Running head: Social Anxiety of Lars Lindstrom

The Social Anxiety Disorder of Lars Lindstrom

Olivia L. Snyder
PSY 366: Abnormal Psychology
Arizona State University

Social Anxiety of Lars Lindstrom

The Social Anxiety Disorder of Lars Lindstrom

PART 1
Lars and the Real Girl is a movie starring Ryan Gosling, Paul Schneider, Emily
Mortimer, Kelli Garner, and Patricia Clarkson. The story follows Lars after he and his brother,
Gus, inherited their family home from their father, who had passed away somewhat recently after
a long battle with depression. Eventually we learn that his mother died very early in his
childhood, and that event triggered a lifelong bout with depression in his father, and that once his
brother was capable of supporting himself, he left. When we first see Lars, he appears very
isolated as he wraps his face in a baby blanket and looks out the window of a dark, converted
garage on the property he and his brother have just inherited. He actively avoids family,
coworkers, and community members by maintaining distance and creating barriers through the
blanket or his many layers of clothing. He avoids eye contact and scrunches up his body to
appear small in the presence of others. In contrast with his coworkers, who cover their desks in
toys and photos that represent them, Lars maintains a very plain, clean, and organized desk with
a single, perfectly aligned photo of his brother and sister-in-law hanging on the wall of his
cubicle. Despite his family and coworkers attempting to get him more involved in the
community and social events, Lars is constantly rejecting their offers in favor of isolation
(Kimmel, Aubrey & Gillespie, 2007).
It isnt until Bianca, a realistic doll Lars purchased off of an adult website, comes to visit
that Lars becomes more open to socializing. His brother, at this point, was worried about Lars
mental health after learning about his relationship with the doll and encourages a visit to the
family doctor. Upon this visit, the doctor diagnosis Bianca with an illness that would require both
she and Lars come in for weekly visits, this would allow her to better understand his delusion.

Social Anxiety of Lars Lindstrom

The general belief is that Lars has been decompensating for some time, this manifested mostly
through his social anxiety, and the delusion being a product of this means that the community
must play along until he no longer needs Bianca. As the community grows more accepting of
Bianca, that feeling of acceptance is also transferred onto Lars. With Bianca, he finally agrees to
eating his meals with his brother and sister-in-law, he sits amongst his peers at church instead of
alone in the back, he starts agreeing to going out with his coworkers. While the mannerisms that
were indicative of his social anxiety are still present, like eye twitching, avoidance, and general
insecurity, Lars gradually is able to reintroduce himself to the community through Bianca. As
time goes by, Lars starts putting more personal decorations up in his cubicle, wearing less layers
and even goes bowling with a girl from work. We notice that the delusion is starting to break
when Lars admits to his doctor that Bianca no longer says anything, and at this point her
illness worsens. Essentially, the doctor provided a means to an end for the delusion by giving
her an illness that wasnt specified, this allowed Lars to decide how it would progress, and
if/when she would succumb to it. When Bianca dies, it was because Lars no longer needed her,
and he seems to have more control over the more debilitating aspects of his anxiety (Kimmel,
Aubrey & Gillespie, 2007).
PART 2
A. The Causes
The potential causes of Lars developing a social anxiety disorder would be the series of
events in his family that followed a pattern of neglect and abandonment (Oltmanns & Emery,
2015). These would be that his mother died very early in his childhood, and that event
triggered a lifelong bout with depression in his father, which would have made him very
emotionally distant toward his children, which had the biggest impact on Lars. He more than

Social Anxiety of Lars Lindstrom

likely wasnt receiving affection from his father at this point, and wasnt learning how to
establish healthy relationships, which would have led him to develop a fear of social
interactions due to his lack of experience with them. Then the next event would be once his
brother was capable of supporting himself, he left and didnt return for a long time, thus
solidifying a pattern of abandonment in Lars life that led him to developing an additional
issue with separation anxiety (Kimmel, Aubrey & Gillespie, 2007). Essentially Lars has an
established history of stressful life events that resulted in him developing issues with
abandonment/separation anxiety, lack of social experience, and overall emotional and
physical distance (Oltmanns & Emery, 2015). Do all of these causes also have a hand in Lars
delusion about Bianca? Yes and No. Yes, because without having experienced neglect and
social isolation in early childhood, he more than likely wouldnt have needed the delusion.
No, because the timeline for the delusion appears to coincide with his fathers passing, both
he and his brother inheriting their childhood home, and all of this is happening while his
sister-in-law is pregnant with his first niece/nephew. Essentially Lars seems to develop the
delusion as a method of re-processing the events in his childhood that led to his severe social
anxiety once he and his brother are back in their family home.
B. The Diagnosis
After learning of his history, Lars appears to have been conditioned to fear social
interaction and engagement in healthy relationships due to his ultimate fear of judgment and
abandonment (Oltmanns & Emery, 2015). The first behavior that is evident of his social
anxiety is that he actively avoids social situations. Anytime someone in the community or
family attempts to reach out to him and get him involved in social events, he responds with
monosyllabic answers and attempts to get away from that person as soon as possible. Any

Social Anxiety of Lars Lindstrom

time there was a situation where being around others was unavoidable, Lars would do his
best to separate himself from the group, like sitting four rows behind his fellow churchgoers
so he wouldnt have to sit near anyone. One of the most important aspects of him feeling safe
when in the presence of others is that he maintains distance and physical barriers. His most
prominent barrier is the baby blanket his mother made for him before she passed away which
he uses as a security blanket essentially, he always has it on him, either around his neck or
wrapped around his face. Anytime someone gets within a foot of him, he is very
uncomfortable which is evident through his eye twitching and the scrunching-up of his body
to appear smaller, to make that stop he then must re-establish distance or put a barrier
between them. Lars is very insecure when around other people, this includes family, and that
insecurity leads him to avoid eye contact and physical contact with others. He even tells the
family doctor that physical contact triggers a physiological response in him which causes him
pain, as a result of that he developed an aversion to contact. We also learn that this is one of
the reasons he wears so many layers and wont shake hands without gloves, the layers of
clothing prevent skin to skin contact (Kimmel, Aubrey & Gillespie, 2007). He also appears to
compensate for a lack of control over the social environment with a need for control over his
physical space, we see this in his unrealistically neat workspace where the only personalized
element is a perfectly aligned photo of his brother and sister-in-law. This is a major contrast
between him and his coworkers, who cover their desks in toys and personalized items.
C. The Treatment
The method of treatment that would be most beneficial in Lars situation would be how he
learns to manage his social anxiety in the movie: Bianca. Yes, she was part of a delusion, but
his delusion about her worked much like Systemic Desensitization and Interoceptive

Social Anxiety of Lars Lindstrom

Exposure. This is more than likely why the family doctor advised his family to play along
with the delusion because it would allow him to work through his bigger issue with social
anxiety. Bianca was a tolerable companion for Lars specifically because he was able to
control their interactions, and her responses to him (Oltmanns & Emery, 2015). One of the
most important parts of Lars delusion is that he is fully aware that she is a doll, she is not a
human girl and is therefore not as fear inducing. With the baseline being Bianca, and Lars
tethering himself to her, he is then able to progress through more intimidating social
interactions, like dinner with his brother and sister-in-law, then moving on to sitting amongst
his peers at church, eventually he is able to attend a coworkers party, and after going through
all those steps he is able to go on a date with a girl he likes from work without Bianca.
Throughout this process of desensitization, we see Lars slowly reduce the amount of layers
he is wearing, socialization is becoming less terrifying and physical contact is becoming
more tolerable. Towards the end of the movie, Lars is reading The Ingenious Gentleman Don
Quixote of La Mancha to Bianca, and the quote we hear alludes to a hermit who desires a
companion whose purpose would be that of a priest in confession. This helps us better
understand why Lars needed Bianca, she was there to help him processes the events of his
past and find closure through their dates to various sites related to events in his childhood.
Their dates, coupled with their increased involvement in the community as time went on,
allowed Lars to become progressively more relaxed in social situations (Oltmanns & Emery,
2015). After successfully confronting situations he previously feared, by the end of the movie
Lars is able to go out with coworkers that he trusts, and while he still maintains a slight
aversion to physical contact, he makes a successful attempt to shake hands without wearing

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gloves. It seems small, but this signaled the end of his need for Bianca, and he is able to
move on without using her as a crutch.

Social Anxiety of Lars Lindstrom

8
References

Cervantes Saavedra, M. 1992. The ingenious gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha. New York.
Oxford University Press. Page 109.
Kimmel, S., Cameron, J., & Aubrey, S. (Producers), Gillespie, C. (Director), & Oliver, N.
(Writer). 2007. Lars and the real girl. United States: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
Oltmanns, Thomas F., and Robert E. Emery. Abnormal Psychology. 8th ed. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice Hall, 2015. Print.