10 Ways American Horror Story Cult Explores Mental Illness In America Through Ally
1. Ally Becomes Extremely Paranoid
Who wouldn't be offended if their neighbors walked up to their door wearing sombreros and called them a racist while throwing taco bell sauce packets at them? That's a natural response, but Ally takes it to a new level when she automatically blames her neighbors for posting a false sex ad and killing the guinea pig they gave Oz as a peace offering.
Ally isn't thinking rationally, deluding herself into believing the neighbors are out to get her just because they came to her door one day and called her a racist. A little bit of paranoia can be healthy, but extremely high levels of paranoia are often associated with schizophrenia, psychotic disorders, and personality disorders.
Most interesting though is that individuals with a paranoid personality disorder can annoy or anger others because they display rigid or maladaptive behavior. Remember Ally's insistence that their house be fortified? What about when she wouldn't let Oz keep the guinea pig at first because of a no pet rule she couldn't defend?
Paranoid personality disorder is not as well known, but stories of paranoid neighbors with untreated mental illness, such as a woman in Schererville, illustrate the failures of America's mental health care system and create a stigma towards any sort of paranoia in general (even when the person has evidence their neighbors are purposefully antagonizing them).