A Diagnosis for Elsa in the Movie “Frozen”

  I was watching Frozen recently with my kids and it was hard to take my therapist’s hat off to just enjoy it.   If you didn’t see the movie Frozen, here’s a quick summary.  Elsa has a magic power to create ice and snow. Worried that she would be ostracized from society, her parents lock her in her room and tell her to keep her powers secret, even from her younger sister, Ana.  To control her powers, she basically has to stop having emotions.  After the parents die, Elsa is crowned Queen.  That day, she erupts and everyone finds out about her powers.  She decides to run off, induldges her power and leaves a chronic winter behind (sound familiar Chicagoans?).  In trying to protect herself, she hurts her sister, Ana, who then needs to be saved by “an act of true love.”  Spoiler Alert:  My kids and I love that the “act of true love” is between the sisters when Ana sacrifices herself to save Elsa.  This leads to the thawing of both the sisters’ hearts and the end of winter (do we need an “Act of True Love” Chicago?).

So what’s going on here psychologically?  Elsa tries cutting herself off from people and emotions and it doesn’t work.  She can’t successfuly keep her emotions locked up, so they end up exploding and hurting her sister, whom she loves.  Diagnosis: Anger problems or more specifically, Adjustment Disorder with Disturbance of Conduct.  What this means is that Elsa is “adjusting” to her situation of being socially isolated by acting out with inappropriate behavior.  Because she has poor social skills due to social isolation, she is unable tolerate a disagreement with her sister and gets overwhelmed with her anger.

What would it have been like if Elsa and Ana’s parents had gone to a family therapist when they first found out about her powers?  I think that each family could have spoken about their feelings: worry, fear, grief, excitement, disappointment, etc.  Together, they could have come up with a better plan to help Elsa manage her feelings.  Her therapist could have given her some coping skills: breathing and relaxation exercises; challenging her negative self talk; including regular exercise into her routine; imagery, meditation.  By encouraging her to have friends and social interaction instead of cutting herself off, Elsa could have learned appropriate social behavior by getting feedback from her peers, at the very least, her younger sister, Ana.

Honestly, it reminds me of people I know, who are wound up so tight that they snap so easily when they get frustrated.  I always assume that there are supressed feeling beneath and a reluctance to open up about any of the feelings for fear of exploding.  So if you or someone you know has explosive anger, there is help available.  If you e-mail me at eileendordek@comcast.net, I can connect you with a therapist to help with anger management.