Munchausen Syndrome In The Devil's Waltz By Jonathan Kellerman

Charlie’s friendship with Jasper Jones, his parents, and witnessing the intolerance of Corrigan are the three biggest factors in Charlie's development from innocence to experience. Jasper Jones exposed him to fear and forced him to be brave and face his fears, the rampant intolerance in Corrigan, both racial and otherwise, exposed him to the injustices of the real world, and his relationship with his parents taught him to be diplomatic and control his

In “Tell-Tale Heart” written by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator was driven by an “evil eye” to undertake a murderous and dreadful exploit. In the 1800s, when it supposedly took place, people believed the superstition upon “evil eyes” about how they had a painful curse. The narrator had been vexed constantly by a vulture-like eye that belonged to an old man who he especially loved. He was particular and conscientious towards the entire slaughter. This could immediately conclude that the murderer was insane since he took the extent to assassinate someone over an eye. However, the narrator possibly could have been sane and just extremely anxious, therefore guilty, despite how hysterical he may have acted.

She had no idea what she was doing, and accidentally wrecked Charles’s car. The car was given to him by his father, even though his family had very little money. Charles’s father was infuriated by the fact that Charles had let the car get damaged. This led to a major argument, and even a short physical fight, and led to Charles being kicked out of the house. Charles would never be welcomed back.

Insanity- the state of being mentally ill. Could insanity be an excuse for an unforgivable crime? In the short story “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe, we come face to face with a man reliving his killing of an innocent man and learn the chilling state of mind the narrator has decreased to. It is clear he is mentally ill from the start of the story and it is constant throughout the text. The narrator is not guilty for reasons of insanity because he converses and argues with voices in his head, hears nonexistent sounds, and killed an innocent man because he believed his eye was haunting him. Some may claim that there is no excuse for murder, but this man is obviously mentally challenged, therefore should not be degraded any further

Charles Cullen, the Angel of Death, was the murderer behind the deaths of innocent civilians. A nurse’s duty is to care for the sick or infirm; however Cullen abused his rights as a nurse to cause slow, painful deaths to his patients. His traumatic background which spurred him to attempt numerous suicides, sparked the horrifying murder committed in America. Although an official psychological diagnostic was not given to Cullen, his actions, thoughts, and behaviors point to anti-social personality disorder, schizophrenia, and major depressive disorder.

If Jasper Jones hadn’t shown me the cigarette burns on his shoulders just hours before, if I hadn’t touched their ugly pink pucker with my fingertips, I wouldn’t have suspected this man to be the monster he was’ (p. 160) Charlie’s mother, Ruth, cultivates her image as a good mother and citizen, member of the CWA and volunteer for all manner of civic events. She demands obedience and respect from Charlie and is capable of a quasi-hysterical response when she doesn’t receive it. Yet she is carrying on a clandestine affair with an unnamed man from the back seat of a car. Charlie’s disappearance compromises Ruth’s image: ‘I’d shattered the facade, I’d sullied the family name and her repute. Tongues were wagging. Aspersions were being cast like dandelion spores on hot gossipy winds. The CWA brigade and the badminton babblers were tutting like vultures. I was no longer a model child and she was no longer a model mother. And a snide, petty part of me was thrilled about it, almost proud’ (p. 198-199) When Charlie finds his mother in a compromising position with a man who is not his father it shifts the power balance between them (p. 244). At this moment, Ruth loses her moral authority over Charlie and in some ways Charlie ceases to be a ‘child’. He must assume responsibility for his own moral stance. Pete Wishart, Laura and Eliza’s father, is probably the most hypocritical character in the novel. Whenever Charlie mentions him, he almost invariably remarks that he is

Beverley Allitt or more known as the “Angel Of Death,”, showed some tendencies early on in her life while growing up. As a child she was very different, “Beverley would wear bandages and casts over wounds that she would use to draw attention to herself, without actually allowing the injuries to be examined” (“Beverley Allitt”)run-on. As Beverley got older, she became overweight, became incredibly attention seeking, and often showed aggression towards other people. As she got older it got worse, “Allitt’s behavior in adolescence appeared to be typical of Munchausen’s Syndrome and when this behavior failed to elicit the desired reactions in others, she began to harm

“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe is a first-person narrative short story that showcases an enigmatic and veiled narrator. The storyteller makes us believe that he is in full control of his mind yet he is experiencing a disease that causes him over sensitivity of the senses. As we go through the story, we can find his fascination in proving his sanity. The narrator lives with an old man, who has a clouded, pale blue, vulture-like eye that makes him so helpless that he kills the old man. He admits that he had no interest or passion in killing the old man, whom he loved. Throughout the story, the narrator directs us towards how he ends up committing a horrifying murder and dissecting the corpse into pieces. The narrator who claims to

In relating the details of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP), the initial reaction is usually shock, followed quickly by fascination. The reason for the latter is that the medical community has yet to make up their minds about what exactly MSBP is. The debate: psychiatric disorder v. child abuse. Essentially the arguments for both create a divide between the brain and behavior, though not relating the two.

Tell-Tale Heart is a short story by Edgar Allen Poe. The entire story is a confession of a brutal murder with no rational motive. The narrator repeatedly tries to convince the audience he hasn’t gone mad though his actions prove otherwise. To him his nervousness sharpens his senses and allows him to hear things from heaven Earth and hell. The narrator planned to kill his roommate whom had never wronged him and had loved dearly because he felt his pale blue eye was tormenting him. The narrator claims “his eye resembles that of a vulture.” The madman then goes on to explain how when the eye is on him his blood turns cold, and he has to get rid of the eye forever. He sneaks into his roommate’s room for seven nights at midnights and shines a

In 1901, a fifty one year old woman named Frau Auguste D. was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. She had an unusual bunch of symptoms. While she had no history of prior psychiatric illness, her husband had noticed that Frau D. was becoming increasing paranoid, hallucinatory, agitated, disoriented, and having increasing difficulties with language functions and memory.

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.

The sociological and medical models are similar as the reason for abusing the children is that they don’t know any other way; a parent with medical issues may not understand that it is wrong to abuse their children or that they may not be able to control their own problems and so lash out

Charles DiLaurentis is Jason's twin brother. When he was five years old, he filled a bath with scalding hot water and put his little sister, Alison, in it to stop her from her annoying crying. Kenneth found them and saved Alison, before scolding Charles. Understanding there was something wrong with their child, Jessica and Kenneth took their child to Radley Sanitarium and had him institutionalized. He grew up in Radley, later getting diagnosed as being a psychopath with intermittent explosive disorder. He was charismatic, held proper relationships, and was a little genius, unless someone did something he didn't like, which caused him to blow up and often try to hurt people. His mom visited him frequently, trying to stay in contact with her child, but his father never did.

One of Freud’s first cases was about Dora, and eighteen year old girl, who went to see Freud due to her father urging her to. However, the case of Anna O marked a turning point for Freud, and it even went on to influence psychology as a whole. Both Dora and Anna O. suffered from hysteria, a condition in which the patient shows physical symptoms without an apparent physical cause. For example, paralysis, loss of speech, and convulsions. Her doctor Josef Breuer went on in treating Anna by helping her recall forgotten memories of traumatic events. During discussions with her, it became apparent that she had developed a fear of drinking when a dog she hated drank from her glass. As soon as she had the chance to make these unconscious thoughts conscious her paralysis