Aaron Stampler's Mental Illness In The Film, Primal Fear

In the Movie, American Psycho, Patrick Bateman demonstrate challenges to identify his unique type of personality theories. The purpose of this essay is to review a selected film as a Psychology student, and discuss it from a psychological perspective. Also in this paper providing a diagnosis for a character in the movie and discuss the behaviors that support the selected diagnosis, and to explain and discuss the mental illness depicted in the film.

British neuroscientist Adrian Raine was the first to scan the heads of murders to observe their brain activity in California. The reason Professor Raine was drawn to California was because of the homicides and murders there were in the whole state of California. Throughout a couple years, professor Raine kept scanning the brains of murders and noticed something that appeared in similarly in most of the murders. There was reduced activity in the frontal cortex of the brain. The frontal cortex is the area of the brain where our emotional instincts are controlled. Professor Raine also discovered that the amygdala, is where our emotions and motivations come from, is over activated. This proves that serial killers and murderers have trouble controlling themselves due to the their emotional state from the frontal cortex. What causes the brain to behave this way? Well, Raine’s studies suggest that childhood abuse and childhood trauma is the cause for the emotions of a person to be overwritten. One of the patients Professor Raine scanned was Donta Paige. He was charged with brutally murdering a twenty four year old woman who caught him breaking into her house. As a child, Paige was abused by his mother and every time it got worse. His mother would use electrical cords, shoes or whatever was around her to abuse her son usually on a daily basis. "Early physical abuse, amongst other things could

Primal Film (1996) is a legal thriller with Martin Vail represented as an ambitious; high profile Chicago Defense Lawyer hired to defend Aaron Kentucky charged with murder of Chicago's Archbishop, Richard Rushman. During the trial, Martin Vail discloses that the Archbishop was involved in sexual harassment and other political issues. Based on various substantial factors, Martin Vail believed that Aaron suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder, which instigated his action of killing the Archbishop. Vail highlighted the following two distinct personalities that instigated the death of the archbishop. They comprise;

Fifty years ago, a person breaking the law would either be called crazy or a criminal. Today, the mental health community has much more specific diagnoses. However, the explanation of certain behaviors may be difficult because there is much overlap among mental conditions. In Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, the protagonist, Patrick Bateman, is apparently simply a psychopath. However, Bateman can be diagnosed with other mental illnesses such as Asperger’s syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, narcissism, and antisocial personality disorder. In both the book and film adaptation, Bateman’s actions can be understood more accurately when analyzed in light of modern psychology.

Cullen is an exemplary example for a person experiencing anti-social personality disorder. He possess superficial charm, a grandiose sense of self worth, pathological lying, lack of remorse, and, most of all, he believes that it is the hospital administrator’s and orders fault for not stopping or reporting him ("Serial Killer Gets Prime Time Audience." 1). Psychopaths have the ability to charm others into

Jeffrey Dahmer’s personality and criminality is extremely complicated to understand, however the theory that seems to fit the infamous serial killer best is psychoanalytic theory. The main focus around the theory is that the different parts of one’s personality conflict with another as a result of some early life trauma or deprivation. There are three different parts of the personality in the theory the id, ego, and superego. Psychoanalytic theory offers explanations based on the ideas of Freudian psychology and its theory of personality, which can be used to explain.

Mental disorders have long been the Achilles heel of the medical world. With each case having some degree of uniqueness, physicians are often unable to fully treat these types of conditions with just a generalized medication or textbook treatment option. There are many competing theories as to how one falls ill to a mental disorder. Some claim that it occurs solely through chemical imbalances within a person’s brain, while others see it as a more wholistic problem that is the result of an endless possibility of differing factors. Through the characterization found within “Superstar” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” and the data shown in studies done by the Medical University of Lublin, it becomes evident that seemingly internal disorders, such as anorexia and hysteria, are caused, in reality, by the need for social control that develops in response to purely external factors such as daunting expectations or stressful lifestyle.

I think that the best way to approach Jake’s anxiety would be to look at these three different approaches equally and determine what would be the best course of action for Jake as he continues his school career. With looking at it in with a behavioral approach I think that the counselor could talk with Jake and help determine what the issue is about taking the more difficult classes, and for example if it would be the fact that he would have more work and more studying, or if it has something to do with his surroundings like not having as much free time that he had previously. The humanistic approach would allow the counselor to approach Jake in more of a down to earth way and be able to let him know that he is not alone and it is completely

Prepare yourself for a journey. Travel with me, as we explore the mind of a character named Roy played by Edward Norton in the film directed by Gregory Hoblit in 1996 Titled “Primal Fear”. In this film Roy suffers from a psychological disorder. As we travel on this journey deep into the mind of this character, we will begin to unlock the secrets that lay within. Discovering what psychological disorder Roy suffers from, how he thinks and his thought process from a bio-psychological perspective, and treatments for this disorder using cognitive behavior therapy. “Primal Fear” is the story of a young man who is accused of the murder of an archbishop. With all the evidence pointing towards him as the target suspect, an ambitious and vagarious

Is biology-making people serial killers? "One must feel sorry for those who have strange tastes, but never insult them. Their wrong is Nature 's too; they are no more responsible for having come into the world with tendencies unlike ours than are we for being born bandy-legged or well-proportioned” (Woolaston 2015) Marquis de Sade held an interesting view of people. Most humans have their own moral compass, most all differ from one another. Certain aspects of the mind control animal propensities and more in depth emotion; such as empathy (Solano). An extreme cause for certain insane acts is head trauma. A study of 15 inmates developed head trauma prior to their crime. There was neuropsychological testing for these inmates and it exemplified that their brains were indeed affected by trauma (Solano, 2015). Research shows that serial killers do not commute and use emotions in general. This would explain why they have such a microscopic understanding of empathy within themselves. It would be a leading cause for why they kill, rape, and abuse. In ‘The Stranger Beside Me’ novel by Ann Rule she elaborates of her and Bundy’s friendship of 17 years, and how they worked side by side in a Crisis Clinic in Seattle; Both of them answered the calls to aid emotionally unstable people. Rule also worked alongside the police force and documented police cases. Little did Rule know that Bundy was the culprit for all these attacks. Rule was fooled by Bundy’s

American Psycho is a movie adaptation directed by Marry Harron released in the year 2000 that was based off of the 1991 novel of the same name authored by Bret Easton Ellis. The movie focuses on the main character Patrick Bateman who is an investment banker in New York in the era of the early 1980’s. Patrick is a perfectionist whose life by day seemingly rotates between his picture-perfect job, his superficial relationship with his fiancée Evelyn, and his shallow interaction with his co-workers and peers. By night, Patrick is a textbook Psychopath and a serial killer.

This paper will briefly examine the movie Silence of the Lambs and the possible Antisocial Personality Disorder portrayed in the movie. It will involve critical thinking in the identifying and discussing of the disorder as found in the movie, how this disorder might have developed, a discussion pertaining to the accuracy of the disorder found within the movie, and briefly discuss some possible treatments for this disorder. Although a wide array of credible sources exists such as the DSM-5, each have their own respective definitions and descriptions of Antisocial Personality Disorder. While numerous sources offer an abundance of other publications readily available to an individual that will aid them in their research of the information regarding Antisocial Personality Disorder, this paper will generally focus on the disorder found within the chosen movie, Silence of the Lambs, with the assistance of the reputable and credible source of the DSM-5.

Although schizophrenia seems like a rare illness, there are an estimated 1.5 million people in the United States alone who suffer from this disorder (“Schizophrenia” 3). The most common form of this mental illness is paranoid schizophrenia, which is defined as a chronic mental illness in which a person loses touch with reality and is preoccupied with delusions (“Mental Health and Schizophrenia” 5). Symptoms of this disorder include auditory hallucinations, delusions, anxiety, anger, emotional distance, violence, argumentativeness, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and self-important or condescending manner. Auditory hallucinations are when one hears sounds, usually voices, that are not real. The voices will give criticisms, insults, and commands (“Paranoid Schizophrenia” 5). Delusions are false beliefs that one refuses to give up despite being proved wrong with facts, a very common one being that someone is out to get the person (“Mental Health and Schizophrenia” 13). However, one could also have delusions of grandeur, which are false impressions of one’s own importance. Delusions can lead to aggression or violence if one believes they must defend themselves against those who want to cause them harm (“Paranoid Schizophrenia” 4). The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” clearly has paranoid schizophrenia because he displays the symptoms of auditory hallucinations, delusions, violence or aggression, and anxiety.

“I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip" (Harron) thought Patrick Bateman as he contemplated his growing feelings of emptiness and need for bloodlust. American psycho is the story of a greedy, materialistic, self obsessed businessman who transforms into an unstable and violent sociopath. Abnormal behavior can be defined by four patterns deviance, distress, dysfunction, and danger (Comer 2). Deviance is exhibited as unusual, or extreme behavior. Throughout the movie, Bateman was very blunt and would casually say violent, graphic comments. The only time Bateman experienced distress was towards the end of the movie when he couldn’t stop killing. He began to panic, called his lawyer to confess, and didn’t go into work. However, most of the time Bateman said he enjoyed the rush of a kill. Typically, abnormal behavior interferes with the person's ability to conduct daily activities (Comer 2). As a result of Bateman’s abnormalities he could not sustain a healthy relationship. The most extreme characteristic of Batemans abnormal behavior was that it caused him to put others in danger.

Last year the horror movie, Split, was released in theaters. The movie grossed $138.12 million dollars and was ranked in the top ten movies of 2016 (imdb.com). Split was a major success and terrified thousands of people. While watching this movie some audience members probably became extremely paranoid while others may have been perfectly calm. Every single person’s relationship with fear is different. Fear is a universal emotion that everybody encounters; however, every person’s experience with it is unique. Different personalities and cultures cause people to react and cope with fear in various ways. The novels Zeitoun and The Death of Ivan Ilych highlight fear and opposing experiences with it.