Bella Swan Has A Disorder

Written By Beyond The Threshold .

So, if you need to know anything about me, it’s that Twilight is my all-time favorite movie saga. This is a research paper I did for a psychology class, which is semi-opinion-based but a very fun read! This is going to contain nearly all of my “proper” project commentary, plus some fun blog-present-day commentary about what I wrote.


While I do not recall any of the five movies specifically stating that this character has an anxiety disorder, I do think that digging deeper and stepping into the character’s shoes throughout the first movie in the saga, “Twilight,” reveals a level of anxiety. A quick summary of the plot includes a young Bella moving back home with her dad, her parents having been separated since she was a child, her living with her mom for most of her life, and her moving to live with her dad in her teen years. She befriends and takes an interest in a mysterious, lonely boy. Infatuation grows instantaneously, and she finds out that this mysterious boy, Edward Cullen, is a vampire. Love grows swiftly, and human Bella is invited to meet the rest of the vampire family. Months into their relationship, they attend a family baseball game when some enemy vampires arrive and target Bella. A chase ensues, and the Cullen family fights to keep her safe. A battle breaks out, and Bella is injured, on the brink of death. The movie ends with Bella recovering and the couple sealing their love through it all with a kiss. This summary doesn’t cover some of the other, less important points from the movie. All of this transpires over the first movie, which is insane. There are five movies in this saga, and this genuinely only scratches the surface of how anxious Bella has to be.


Even though anxiety disorder is not specifically stated in this movie, it is clear that a certain level of anxiety would be present in Bella. I believe for the first movie, “Twilight,” the anxiety Bella would be experiencing is “GAD” (Generalized Anxiety Disorder). Moving is no easy feat, especially entering a place where you have no friends and the only person you know is your dad. We can imagine how anxious one might feel. On top of the anxiety of being the new girl, she falls in love with a human’s natural enemy: a vampire. It is in their nature to crave humans. She first reveals to Edward that she knows what he is while being deep in the woods, and he gives her a scary rundown of how he could kill her on the spot. If that were me, I’d be very anxious and fearful, thinking of all the things that could go wrong if Edward weren’t such a nice vampire. You’re literally face-to-face with a being that wants to eat and kill you; how is that not anxiety-inducing? Stepping into Bella's shoes, she starts a relationship literally within almost the same month of meeting him; she had little to no time to think about or process how her life would change by pursuing this. Not only do they start dating extremely fast, within maybe a week of actually dating, her vampire boyfriend asks her to come to his home and meet his entire VAMPIRE FAMILY. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m actually shaking in my boots. I’m sure most of us have experienced this, the anxiety behind meeting our partner’s family, now imagine they want to kill you when they meet you, and are doing everything in their power not to. That is so anxiety-inducing and stressful. There is no doubt she felt some generalized anxiety when going to meet her boyfriend’s vampire family. Next up, because of course it doesn't stop there, Bella is invited to play baseball with the scary fast, blood-hungry vampires. She already can't keep up with them, which could be anxiety-inducing, knowing they have to alter their game to fit her needs, but they get surprise vampire visitors as well. Three vampires enter the playing field and smell Bella’s human scent. They rush Bella out with Edward, as one of the vampires has no self-control and makes it his mission to kill Bella. A huge chase ensues, and Bella isn't even allowed to go home. In her shoes, I would go from beyond anxious to a full-on panic attack. Edward probably would’ve been covered in that morning’s breakfast if that were me. She is brought far away by one of Edwards’ sisters, but receives a concerned call from her mom and the vampire, who wants to kill her, telling her to go to a building, or he will kill her mom. Of course, she goes to the building in fear that her mother would die, just to be tricked and then receive a vampire bite, blood loss, a broken leg, etc. Finally, she was saved and taken to a hospital, where she is recovering.



Looking into Bella’s Anxiety from a Sociocultural perspective, we can make the judgment that her anxiety would have largely impacted her social status. She is the new girl in town, which can be difficult and feel isolating. However, she fell so deeply in love with Edward, days to weeks of being in this new school, leaving little time to be socially influenced by friends and peers, specifically humans. If she had spent more time with friends or even focused on her friends’ advice and warnings about the Cullen family, maybe her anxiety would not have been so heightened, or she would have eased into the relationship with Edward a little more. However, we’d have no movie saga if that had happened.

Sigmund Freud's Psychodynamic theory looked at how the unconscious mind worked and what experiences and behaviors from the past can heavily influence a person and their mental behaviors. In Bella’s case, she was naive and became susceptible to anxiety-prone situations as well as social awkwardness. Growing up with her mom all her life in Florida, with a completely different lifestyle, including sun, beaches, and sand, to moving to Washington, a state with constant dreary weather with rain and clouds, is a big shift. This is something she wasn't used to; coming from a different lifestyle leads her unconscious mind to expect situations of her old lifestyle, yet she's experiencing completely new situations she does not yet know how to manage. This alone can provide an onset of GAD as well as some depression and social isolation.

Diving into the humanistic perspective of Bella and her anxiety, I don't think there is much connection. The humanistic perspective focuses on free-will, self-actualization, or individual potential and personal growth. After watching this movie upwards of a hundred times (It is my all-time favorite saga!) It becomes very obvious that Bella doesn't seem to do things for herself, as if she's still not quite sure who she is or what she likes. This is understandable considering the first movie takes place when she is only 16 or 17, which are pivotal years in the shaping of a teenager, where peer influence is very important. As teenagers, we finally start to explore life outside of our familial roles and find who we are and what we like. Bella didn’t have this aspect of her teenage life. She does have an attraction towards Edward, but he came on very strongly, following her to keep her safe, watching her always, even in her bedroom while she slept; she potentially could have jumped into the relationship solely because she thought it was what he wanted and was anxious to decline rather than because she also wanted it. A vampire is watching you sleep, following you late at night, and protecting you from men trying to come onto you. I think anxious is an understanding, how do you say no thank you to someone who has taken so much interest in you that they protect you every second of the day. Taking this perspective could also lead to her potentially feeling anxious thoughts that she jumped into his crazy family and lifestyle too quickly.

Treatment in this rare situation would vary. Depending on how we choose to treat it and what Bella feels best for herself at the time would be a huge indicator. A few options would be Cognitive behavioral therapy, Psychodynamic therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy. Starting with cognitive behavioral therapy, the most common treatment option. This would allow Bella to talk things out with someone and change negative behaviors. Another option would be psychodynamic therapy, which consists of exploring how experience shapes behaviour presently. For Bella, this would allow her to dig deeper into the influences she grew up with and how they impact her life today. Finally, looking at acceptance and commitment therapy. Personally, I believe that this form of treatment could be most beneficial for Bella. The things she endured as just a teenager, spending her high school years warding off evil vampires, loving a good vampire, and only being surrounded by vampires, coming to terms with the life she's chosen would be extremely beneficial. She jumped into things so quickly that there was hardly time to process how her life was permanently changing. 


An article I found in relation to this topic is a personal blog that details another type of Anxiety Bella would have been facing. Besides General anxiety disorder, Bella very clearly had anxious attachment to her newfound vampire lover, Edward. The author of this article states, “Throughout the Twilight series, Bella exhibits a profound fear of being separated from Edward. The mere thought of being away from him induces anxiety and distress, a classic sign of anxious attachment.” The author goes on to state, “Bella constantly seeks verbal and physical reassurance from Edward, needing him to affirm his love and commitment repeatedly.” This is something I’d never noticed or thought deeply about until this project. I found this author's opinion very detailed and well-explained.

“And So, The Lion Fell In Love With The Lamb” - Edward Cullen

I chose to include this quote in this assignment as I believe it is a major steppingstone for Bella’s influenced behaviors and anxiety. Falling in love is scary, especially as a teenager just starting at a new school. Then imagine your vampire crush admits he fell in love with you mere seconds after admitting he's a vampire and knowing you for a week or so.  The metaphor within the quote speaks enough for how naive yet understanding she was in what she'd be starting. A lion, a powerful predator describing Edward, to a lamb, a weak prey, referring to Bella. 

This is a long one! However, it was so much fun to write and research, considering this is my all-time favorite movie saga, and it directly relates to my profession, I really enjoyed writing this. I hope you all stuck around to the end and enjoyed reading this. As always, please consider donating to BTT as it helps me continue writing for all of you!

Goodbye for now, see you in the next one!

Works Cited:

Beyond The Threshold .
Next

What I’m Watching