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Paul Bateman, And Narcissistic Personality Disorder In The Movie

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Christian Bale plays a psychologically troubled man named Paul Bateman in the movie "American Psycho." If I were to diagnose Paul Bateman with a psychiatric disorder, or in this case two, I would say that he shows symptoms of Anti-Social Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. In the beginning of the movie when he’s listing what he does every morning (certain conditioner, clothing, exercise routine, etc) I would say he might have OCD tendencies, but that pales in comparison to his other symptoms of his disorders. Anti-Social Personality Disorder is characterized by “a lack of concern towards the expectations and rules of society, and a pattern of lying, truancy, delinquency, substance abuse, vagrancy, and breaking the law”. (DSM IV)
Narcissistic Personality Disorder is characterized by “an excessive need for admiration, disregard for others' feelings, an inability to handle any and all criticism, and an extreme sense of entitlement”. (DSM IV) These two disorders are often co-morbid, which means that antisocial personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder are often shown in people at the same time, but not always. Both disorders are much more prevalent in men than they are prevalent in women.
The movie accurately portrayed some parts of Anti-Social Personality Disorder accurately but failed to really show how ASPD comes about. In early childhood to adolescence/ late childhood (11 or 12), a person who shows similar symptoms to ASPD is usually
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