Personality Disorders in Harry Potter: Cluster A

Warning – I will be speaking about paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal personality disorders. 

 

Hello Everyone!

In this post, I will be talking about personality disorders in the Harry Potter Universe. As usual, if you are uncomfortable with the topic for this post, please don’t worry about leaving.

Personality disorders are divided into three clusters called A, B, and C (not very original I know). According to the Mayo Clinic “A personality disorder is a type of mental disorder in which you have a rigid and unhealthy pattern of thinking, functioning and behaving. A person with a personality disorder has trouble perceiving and relating to situations and people. This causes significant problems and limitations in relationships, social activities, work and school”. For this first post on the subject, I’ll be speaking about Cluster A. “Cluster A personality disorders are characterized by odd, eccentric thinking or behavior. They include paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder and schizotypal personality disorder”, the Mayo Clinic states.

Paranoid Personality Disorder

        People with Paranoid Personality Disorder are generally “suspicious about the motives of others or fear that others intend to harm them” (healthline). The Mayo Clinic lists the symptoms as…

“Paranoid Personality Disorder

  • Pervasive distrust and suspicion of others and their motives
  • Unjustified belief that others are trying to harm or deceive you
  • Unjustified suspicion of the loyalty or trustworthiness of others
  • Hesitancy to confide in others due to unreasonable fear that others will use the information against you
  • Perception of innocent remarks or nonthreatening situations as personal insults or attacks
  • Angry or hostile reaction to perceived slights or insults
  • Tendency to hold grudges
  • Unjustified, recurrent suspicion that spouse or sexual partner is unfaithful”

One character that comes to my mind when I hear paranoid is Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody and his catchphrase “Constant Vigilance”. Moody was an Auror, basically a magic police officer that goes after dark-wizards/witches, so he had plenty of dangerous experiences and reasons to be afraid; it did eventually did get to a point where he was hyperparanoid, constantly jumping and shooting defensive spells at anything that scared him. He would only eat the food that he prepared and would only drink from his own personal flask for fear of someone trying to poison him. In my opinion, Alastor Moody is a great example of Paranoid Personality Disorder in Harry Potter. Almost, if not all, of the symptoms listed above apply perfectly to him.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

        The next personality disorder in cluster A is Schizoid Personality Disorder. According to healthline, Schizoid personality disorder “is an uncommon condition that causes people to avoid social activities and have trouble displaying emotion. To others, people with a schizoid personality disorder may seem humorless or cold”. The symptoms and signs according to the Mayo Clinic are…

Schizoid personality disorder

  • Lack of interest in social or personal relationships, preferring to be alone
  • Limited range of emotional expression
  • Inability to take pleasure in most activities
  • Inability to pick up normal social cues
  • Appearance of being cold or indifferent to others
  • Little or no interest in having sex with another person”

Some people type Severus Snape as someone with Schizoid personality disorder. People with Schizoid personality disorder don’t enjoy or want social relationships and don’t really have close friends. They also appear to be aloof and without warm emotional feelings for others (Ariff Mohamed Moolla). Snape sure does fit the description. According to the Mayo Clinic, “what causes the development of schizoid personality disorder is unknown, although a combination of genetic and environmental factors, particularly in early childhood, may play a role in developing the disorder”. Severus Snape did have a rough life. He had a very unstable home life, was teased in school while he was growing up, not to mention the rejection and death of the one person he loved; so the environmental factors that could have contributed were evidently present. I don’t know how much I agree with the analysis though. The facts do seem to line up but I think that he may have just been a bitter man who hated children and should have chosen a different career path.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

        Schizotypal personality disorder is the last one in the A cluster. People with schizotypal personality disorder “often described as having unusual personalities. They tend to have few intimate relationships, distrust others, and experience a great deal of social anxiety” (healthline). The symptoms of Schizotypal personality disorder are… (Mayo Clinic)

Schizotypal personality disorder

  • Peculiar dress, thinking, beliefs, speech or behavior
  • Odd perceptual experiences, such as hearing a voice whisper your name
  • Flat emotions or inappropriate emotional responses
  • Social anxiety and a lack of or discomfort with close relationships
  • Indifferent, inappropriate or suspicious response to others
  • “Magical thinking” — believing you can influence people and events with your thoughts
  • Belief that certain casual incidents or events have hidden messages meant only for you”

Luna Lovegood is known for being a little out there. As you can see from the top picture of her, she has a very unorthodox way of dressing. It is a magical world of magic, but even in the books and in the universe itself she was “weird”. Other students would call her “Loony Lovegood” because of how out of place she usually was. Her emotions are generally subdued and she can tend to have an indifferent response to people. Luna and her father were both absolutely positive that creatures unknown to others were in existence (such as “invisible Wrackspurts floating through your eyes and making your brain go fuzzy”) so that means the odd perceptual experiences and peculiar beliefs applies to both of them. According to Mayo Clinic, “it’s likely that changes in the way the brain functions, genetics, environmental influences and learned behaviors may play a role”. Her mother died in front of her when she was younger and from what the reader is shown about how her father acts, it can be assumed that he is very similar in mind to her.

Of course, all of these analyses are just for fun. I don’t particularly think that any of the characters have any of these disorders. It is just fascinating to see how all or a lot of the signs and symptoms come together and all click into place when examining the character’s personality.  Thank you so much for reading! With any luck, you learned something new today or looked at something through a new lens. I hope that was entertaining, insightful, and you weren’t bored!

 

Sources – 

Action Potential, et al. “The Harry Potter DSM: Cluster A Personality Disorders.” Action Potential, 31 May 2011, apotential.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/the-harry-potter-dsm-cluster-a-personality-disorders/.

“Alastor Moody.” Harry Potter Wiki, harrypotter.fandom.com/cs/wiki/Alastor_Moody.

Busch, Jenna. “The Resiliency of Luna Lovegood.” SYFY WIRE, SYFY WIRE, 20 Apr. 2019, www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-resiliency-of-luna-lovegood.

“Cluster A Personality Disorders and Traits.” Healthline, www.healthline.com/health/cluster-a-personality-disorders.

“Images of Luna Lovegood: Harry Potter Costume, Harry Potter Luna Lovegood, Luna Lovegood Costume.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/201747258279611875/.

Moolla, Ariff Mohamed. “Personality Disorders: DSM of Harry Potter.” East Bay Psychopharmacology Group, 19 Apr. 2015, eastbaypharm.com/personality-disorders-dsm-of-harry-potter-by-ariff-moolla/.

“Personality Disorders.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 23 Sept. 2016, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/personality-disorders/symptoms-causes/syc-20354463.

“Schizoid Personality Disorder.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 17 Aug. 2017, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizoid-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20354414.

“Schizotypal Personality Disorder.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 8 Oct. 2019, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizotypal-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353919.

“Severus Snape.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Oct. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severus_Snape.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) of Death Eaters in Harry Potter

        Hello Everyone!

 

        I will be talking about the Myers-Briggs personality test again this week. In case you forgot or didn’t read my blog from last week, “The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator is a self-report inventory designed to identify a person’s personality type, strengths, and preferences” (verywellmind).  Isabel Myers and her mother Katherine Briggs developed the questionnaire based on their work with Carl Jung’s theory of personality types. MBTI is one of the most widely used instruments in psychology in the world today. There are 16 possible personality types you could get from the test. 

Learn about the 16 Personality Types from under the hood

        This week I’ll be discussing the MBTI of four Death Eaters in the Harry Potter universe. “A Death Eater is the name Voldemort’s supporters gave themselves during the First Wizarding War” (Pottermore Wiki).  

        We’ll start this one off with the big bad man himself, Voldemort (a.k.a. Tom Riddle). Voldemort is an INTJ, also called the architect. INTJs are introverted, intuitive, thinking, and judging. “People with INTJ personalities are highly analytical…and logical”, Voldemort is evidently very analytical and logical in his actions (verywellmind). INTJs “place greater emphasis on logic and objective information rather than subjective emotions” (verywellmind). Voldemort has been shown to not care or take emotions into account, he didn’t care about Snape’s love, Lily, and killed her for his own personal gain. “When INTJs develop an interest in something, they strive to become as knowledgeable and skilled as they can in that area” (verywellmind). 

        Voldemort, when he was still Tom Riddle and in school, was the top of his class. He was the head boy in his seventh year of school, head boys and girls are the students that are specially picked by the headmaster of the school to lead the rest of the student body. INTJs weaknesses include being “overly analytical and judgmental, very perfectionistic, dislikes talking about emotions, sometimes seems callous or insensitive”, all of these apply to Voldemort (verywellmind). I believe that Voldemort is a great example of an INTJ based on all of the information on the type that I can find. Not all INTJs are evil, though. I felt like that needed to be said. Temperance Brennan from the tv show Bones is an INTJ, as well as Bruce Wayne (Batman).

        Voldemort’s most faithful follower, Bellatrix Lestrange, is an ESFP (also called the entertainer). They are extroverted, sensing, feeling,  and perceiving. Some of the weaknesses of ESFPs are that they “dislike abstract theories, become bored easily, do not plan ahead, impulsive” (verywellmind). Also “ESFPs prefer to focus on the here-and-now rather than thinking about the distant future” (verywellmind). Some examples of these weaknesses and impulsivity in her personality are that “Bellatrix is opportunistic in battle, and often reckless in chasing after those she intends to target—in the Battle of Hogwarts, her attention shifts rapidly and she takes after anyone within reaching distance” (WordPress). 

        Bellatrix would “rather use direct violence, and enjoys torturing people” (WordPress);  “ESFPs place a greater emphasis [on] personal feelings rather than logic and facts when making decisions” this shows that Bellatrix fits this aspect as well (verywellmind). “This function is focused on enforcing order on the outside world” (verywellmind). “Bellatrix, out of her deep-seated resentment for Pureblood families associating with [Muggles] and even marrying them, targets them first in any encounter”, this is her way of enforcing the order of the wizarding world the way she wants it to be (WordPress). 

        Another one of Voldemort’s somewhat loyal followers, Lucius Malfoy, is an ESFJ (a.k.a. The consul). ESFJs are “extraverted, sensing, feeling, and judging” (verywellmind). “ESFJs also have a strong desire to exert control over their environment” and Lucius is a “skilled emotional manipulator, whose every word seems targeted to elicit an emotional response out of someone” (verywellmind)(WordPress). The manipulation is Lucius’ way of controlling the people and the environment around him. Many ESJFs “derive their value system from external sources including the community at large rather than from intrinsic, ethical, and moral guidelines” and their weaknesses include sensitivity to criticism and approval-seeking behaviors (verywellmind). Examples of these behaviors within Lucius Malfoy are when he is “willing to take the side of whomever seems to be in charge” and the fact that he is “not a leader so much as he is an opportunistic follower, able to charm his way into higher positions” (WordPress). He looks more to the environment and who he can gain the most from instead of basing his behavior on ethical guidelines. 

        Lucius Malfoy grew up in a family that believed in “blood purity” and a hierarchy of families based on the purity of that blood. So, ESFJs that are “raised in a less enriched environment may have skewed ethics as adults and are more likely to be manipulative and self-centered” (verywellmind). Lucius “gives no sense of being able to analyze his own actions or realize that they are wrong” and he is “incredibly proud of and arrogant about his Pureblood family” (WordPress). 

         Also, I do want to reiterate that none of these types is inherently bad. In another situation or environment, the characteristics that made them so terrible probably would have made them very positive influences in society. So here is the link to the test that I find is most commonly used by members of the public to see their types in case you wanted to take it to see your type too!

        Thank you so much for reading my fifth blog post! I hope that was entertaining, insightful, and you weren’t bored!

 

Here is a chart for those of you who may want to see where your MBTI puts you in the Hogwarts houses! I don’t know how accurate it is because it wasn’t accurate for me.

 

Sources

“Bellatrix Lestrange.” Harry Potter Wiki, harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Bellatrix_Lestrange.

Charity. “Harry Potter: Bellatrix Lestrange [ESFP].” Funky MBTI, 8 Aug. 2020, funkymbti.wordpress.com/2020/08/10/harry-potter-bellatrix-lestrange-esfp/. 

Charity. “Harry Potter: Lucius Malfoy [ESFJ].” Funky MBTI, 8 Aug. 2020, funkymbti.wordpress.com/2020/08/09/harry-potter-lucius-malfoy-esfj/. 

Charity. “Harry Potter: Tom Riddle / Lord Voldemort [INTJ].” Funky MBTI, 15 Aug. 2020, funkymbti.wordpress.com/2020/08/15/harry-potter-tom-riddle-lord-voldemort-intj/. 

Cherry, Kendra. “Are You Social and Spontaneous? You Might Be an ESFP.” Verywell Mind, 23 June 2020, www.verywellmind.com/esfp-extraverted-sensing-feeling-perceiving-2795984. 

Cherry, Kendra. “ESFJ (Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging) Personality Trait Type.” Verywell Mind, 28 June 2020, www.verywellmind.com/esfj-extraverted-sensing-feeling-judging-2795983. 

Cherry, Kendra. “Know the Characteristics of the INTJ Personality Type.” Verywell Mind, www.verywellmind.com/intj-introverted-intuitive-thinking-judging-2795988. 

Cherry, Kendra. “Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: The 16 Personality Types.” Verywell Mind, 17 Sept. 2020, www.verywellmind.com/the-myers-briggs-type-indicator-2795583. 

“Death Eaters.” Pottermore Wiki, pottermore.fandom.com/wiki/Death_Eaters. 

Donn, Emily. “Harry Potter: Jason Isaacs Didn’t Want to Play Lucius Malfoy.” ScreenRant, 28 Jan. 2017, screenrant.com/harry-potter-jason-isaacs-lucius-malfoy-audition/.

“I Made This Chart (Based on This One) for a Harry Potter-Themed Activity We Did…: Harry Potter Personality, Personality Chart, Mbti Personality.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/194921490101938938/.

“Learn about the 16 Personality Types from under the Hood.” Excellence Assured, 5 May 2020, excellenceassured.com/16-personality-types. 

Pottermore. “The Different Meanings behind Lord Voldemort’s Many Names.” Wizarding World, Wizarding World Digital, 2 Oct. 2019, www.wizardingworld.com/features/the-different-meanings-behind-lord-voldemorts-many-names.

 

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) of the Golden Trio in Harry Potter

Hello Everyone!

 

        This week I will be talking about the Myers-Briggs personality test, also called MBTI! “The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator is a self-report inventory designed to identify a person’s personality type, strengths, and preferences” (verywellmind).  Isabel Myers and her mother Katherine Briggs developed the questionnaire based on their work with Carl Jung’s theory of personality types. MBTI is one of the most widely used instruments in psychology in the world today. There are 16 possible personality types you could get from the test. 

Learn about the 16 Personality Types from under the hood

        Since I am kind of a Harry Potter blog. I’ll tell you the main character’s MBTI types and the description of those types. I hope you enjoy it!

        Okay, so we are going to start with the golden trio. Harry Potter, the boy who lived himself, is an ISFP (often called the adventurers). ISFPs are introverted, sensing, feeling, and perceiving. One of the traits of ISFPs is that they prefer to do than to dream. “They dislike abstract theories unless they can see some type of practical application for them and prefer learning situations that involve gaining hands-on experience” (verywellmind). Harry exhibits this behavior when Professor Umbridge becomes the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and does not allow the students to do any practical spell casting of any kind. Harry responds to this by heading an underground coalition of students who actually wanted to learn something that year. “ISFPs prefer to focus on the present [so] they often do well in careers that are concerned with practical, real-world problems”, Harry went on to become an Auror, basically a magic police officer (verywellmind). Harry also is a very reserved person emotionally and ISFPs “are very private and keep their true feelings to themselves”, he (Harry) didn’t tell anyone when he was having nightmares in his fifth year of Hogwarts (verywellmind). He preferred to keep it all to himself until his roommates started getting concerned. There are many other reasons Harry is an ISFP but I don’t want to spend too long on one character. 

        Moving on to Hermione, the queen. She is an ESTJ, also known as the executive or the director. ESTJ stands for extraverted, sensing, thinking, and judging. “ESTJs are often described as logical, take-charge kind of people. They are assertive and are very concerned with making sure that things run smoothly and according to the rules. They are committed to tradition, standards, and laws” (verywellmind). No matter if you read the books, watched the movies, or even heard tidbits about the story, I would bet that you know that Hermione is considered a know-it-all control freak. ESTJs “can sometimes be seen as rigid, stubborn, and unyielding”, which adds to the control freak opinion (verywellmind). Hermione goes on to become the Minister of Magic, a role that deals with rules and laws out the wazoo, and because ESTJs “appreciate order and organization, they frequently do well in supervisory roles” (verywellmind). I would consider the Minister of Magic as the uppermost supervisory position in the English wizarding world. Hermione is very representative of ESTJs and the personality traits behind them. 

        Ron Weasley, a character who often gets a lot of unwarranted grief. He is an ESFP, also called the performer or the entertainer. ESFPs are Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving. “People with ESFP personality types are often described as spontaneous, resourceful, and outgoing. They love being the center of attention and are often described as entertainers or ‘class clowns’” (verywellmind).  ESFPs “careers that involve a great deal of structure and solitary work can be difficult for ESFPs, and they often become bored in such situations”, Ron was an Auror after graduation from Hogwarts which has a lot of structure (verywellmind). It turned out to not be the best fit for him so he transitioned to helping his brother, George with Weasley Wizard Wheezes, a joke shop that his twin brothers Fred and George started. ESFPs “do best in careers that involve a lot of variety. Jobs that involve a great deal of socialization are also a great fit”, co-owning a joke shop allows Ron to have fun with his job without the stuffiness of working at a desk (verywellmind). He also loves attention, but ESFPs “are attention-seekers” by nature (verywellmind). He also grew up with six siblings so he was always overshadowed. ESFP traits apply very well to Ron’s personality in the books in other aspects as well besides the ones I’ve mentioned above. 

        I find MBTI types extremely fascinating but I don’t put much stock into them. I tend to think of them as more scientific zodiacs. I am an INTP, also known as a logician. Here is the link to the test that I find is most commonly used by members of the public to see their types in case you wanted to take it to see your type too!

        Thank you so much for reading my fourth blog post! I know that it wasn’t quite the same as my other posts but I wanted to branch out a little bit and explore other aspects of psychology. I hope that was entertaining, insightful, and you weren’t bored!

I made this chart (based on this one) for a Harry Potter-themed activity we did… | Harry potter personality, Personality chart, Mbti personality

Here is a chart for those of you who may want to see where your MBTI puts you in the Hogwarts houses. I don’t know how accurate it will be for you but it isn’t accurate for me.

 

Sources – 

Cherry, Kendra. “Are You an ISFP? Find out More About Your Personality Type.” Verywell Mind, 23 June 2020, www.verywellmind.com/isfp-introverted-sensing-feeling-perceiving-2795991. 

Cherry, Kendra. “Are You Social and Spontaneous? You Might Be an ESFP.” Verywell Mind, 23 June 2020, www.verywellmind.com/esfp-extraverted-sensing-feeling-perceiving-2795984. 

Cherry, Kendra. “Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: The 16 Personality Types.” Verywell Mind, 17 Sept. 2020, www.verywellmind.com/the-myers-briggs-type-indicator-2795583. 

Cherry, Kendra. “What an ESTJ Myers-Briggs Type Means for Your Career.” Verywell Mind, 21 June 2020, www.verywellmind.com/estj-extraverted-sensing-thinking-judging-2795985. 

“I Made This Chart (Based on This One) for a Harry Potter-Themed Activity We Did…: Harry Potter Personality, Personality Chart, Mbti Personality.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/194921490101938938/.

“Learn about the 16 Personality Types from under the Hood.” Excellence Assured, 5 May 2020, excellenceassured.com/16-personality-types.

Scott, Kate. “Which HARRY POTTER Character Shares Your Myers-Briggs Type?” BOOK RIOT, 21 June 2019, bookriot.com/?p=170206.

The Psychology behind Boggarts in the Harry Potter Universe and the connection to our world

Warning – I will be speaking about anxiety and fear for this specific post. 

 

Hello Everyone! 

          For this blog post, I will be talking about Boggarts and their connection to mental illness in our world. Here is a brief warning about the subject matter; I will be talking about anxiety and panic disorders in this blog post. If you aren’t comfortable reading about these subjects, please don’t worry about leaving. I hope you enjoy it!

          So, what is a Boggart? A Boggart is “a shape-shifting creature that will assume the form of whatever most frightens the person who encounters it” (J.K. Rowling).  According to Verywellmind, the symptoms of a panic or phobia-induced episode include dizziness, trembling, increased heart rate, breathlessness, and extreme fear. In the video below, we can see that the students show many of these symptoms, as well as being “frozen in fear”. This shows that the symptoms of being confronted with your greatest fear incarnate have the same effects in the wizarding world as they would in our world.

 Professor Lupin teaching the students the Ridikkulus spell.

          When you have a Panic attack or an Anxiety attack, you often feel like you can’t breathe, your heart is racing, and you’re shaking so much it feels like even your organs are shivering. This can make you feel like you’re dying, making you more anxious, causing your symptoms to be even worse and the cycle to continue on. Boggarts “seems to be generated and sustained by human emotions” (Rowling). By creating the fear that they feed on and generate from, they are only creating more of them.

          There are people who are more susceptible to Boggarts, “the more generally fearful a person is, the more susceptible they [are]” (Rowling).” Even non-magical people can “feel their presence and may even glimpse them”, Muggles (non-magical people) are capable of seeing them too, though they are usually convinced it was a trick of the light or a figment of their imagination (Rowling). This is partly true in our world as well, according to Ted Satterthwaite, a neuropsychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, “If you have one disorder, you’re much more likely to have another” (Michael Marshall). 

          Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like in its true form. All they know is, “if nobody is there to see it, although it continues to exist, usually giving evidence of its presence by rattling, shaking or scratching the object in which it is hiding” (Rowling). These sounds are similar to what we all imagine we are hearing when we’re home alone and scared of intruders, we hear bumps in the night. Boggarts are those bumps in the night, scaring you even when you can’t see them. 

          One way to overcome them is to “have company when facing a Boggart, as it will become confused deciding what shape to be” (Pottermore Wiki). A lesson that is applicable to true life. It is almost always easier to get through any anxiety you may have when you have friends to help you calm down and fight off the bad thoughts.

          There is another way to repel the Boggarts though. The spell is Ridikkulus (like ridiculous but fancy), “it involves making the creature into a figure of fun, so that fear can be dispelled in amusement” (Rowling). When the students are learning about it in their class their professor tells them that “The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind.  You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter.  What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing” (Rowling). I think that this is something incredibly important to remember. “Laughter is the best medicine” isn’t just an old adage. Laugher actually has numerous health, mental, and social benefits (helpguide). 

Laughter…

  • Relaxes the whole body – It relieves physical tension and stress.
  • Boosts the immune system – It decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and antibodies. 
  • Triggers the release of endorphins – The body’s natural happy chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can temporarily relieve pain. 
  • Protects the heart – Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, protecting you from cardiovascular problems. 
  • Burns calories – One study found that laughing for 10 to 15 minutes a day can burn about 40 calories. That is enough to lose 3-4 pounds a year from just laughing. 
  • Can help you live longer – A Norwegian study found that people with a strong sense of humor outlived those who don’t laugh as much. It was particularly noticeable in people battling cancer. 

The mental health and social benefits include adding joy and zest to life, easing anxiety and tension, relieving stress, improving mood, strengthening resilience, strengthens relationships, attracts others to us, enhances teamwork, helps to defuse conflict, and promotes group conflict. This goes to show that laughter really can help to drive away the darkness in our lives.

          Thank you so much for reading my third blog post! With any luck, you learned something new today or looked at something through a new lens. I hope that was entertaining, insightful, and you weren’t bored!

 

 

 

Sources – 

“Boggart.” Pottermore Wiki, pottermore.fandom.com/wiki/Boggart.

Katharina Star, PhD. “The Differences Between Phobia and Panic Disorder.” Verywell Mind, 16 Aug. 2019, www.verywellmind.com/panic-disorder-versus-a-phobia-2584215. 

Marshall, Michael. “The Hidden Links between Mental Disorders.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 5 May 2020, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00922-8. 

Robinson, Lawrence. “Laughter Is the Best Medicine.” HelpGuide.org, www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/laughter-is-the-best-medicine.htm. 

Rowling, J.K. “Boggart.” Wizarding World, Wizarding World Digital, 2 Oct. 2019, www.wizardingworld.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/boggart. 

Rowling, J.K., and DutchHPfan1992. “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Remus Lupin’s ‘Boggart’ Class (HD).” Youtube, 14 May 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=doxxfXqpKYA.