- This popular cartoon emerged in 1924, first as a poem and later as a series of children’s books.
- The protagonist is a friendly bear named Winnie, who lives in the forest surrounded by his animal friends and a human.
- A professional team of psychiatrists claims that each of the Winnie The Pooh characters represents different mental disorders.
Cartoons are one of the most common ways that young people are entertained. The childhood of more than a generation has been marked by programs that were previously seen on television and today on screens and phones. Within the list there is a program that has managed to transcend time. His name is Winnie The Pooh and you probably know him, but did you know that his story is so deep that it can represent several mental disorders?
From print to television
As with many children’s stories, the origin is found in literature. The first appearance of this noble bear was in a book of poems published in 1924 by AA Milne. This was followed by a series of children’s books published in 1926 and from then on their popularity began.
Based on the official documentation, the author named the peculiar animal after a teddy bear that his son, Christopher Robin Milne, had. In turn, the little boy named the toy after a Canadian black bear he met at the London Zoo named Winnie.
About the central plot, the protagonist is a naive and friendly bear who lives in a house built in the forest. He is surrounded by Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit, Igor, Kangaroo, Rito, Owl, and Christopher Robin, who is the only human in the story.
Although the story of Winnie the Pooh seems normal, in reality it also has a background that connects it with mental disorders. In this case, it’s all due to a study carried out by the specialized journal Canadian Medical Association.
A team of psychiatrists took on the task of analyzing the classic cartoon and what was obtained is that each of the characters represents a different neurological or psychosocial development problem.
What mental disorders does each character represent?
To begin with, it is indicated that the protagonist, Winnie The Pooh, suffers from Attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity (ADHD). What the specialists mention is that their thoughts are scattered, while their lifestyle is disorganized and forgetful. Therefore, it meets the criteria for this disease.
For his part, Roo represents the autism. Throughout the cartoon, he is shown as an animal that ignores everything that happens around him by getting into his mother kangaroo’s bag.
In that vein, Kanga suffers from Social Anxiety Disorder. He always carries Roo in his bag because he thinks he has autism, which is why he worries too much.
While the Roo rabbit suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). It is the exact opposite of Pooh because he needs to have everything organized and under control. While everything that he is not like this causes him sadness.
Regarding the donkey Igor is the clearest and easiest to understand. He is sad all the time and does not have the courage to live, which is why he suffers from a serious picture of depression with suicidal tendencies.
About Piglet he is described as an animal with anxiety. At all times he is surprised by the noises he hears and is quite scary, so he always hides from others.
For his part, one of the most charismatic characters is Tigger, who is full of energy and on the move all the time. For the same reason he is described as someone hyperactive. At no time can he sit still and therefore makes hasty decisions based on his impulses.
Finally, the only human in the story is Christopher Robin, who is described as a patient with schizophrenia. In fact, it has been mentioned that all the animals in the cartoon could be a product of his imagination and do not actually exist.