DSM Diagnosis for Children in We Need to Talk About Kevin

This paper discusses the symptoms of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) diagnosis for children based on the character Kevin in the book/film We Need to Talk About Kevin. It also provides treatment options for the diagnosis.

0
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM) diagnosis for
children
Student Name:
Student ID:
Subject

1
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Summary of the book..................................................................................................................................2
Explanation of the symptoms associated with DSM diagnosis....................................................................2
Treatment for the child................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................5
References...................................................................................................................................................6

2
Introduction
The paper will reflect upon the book “We Need to Talk about Kevin” that possess a
character Kevin who is below 18 years. It will provide with the summary of the book that will
discuss the main points of the book. Also, it will focus on the symptoms of Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), as the child was suffering from this diagnosis.
Moreover, the paper aimed to provide with the treatment options for the character Kevin.
Therefore, it will provide with the overall scenario of the book based on the character and the
symptoms and treatment of the DSM diagnosis.
Summary of the book
The book “We Need to Talk about Kevin” is a 2011 psychological drama thriller film
that is adapted by Lionel Shriver’s novel of the same title and is directed by Lynne Ramsay.
Tilda Swinton plays the role of Kevin mother in the film who struggles to come to terms with her
son as well as the horrors that have been committed by the son. Kevin as a child shows no
affection towards his family and the classic signs of a psychopath, but for his mother, he has the
special loathing (Thornham, 2016). As he grows up his behavior worsens day by day as acting as
a loving son before his father and torturing and manipulating his mother. Eva has one more child
Celia to whom he was deeply connected. Franklin Eva's husband denies the negative behavior of
Kevin and asks for a divorce. After some period Kevin attacked a teacher, cafeteria worker and
his classmates with a bow after shooting and killing Celia and his father. The story ends by
telling the fact that Eva visited Kevin in jail when he was about to turn 18 years old. Kevin
showed real emotions for her mother when he was in jail (Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association, Sixth Edition. 2018).
Explanation of the symptoms associated with DSM diagnosis
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), is a comprehensive
characterization of officially identified psychiatric disorders that is published by the American
Psychiatric Association. It is recognized to guide the mental health professionals to make sure
the uniformity of the diagnosis (Fried, Epskamp, Nesse, Tuerlinckx & Borsboom, 2016). The
symptoms of the DSM diagnosis are as follows:

3
 Dry mouth (not owing to dehydration and medication)
 Shaking or trembling
 Accelerated heart rate, pounding or palpitation heart
 Extensive worry or anxiety
 Difficulty in breathing
 Abdominal distress or nausea
 Discomfort or chest pain
 Difficult to control the worry
 Easily fatigued
 Irritability
 Disturbance in the sleep
 Mind going blank or difficulty in concentrating
 Feeling keyed up or restlessness
 Sweating
The physical, worry or anxiety symptoms causes’ significantly clinical impairment in the
occupational or social functioning of the areas. Persistent and recurrent thoughts are experienced
by the patients at the time of disturbance (Liu et al., 2018). The images, impulses and the worries
are not the excessive worries related to the problems.
Treatment for the child
Kevin has a difficult and detached childhood. According to the symptom of Kevin, it
seems that he is suffering from the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The
children and the teenagers are generally affected and could continue to exist up to adulthood. The
most mental disorder diagnosed in the children is ADHD. The hyperactiveness and uncontrolled
impulses are common symptoms of children with ADHD (Ford, 2017). They might also suffer
from paying attention and this affects their behavior in school and home. This mental disorder is
common in the boys than the girls. When a child has issues in paying attention, it is found at the
time of early years of school.

4
Most of the ADHD's symptoms could be controlled by medicines and with the help of
therapy. The simulants medicines could be helpful to control the hypersensitivity and
spontaneous behavior (Van der Kolk, 2017). But the stimulants do not work all the patients of
ADHD. The non-simulants medicines could be prescribed to being children older than 6 years.
The omega 3 supplements have some of the advantages for the patients of ADHD. The therapy
for changing the impulsive behavior of Kevin is a special education, which is beneficial for the
children to learn at school. Counseling is also one of the methods to improve behavior and
control the frustration and feelings of the persons suffering from ADHD (Abbas et al., 2017).
Conclusion
The paper had reviewed the film or book “We need to talk about Kevin” by explaining
the summary of the film or book. It had also described the symptoms associated with the DSM
diagnosis for children. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) publishes DSM diagnosis
and provides a common language and criteria to the categories of mental disorders. It helps to
catch the symptoms and experiences of mental disorders in the children. DSM diagnosis also
shows the impact of the mental disorders on the children. The treatment options for the DSM
diagnosis of Kevin had also been considered in this paper.

5
References
Abbas, S., Ihle, P., Adler, J. B., Engel, S., Günster, C., Holtmann, M. ... & Schubert, I. (2017).
Predictors of non-drug psychiatric/psychotherapeutic treatment in children and
adolescents with mental or behavioural disorders. European child & adolescent
psychiatry, 26(4), 433-444.
Ford, J. D. (2017). Treatment implications of altered affect regulation and information
processing following child maltreatment. Psychiatric Annals, 35(5), 410-419.
Fried, E. I., Epskamp, S., Nesse, R. M., Tuerlinckx, F., & Borsboom, D. (2016). What
are'good'depression symptoms? Comparing the centrality of DSM and non-DSM
symptoms of depression in a network analysis. Journal of affective disorders, 189, 314-
320.
Liu, L., Wang, L., Cao, C., Cao, X., Zhu, Y., Liu, P., ... & Zhang, J. (2018). Serotonin transporter
5-HTTLPR genotype is associated with intrusion and avoidance symptoms of DSM-5
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Chinese earthquake survivors. Anxiety, Stress, &
Coping, 31(3), 318-327.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition.
(2018). https://www.apastyle.org. Retrieved 1 November 2018, from
https://www.apastyle.org/manual
Thornham, S. (2016). ‘A hatred so intense…’1. We need to talk about Kevin. Postfeminism and
women’s cinema. Revista Lusófona de Estudos Culturais, 3(1), 43-63.
Van der Kolk, B. A. (2017). Developmental Trauma Disorder: Toward a rational diagnosis for
children with complex trauma histories. Psychiatric annals, 35(5), 401-408.