Requiem for a Dream depicts four people struggling with drug addiction, each in very different ways. Sara Goldfarb is a widow who lives alone and spends her days watching television and is obsessed with the idea of ​​one day being on television herself. Sara's son, Harry Goldfarb, is a heroin addict along with his girlfriend, Marion Silver, and friend Tyrone Love. All three also traffic in drugs as a means to fulfill their dreams in life; Tyrone wants to break out of squalor and make his mother proud of him while Marion and Harry want to open a clothing store. Sara receives a call with an opportunity to be on television and when she realizes she doesn't fit into her favorite red dress she seeks help to lose weight from a doctor who prescribes amphetamines. Harry notices obvious signs that his mother is getting "uppers" and encourages her to stop taking the medicine, but she protests that her chance to be on television is one of her only reasons for living. Sara later develops amphetamine psychosis due to her constant use of the drug to lose weight. Meanwhile, Harry and Tyrone are struggling to find heroin until they learn of a shipment arriving in New York from Florida at a high price. Harry asks Marion to have sex with his therapist in exchange for money so they can buy some heroin, which she ends up doing. Harry and Tyrone's attempt to purchase heroin is ruined when the place where they were purchasing heroin is hit by an explosion. Sara's amphetamine psychosis becomes so severe that she takes a train to the television station in a hallucinogenic state. He asks the station workers when he will be on TV, who then call the police due to his alarming mental state. Sara is then admitted to a psychiatric hospital and subjected to electroconvulsive therapy. Tyrone and Harry decide to travel to Florida to purchase heroin directly from the source. During the trip, Harry complains of his arm being badly infected from injecting heroin. They stop at a hospital to treat Harry, which results in the two being arrested. While Tyrone and Harry were on a trip to Florida, Marion becomes desperate for drugs and sells her body to a pimp in exchange for heroin. Electroconvulsive therapy leaves Sara in a vegetative state, Harry's infected arm is amputated, Tyrone is harassed by racist prison guards, and Marion becomes involved in prostitution. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Requiem for a Dream is full of psychological problems resulting from drug abuse and addiction. The specific psychological disorder I will talk about is drug addiction, the high-risk behaviors associated with addiction, withdrawal, and the psychological effects that addiction can have on a person. Each of the four main characters struggles with addiction in very different but also extremely similar ways. This analysis will examine the impact of addiction on each of the main characters in Requiem for a Dream, while also relating these characters' struggles to issues prevalent in today's society. Sara Goldfarb becomes addicted to amphetamines after an unscrupulous doctor prescribes amphetamines to help her lose weight. Even though this movie was released in 2000, amphetamine addiction is a reality for many Americans. While it is difficult to calculate the number of people addicted to amphetamines, we know that between 2008 and 2012 the United States saw a 53 percent increase in ADHD prescriptions, one of themost used amphetamines. Sara becomes obsessed with losing weight to fit into the red dress she wants to wear on television. He begins to abuse his prescription and falls into a state of amphetamine psychosis. Drug-induced psychosis has been found in 8–46% of daily amphetamine users (Glasner-Edwards et al., 2008). Some of the symptoms of amphetamine-induced psychosis include paranoia, hyperactivity, decreased appetite, and insomnia among others (Bramness et al., 2012). All of the above is prevalent and can be seen in Sara. In the film, she is shown hallucinating because her refrigerator shakes violently, almost begging her to open it and eat after not eating due to her loss of appetite. Sara is hyperactive and suffers from insomnia when it is shown that she stays up all night reorganizing her house and cleaning it from top to bottom. Once Sara is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, doctors try a number of different treatments to no avail. They resort to electroconvulsive therapy, which puts her in a vegetative state. While Sara was struggling with amphetamine addiction, her son, Harry, was going through his own problems with addiction. Harry, like 626,000 other Americans, has an addiction to heron.) At first Harry starts using heroin rarely with his friend Tyrone. The first time they are shown taking heroin in the film, Tyrone dances to hip hop music while Harry is seen kissing his girlfriend. Later they throw a party where everyone binges on drugs. At first Harry is full of motivation and dreams of opening a clothing store for his girlfriend, Marion, to sell her clothing designs. Harry and Tyrone make a lot of money from drug trafficking and seem happy with the way their lives are going. Harry and Marion also have a healthy relationship in the beginning. This all stops when there is a lull in their drug supply, and all three become desperate for drugs and money. The healthy relationship Marion and Harry once had begins to crack as the need for heroin intensifies. They begin to go through periods of heroin withdrawal that include agitation, sweating, vomiting, and many other symptoms (Kampman & Jarvis, 2015). These withdrawal symptoms are present in a scene where Marion wakes up in the middle of the night, sweating profusely because she and Harry are out of heroin. The next day, Harry and Marion argue heatedly about not taking heroin, the two often arguing about how to get their next heroin fix during the movie. In many scenes of the film, the characters are also seen sweating, often followed by arguments, signifying that they have not taken heroin for a long period of time and are going through a period of withdrawal. When talking about this film, it is important to understand the psychology behind drug abuse and addiction. Why do people continue to use these drugs even when they cause them such significant physical and emotional pain? Psychology can help us understand why people use drugs, even when they know they are bad for them. People use drugs because they know they will benefit from them. Whether the benefit is stress relief, enjoyment of the drug, or use as a coping mechanism for negative situations, it all ties back to the fact that drug use is primarily an easy way to escape emotions or deal with them in a way simpler than addressing the cause. of the problem. In Requiem for a Dream, Marion actually has a therapist, someone who would do well for her to seek help for her addiction problem. Marion's addiction, however, has reached a point where she doesn't recognize that she needs help, so she never talks about it to her therapist, she even stops talking.go to his therapist. This is important because many drug addicts usually deny their addiction and rarely seek help for themselves. Requiem for a Dream also highlights the high-risk behaviors associated with drug use. The film shows behaviors such as risky sexual behavior, subjecting oneself to violent situations, and physical harm resulting from injecting heroin. The film depicts Marion in multiple scenes engaging in risky sexual behavior to obtain heroin. She has sex with her therapist for money and later gets involved with a pimp in exchange for heroin. The pimp tells her about a sex party he is throwing and tells her that if she performs sexual acts at the party she will receive a large reward.amount of heroin as payment. Desperate for heroin, he performs at the party to get heroin. These acts of prostitution for people struggling with opioid addiction are widespread today. A 2011 study of 65 at-risk women found that 44.6% of subjects were opioid users, and it was also reported that sex work was the primary source of income for more than half of the sample (Roshanfekr et al., 2015). Although this study includes a relatively small sample, it is important to note that data on this topic is difficult to collect as most people do not want to disclose this sensitive information to researchers. These data demonstrate that Marion's use of prostitution is not an isolated event. She turns to prostitution to satisfy her drug needs, even if she doesn't want to, as do many other women addicted to opiates. In the film, she is seen struggling with the idea of ​​having sex to satisfy her addiction, but the physical and psychological effects of her withdrawal symptoms overcome her rationality and she feels she has to do it. I found it very important that this film highlights the prostitution of women addicted to opiates, something that is not often talked about. This also shows how strong the psychological need for drugs is when withdrawal symptoms are so severe in a person's mind and body that they may go to extreme measures to satisfy those symptoms. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay Requiem for a Dream shows the real and frightening consequences of drug addiction on a person's emotions and body. Drug addiction is a complex psychological disorder that is still being researched and professionals are working hard to understand it even today. This film touches on multiple aspects of drug addiction, such as the psychological effects of drug abuse, mental and physical withdrawal symptoms, high-risk behaviors that people addicted to drugs engage in, and many more. When we think of psychological disorders, the disorders that often come to mind first are generally not substance-related. Substance abuse and drug addiction are an important mental illness that should be recognized by more people. Requiem for a Dream shows the living hell that thousands of drug addicts struggle with every day. This film helps shed light on a psychological disorder that is often misconstrued by society that those who are addicted to drugs are "junkies" and choose to live a life of addiction. It is important to see the psychological side of this disease and understand the inner turmoil that drug addicts experience and live with. Reference Bielamowicz, K. (2016, June 1). The American workforce runs on uppers. Retrieved November 3, 2019, from ​https://daily.jstor.org/americas-workforce-narcotic-stimulants/​. Bramness, J.G., Gundersen, Ø. H.,=1409