health.
My daughter loves the two heroines, the
Mental illnesses are among the most
sisters Elsa and Ana (one of whom has
common health conditions in the world.
magical powers to make ice and snow). I
One in four Americans will experience a
also love the updated themes of today’s
diagnosable mental illness in a given year,
Disney movie: The message of
according to the Carter Center’s mental
empowerment and the healing power of
health initiative. Yet I know people who
love for others. The focus on sibling love
have learned to cry silent tears, facing
rather than romantic love. Unlike those in
away from their coworkers in a shared
“Cinderella” and fairy tales, several
cubicle, struggling quietly despite being
Elsa continues: “The wind is howling,
characters in this movie actively advocate
literally right next to someone, all in the
like this swirling storm inside, Couldn’t
against getting engaged to someone
name of keeping it hidden.
keep it in, Heaven knows I tried.”
I have heard from people who are subtly
“Don’t let them in, don’t let them see, be
(and sometimes not so subtly) excluded
the good girl you always have to be!
from social invitations and events,
Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them
because those around them don’t
know….”
you’ve just met. And finally, of course,
the strength of the princess saving the
day herself rather than waiting for a man
to do it for her.
there remains a stigma in this and many
other countries associated with having
less than perfect mental health.
Elsa’s song, “Let It Go,” is itself a
powerful metaphor for understanding
our society’s stigma around mental
illness. Her words, “A kingdom of
isolation and it looks like I’m the Queen,”
describe in one poignant lyric how so
many people dealing with mental illness
feel in their lives.
Yet I was also struck forcibly by a visual
understand their diagnoses or are
image from the movie. Elsa, the sister
uncomfortable with their “slightly-
All of these lyrics strike a chord with me
with magical powers, sits slumped
outside-the-norm” behavior. I know
in terms of the reality of mental health.
against the door of her room, forlorn and
people who are hesitant to accept the
in despair, while Ana sings to her from
social invitations they do get, because
My daughter asks repeatedly about
the other side of the door, beseeching her
they are afraid they can’t quite manage
another of the song’s lyrics, “You’ll never
to respond. In this particular shot, Elsa
“regular social behavior” at that moment.
see me cry.” “Why, Mommy?” she asks,
and her bedroom are colored in dark
Many people with mental illness end up
“Why won’t they see her cry?” And I
shades. She sits alone with her demons
on the streets or in jail, for lack of the
struggle with how to answer. That many
after having tried unsuccessfully for most
ability to conceal and conform to what
people view tears as a weakness? Why?
of her life to control and hide her powers,
society deems normal.
That’s not necessarily the message I want
to send.
a task which has isolated her and torn her
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And then comes the part in the song that
original “The Snow Queen” on which
has called to so many people, the
“Frozen” is based) had in mind when
empowerment part, the part where you
creating these characters and framing this
accept yourself for who you are: “Let it
movie. Nor, despite the rising toll of
go! Let it go! And I’ll rise like the break of
mental health in children, is the analogy
dawn! Let it go! Let it go! That perfect girl
something I plan to bring up with my
is gone!” Elsa goes up to the mountaintop
own 4- However, for those of us older
and comes into her own. She still has
and more familiar with the mental health
trials and tribulations and growth to face.
stigma in this country, the movie is
Who doesn’t? She still has society’s
encouraging for its depiction of Elsa’s
stigma to face when she comes back
growing acceptance of herself and
down (they chain her in a dungeon, for
society’s eventual acceptance of her as
starters). But she is a different human
well. And although life is rarely as simple
being from the one who first ran up the
as the “happily-ever-after” of a Disney
Join us at Jackalope Square on
mountain. Elsa has accepted herself for
film, “Frozen” nonetheless stands as a
who she is and is no longer afraid to let
case in which real life could stand to learn
June 25, 2014 from noon to 1:00
others see her, powers and all.
from art.
Why were her powers ever treated as a
Nadia Ali, Ph.D., is a health psychologist on
shameful curse anyway? The excuse
faculty at Emory University’s School of
be giving some guidance on
given in the movie is that Elsa’s magic
Medicine, in the Department of Human
injured her sister, Ana. But it was an
Genetics. She has over 15 years experience
“How to have a peaceful life.”
accident, which when seen in context,
providing psychological care with medically
was clearly as much Ana’s fault as it was
ill populations. She is also an Op Ed Project
Elsa’s, much the way that any two little
Public Voices Fellow.
Check out our Website:
www.wysfl.com
P.M. for a Lunch and Learn
This Month Tami Hartnett will
Public Health will be
partnering with us on this
project to share “How to Live a
children playing together might
inadvertently get hurt.
Healthy Lifestyle”
Similarly, why do we treat mental
Bring a brown bag lunch and
problems as something more shameful
join in to create healthier
than physical problems? Later in the
movie, Elsa is literally chained in a
minds and bodies for a
dungeon because of her powers, much
Healthier Community!
the way we used to treat patients with
mental illness in asylums in this country.
It is, of course, supposedly for both her
and our protection. Thankfully, that
particular practice isn’t as common here
in the United States anymore, yet the
stigma continues.
To be sure, the analogy between
“Frozen’s” Elsa and mental health is
SFL Board Meeting
June 19, 2014 at 6:00 P.M.
undoubtedly not what Disney (or Hans
Christian Anderson, who wrote the
Substance Abuse Groups:
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Mental Health Groups:
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YDS Group – Thursdays from 4:00 P.M. to 5:30 P.M.
Youth ABC (Attitudes, Behaviors, and Coping Skills) Group – Wednesdays 5:15 P.M. to 6:45 P.M.
Voices Group (Adolescent Girl Empowerment) – Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:00 P.M. to 3:30 P.M.
Adult Compassion Focused Therapy Group – Mondays from 1:30 P.M. to 3:00 P.M.
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