Mentally Ill Peanuts

Andy says I have ruined A Charlie Brown Christmas for him because as we watched it the other day I was diagnosing all of the characters. I thought he had heard that Chares Schultz had based his characters on the mentally ill and trying to help reduce the stigmatism of mental illness.

This person blogged about it as well.

Read his post – it’s very interesting. But I think I have some other comments to add……

Snoopy who thinks he’s a WWII Fighter Pilot – if that isn’t delusional…..
Charlie Brown, who continually plays the victim
The Red-haired girl, ok, you might think she seems normal, but she’s the one hiding her issues, she the perfect one that Charlie wants to date, but I suspect she could be suffering silently from an eating disorder
Then there is Linus who is obviously stuck in the oral stage….
And Peppermint Patty is definitely going to struggle as she comes to term with her homosexuality that she has been covering up with her obsession with Charlie Brown
And then there is poor Marcy who lusts after Peppermint Patty and follows after her like a little puppy dog, she has to struggle with feelings of rejection or her own hiding of her sexuality. Now, I have to say that I am not referring to homosexuality as a mental illness, but I am talking about the depression and anxiety that may go along with hiding their sexuality or coming out to others.
Lucy – now, there is a controlling loud girl. I fear as an adult she could be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. If Lucy doesn’t get the attention she wants she gets very upset and appears to feel abandoned by others.
Let’s see….who else?
Sherman – the musician – I fear his lack of social skills are going to increase his anxities and he may distance himself further from his peers and soon become afraid to go out in public and just stay in play his piano.
Pig-Pen – just his name alone is probably going to cause some self-esteem issues, as well as feeling bad about never being able to get himself clean. I wonder if there are some neglect issues in the home, which will later catch up with him.

Here’s a whole list of the Peanuts Characters and their debuts.