How Did Norman Bates Become A Psycho

Psychopaths are typically devoid of emotion, and have an inherent sense of superiority that drives them to take actions that society considers

Charles Manson had a way of picking up on people’s weaknesses and fears, and used it against them. He preyed on vulnerability and, as Linda James said, he offered them wealth and perfect relationships (Fennel, 1993). And, although his claims were extraordinary, he was able to attract a good amount of followers.

When most people hear the word psychopath their mind forms a picture of a wild-eyed, rambling, lunatic who is often restrained in a straitjacket. The media has helped this belief along the way with slasher horror films and grisly CSI episodes depict these strange humans. However, the average psychopath is much harder to spot than most people believe. In fact, most of them are extremely difficult to distinguish from ordinary humans. They outwardly appear normal and many do not find it difficult to blend into common society. They can interact with others, hold successful jobs, and effectively keep themselves out of trouble. Most are not the sadistic killers many people think they are. Psychopaths are people born with problems (Bartol 105) or

Personality disorders are pervasive in nature, and are depicted in various mediums from film to novels. Narcissism will be discussed as it pertains to American Psycho; a film made in the early 2000’s to describe a man who lives a double life as a business man and serial killer. The main character in particular, Patrick Bateman displays with themes of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and his case along with the factors that are congruent with Narcissistic Personality Disorder will be discussed throughout.

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.

In the movie each of the main characters, Norman who is eighty years old, Ethel who is seventy years old and Chelsea who is forty years old go through some of the stages of psychosocial development. The first character in the movie I will be talking about is Norman. I recognized him first from the movie because I knew something seemed wrong with him. For example, in the beginning of the movie him and his wife Ethel goes to their vacation spot and he sees a picture of them and doesn’t recognize who the people are. His wife had to remind him that it was them in the picture. He is very forgetful and it seems that his mental is not as strong as it

We have all heard the terms psychopath and sociopath, but how closely have we examined these words? Does the lay person even know what the true meaning of these words? Let us delve into the meaning of these words for a minute.

The main character observed was Norman even though it was his birthday and the rivals of his daughter visit. He encounters many emotion’s while on the journey entering late adulthood. Biologically Norman faces fear of aging, but also feeling the past is fading away. Norman attitude changes to due to grief felt as he experiences physical and mental changes, yet it puts relationships in a warp of a tornado. As the movie progress you will see Norman reveal emotions, insecurity, and mental instability and becomes a serious challenge, for example when Norman was lost in the woods he came back running because he was not able to find his way back. With the disease he is encountered with a slow mental decline. Aging adults become very grumpy, arrogant, and impatient, however, Norman will not let go what was once familiar to him, and even if he struggles to claim a command with the younger ones.

Psychopaths is the clinical or diagnostic group of individuals who demonstrate certain behavioral, cognitive, and neuropsychological characteristics that are not usually found in the general population. The term psychopath refers to an individual who exhibits a discernible pattern that differs from the general population in its level of sensitivity, empathy, compassion, and guilt. The psychopath term is misused in a numerous amount of ways because people do not know the true meaning. There are different ways a psychopath differs from anyone else. Surprisingly, a psychopath seems to be friendly, sociable, outgoing, likeable, and alert. They are also well-educated, knowledgeable, and interested in a variety of things. I would have never been

“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.

Though we are disturbed at the evil things he is doing, we feel a sense of sympathy towards him. We feel for him because of how his mother had treated him. We in turn teach our sub consciousness to start blaming the mother for all the murders that have been committed, just like Norman does. Both Norman’s façade of normality and our ambivalence towards his character verifies him as a quintessential psychopath.

Norman is criminalized but as a psychotic he cannot be kept in prison and so is put in an asylum. He cannot be justified even though he has gotten away with Marion for the sake of his long dead mother. The obsession and love for his long dead mother never help him to lead a normal life. Norman’s love for his mother makes him act like her and from his point of view his actions are right which is very clear from the parlor scene. Here the son who has lost his father early and a mother who has to marry another one are not responsible. The mother fixation of Norman is to be blamed entirely for his tragedy and others. Social institutions like marriage and family are involved here. The crime here is premeditated and violent. Norman Bates contorted by psychosis and dual personality syndrome, acts out his homicidal urges in the guise of his dead mother. His masochism suffers while seeing a sexually attractive woman as he already had a substitute marriage with his mother. Compelled by the split personality syndrome, he commits the crime and at the same time tries to protects her crime and destroys the evidence by washing the blood from the floor and dumping Marion’s body along with the

Initially named multiple personality disorder, dissociative identity disorder usually forms as a "complex mental process that provides a coping mechanism for individuals confronting painful and/or traumatic situations." (Wikipedia.org, 2006) With this in mind, it is rather easy to see how the disorder would have formed in Norman's case. It can be assumed that Norman was very jealous for his mother's attention. When she was about to re-marry he decided to murder her to prevent losing his mother's attention. After realizing the extent of his action, Norman then emulated his mother, eventually developing dissociative identity disorder. Instead of losing his mother forever, he made her a part of him by adding her to his psyche. Norman also digs up his mother and semi-preserves her using his taxidermy skills. Norman's developmental process of the disease is nearly word for word from the DSM-IV. He uses it as a coping tool for the odd and traumatic experience of taking his mother's life.

When "Bates Motel" begins, Norman seems to be a normal teenage boy, who is a bit of an introvert. He prefers school work and reading to going out and being social. He has an extremely

Sigmund Freud 's Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality Development states that there is a structural model of the psyche, which splits the human identity into three instances of Ego, Superego, and ID. In Psychoanalytic Stage of Development, there are five stages: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, and Genital. Even though Sigmund Freud never was writing about the movie _Psycho_, theories of Freud, have a great connection with the personality of Norman Bates. According to Oedipus complex, by Sigmund Freud, it introduced the term for a child 's libidinal attachment to the opposite sex parent, while experiencing jealousy and dislike of the same