Summary
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.
Keywords: Antisocial Personality Disorder, psychological, personality disorders
Silence of the Lambs and
Antisocial Personality Disorder
When choosing a movie from the approved movie list for this final research paper, Silence of the Lambs stood out more than the others. It not only leaves an impression, but the inspiration of the Buffalo Bill character comes from six real-life killers; Jerry Brudos aka “The Lust Killer,” Ed Gein, Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgway aka "The Green River Killer,” Edmund Kemper, and Gary M.
Psychos Personality disorders are some of the most disturbing yet fascinating deviations from societal norms humanity has to offer. Ranging from the erratic schizophrenics to the commonly depressed, patients diagnosed with personality disorders typically do not align themselves with the commonly accepted behavioral trends of society. These altered behaviors tend to have negative consequences; for example, the unfortunate death of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s tragic play Hamlet, or Teddy Daniels’ eventual lobotomy in Dennis Lehane’s, Shutter Island. These disorders produce general dissension and create detachment for the patients from society and often produce frightening results. Bipolar disorder, a common personality disorder also known as
With the season, sounding the holiday spirit, the movie that I have chosen to analyze a character that depict a personality disorder and, “enduring patterns of experience and behavior that differ greatly from the norm and the expectations of the individual’s social group”, is Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The character’s behavior that I will be examining is the Grinch and the personality disorder that he acquires to exhibit is anti-social personality disorder. Anti-social personality disorder is one of the four disorders consider appearing dramatic, emotional, and unpredictable. As a person with anti-social personality disorder they tend to not care about other people’s feeling showing little remorse, along with aggressive behaviors. Generally, individuals start showing signs of this disorder early on in childhood as early as six years old, and include symptoms of impulsivity, behavioral problems, callous social attitudes, and lack of feeling for others. Antisocial personality disorder implies that the person does not conform to social norms and tend to little or no respect for the law.
Antisocial personality disorder is a mental illness that is characterized by a lack of remorse and guilt they also . More specifically sociopaths are people that have a lack of conscience and sometimes characterized by violent behaviors. According to the DSM-5 5 people with antisocial personality disorder “may engage in behaviors which skirt the edges of the law, or manipulate and hurt others in non-criminal ways which are widely regarded as unethical, immoral, irresponsible, or in violation of social norms and expectations.” (dsm 5) Studies show that in the United States about .6% of the have an antisocial personality disorder. Many situations in this story lead to the conclusion that hamlet is a sociopath many of these situations involved violence and hamlet having a lack of empathy towards others.
Introduction The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the constructs of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder. The aim is to highlight whether the terms psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder reflect the same construct or whether they differ. Furthermore, recommendations for treatment of criminal behavior will be explored. For the purposes of this evaluation some definitions need to be highlighted: Criminal offence is an act that breaks a law, which relates how to behave in society. The harm caused by the act is seen to be against society as a whole, not just a specific person. Sometimes it refers to the specific law that was broken (Herring, 2009). Crime is the breach of rules or law for which some authority
You think if Catherine lives, you won't wake up in the dark ever again to that awful screaming of the lambs”(Demme, 1991). Clarice claims she doesn’t know and it is possible she truly doesn’t, but we can see in her face that wants it to be true. We see the pain in her face and her desire to be released from the screaming and find peace. Director Jonathan Demme lets us connect with the characters by shattering the fourth wall. He positions the camera so Clarice is essentially talking to the audience in extreme close up shots. This technique instills her anguish into the audience. Clarice then becomes more demanding, asking for the killer’s name but before Hannibal can answer Dr. Frederick Chilton informs her it’s time to go. She is nearly dragged out of the room, but breaks free to run back to Hannibal’s cage and retrieve her case files. The visual style up to this point in the scene has been dark, but when Clarice rushes to the cage, there is light illuminating Hannibal. Clarice running towards this light represents her search for peace. She is hoping the clues left by Dr. Lecter in the case files will enable her to catch the killer, save the kidnapped girl, and stop the lambs from screaming.
The second category, “People who Show Signs of Antisocial Personality Disorder” (Antisocial), included 15 men and 1 woman. Finally, the third and last category, seen as the control group, “People who are Normal” (Normal), included 15 men and 6 women. Of the 108 volunteers, Yang and Raine takes, only 49 of them as participants in the USC study. Specifically, Raine looks for inconsistencies in the participants’ stories. For example, Raine considers inconsistencies such as, occupation, education, crimes, and family
There are several ideas and findings around trait theories, psychodynamic theories, cognitive theories of personality, mental disorders and offending and the connection that these theories have with a person’s antisocial behaviour. The most common theories were
Using a serial killer a cannibal with a doctorate, actually to help catch another serial killer is as bare bones as you can get with this Best Picture Oscar winner. It’s the scariest movie ever made built around psychology and deduction used as both crime-solving tools and murder weapons. Yes, blame this movie all you want for your friend's bad Hannibal Lecter impersonation that never seems to get better, but it gave us one of the screen's all-time iconic villains and Anthony Hopkins the role of his
Per a post made by Cindy Davis, FBI Expert and Profiler, John Douglas explained that the Buffalo Bill character was a composite of three real- life killers rolled into one. American serial killer and rapist Ted Bundy was one of the most notorious criminals of the late 20th century. He was also an inspiration for The Silence of the Lambs. In the 1970s, he raped and murdered young women in several states. Bundy, was connected to at least thirty-six murders, but some thought he had committed one hundred or more.
Undoubtedly, the first question asked by many upon the gruesome discovery of a murder victim is, “Who could commit such a heinous crime?” Newspaper journalists, broadcast reporters, and the public alike, have asked the question, “What kind of person is capable of taking another person’s life?” A person with Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) is capable of just that and much more. Common careers of people diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder include, sales, management, and business professionals, as well as con artists. This is not an exhaustive list of careers for the antisocial person, as it is common practice for an antisocial person to be a career criminal, and in the most severe cases a serial killer.
The same study shows a high prevalence of personality disorder but since a key element of the definition of personality disorder is aggressive or anti- social behavior it seems to add little to our understanding of the problem. In much of the literature the terms mental illness are used reflecting a medical model perspective which is problematic for explanations of offending behavior since the literature largely supports a social learning explanation (Farrington, 2005; Smith & Farrington, 2004; Mack et al., 2007). In order to take a stance on this the current author prefers to use the terms psychological distress.
Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) is a crippling personality disorder that causes distress for those with the diagnosis, along with others surrounding them. Characterized by a chronic tendency to break laws, social norms, and violate rights of others extending across a variety of environments and carrying into adulthood from a prior history of Conduct Disorder, APD places those affected and others at a severe risk for loss of life, property, and health. There is a commonly documented portrayal of the destruction and chaos that such a disorder can cause in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1987), As Alex, a young man displaying symptoms of the disorder carries out a lifestyle with complete disregard for others to great dismay. Although APD is a serious mental disorder with steep criteria, often involving violent actions, there are treatment options with varying degrees of success outcomes that may alleviate the individual distress and distress in others resulting from APD. The full diagnostic criteria for APD can be found in Appendix B. APD is a persistent and often pervasive disorder requiring two qualifications before it’s specific impairment qualifications: first and foremost, an impairment of personality functioning, along with the presence of pathological personality traits to meet the definition of a Personality Disorder (Appendix A). Second, the individual must be over 18 years of age, and often has a prior history of Conduct Disorder (although the requirements
Antisocial personality disorder is “a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood.” (National Institute of Mental Health, 2007). It is often characterized by blatant inattention to social norms and laws, pathological lying, putting others at risk for personal benefit, and an obvious lack of remorse (NIMH, 2007). One of the most notorious people with this disorder is Jeffrey Dahmer, a serial killer and necrophiliac whose sexual nature and gruesome offenses captured the nation’s attention (Talbott, n.d.). This paper will attempt to provide an overview of Dahmer’s life, as well as explain how both nature and nurture played roles in not only the production of a criminal, but also in the personality of all people.
In Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the main character presents many behaviors which modern-day society recognizes as characteristics of mental illness. However, in 1890 when the novel first becomes available to the public, people do not have the extensive medical and psychological knowledge seen in the world today. Throughout the novel, Dorian Gray’s behavior exhibits many symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder, or ASPD. ASPD is a psychological disorder “in which a person consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others (Antisocial Personality Disorder, mayoclinic.org).” Today, psychologists classify people suffering from this mental disorder as either psychopaths or sociopaths,
Silence of the Lambs is viewed as one of the greatest horror-thriller films, as it has won Academy Awards in all the top five categories: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Adapted Screenplay. Some of the people in our ART 105 class might not even want to see this movie due to its realism of such a dark and painful story, as well as some of the graphic material shown. This movie, however, is one of the best horror films of the century, in my humble opinion. I enjoy this movie thoroughly and often watch it in my spare time, so I have plenty of opinions on every aspect of this movie.