Introduction
Popular films have a distorted picture of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Such as in the film, Silence of the Lamb, the character Hannibal Lecter is a psychopath and cannibal who is known to eat his patients. Dr. Lecter must overcome his counter transference in order to achieve therapeutic success, which he personally psychologically evaluates FBI agent, Clarice Sterling in return give information about the killer. Dr. Hannibal Lecter has an antisocial personality disorder where he lacks remorse, failure to respect the law, deceit, charming, minimize their consequences, and show high intelligence. Antisocial personality disorder defined in DSM-IV and more commonly associated with psychopathy. The general population between 6%
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For example, Hannibal Lecter attacked and killed a policeman. He disembowels one, skins the face of another, beats another man to death (continues beating after the man dies), and biting a man face off. Without hesitation, he is so proud of what he has done that he would show signs of glee. Another criterion is deceitfulness, use of aliases, or conning others for personal gain or pleasure. For example, Dr. Lecter would con and toy with Clarice Sterling, FBI agent, to hear her psychological issues, then would give the information she wants about how to bring down Buffalo Bill. Another criterion is a lack of remorse. Hannibal Lecter would brag about all the awful things he has done to people. He even told Clarice, "I ate his liver with his kidneys and some fava beans." A person with antisocial personality disorder must minimize the consequences of their actions. Such as Hannibal where he would murder people in the most painful way, then would be in a maximum security psychiatric hospital, where he doesn't seem to be afraid. He plans for his escape instead to kill more people. Half of maximum security patients have antisocial personality disorder (Dolan, Park 2002). Finally, they must display a superficial charm and intensive use of vocabulary. For example, Hannibal Lecter seems to be …show more content…
This kind of rejection will cause people with ASPD have an anti-authoritarian attitude, resulting in a failure to either ask for or accept treatment. Antisocial personality disorder who often receives treatment is usually due to having another disorder such as depression, anxiety, or even psychopathic tendencies (Duggan 2009). Such as Hannibal Lector who is a psychopath by taking pride in inflicting harm on others. Most common treatment for adults with this disorder is group-based cognitive and behavioral interventions that are focused on reducing offending and other antisocial behavior (Duggan 2009). Now, antisocial personality disorder has contact with multiple agencies to have to rehabilitate even the family of the individual with the disorder (Duggan 2009). However, in Lecter case, he was locked away in maximum security hospital for the twenty people he murdered where there was no therapy, but for him to be forgotten and seen as a monster as he truly
Torgersen, S. (2009). The nature (and nurture) of personality disorders. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 50(6), 624-632. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.2009.00788.x
For my book report, I have read and evaluated Dr. Hales book titled Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of Psychopaths Among Us, published by The Guilford Press. The purpose of the book was to bring awareness to psychopaths that live among us and will be describe in farther details in the paper. I will evaluated the purpose, strengths, weakness of the book and include a summarized portion for others to understand.
Every few years there are disturbing, yet fascinating headlines: “BTK killer: Hiding in plain sight” or “Police discover at least 10 victims at Anthony Sowell's home”; but what would allow an individual to commit the crimes they did? In cases like these there is usually a common link: Antisocial Personality disorder. It is an unknown disorder to most of the population which is why there are so many questions to be answered, the main ones being what is antisocial personality disorder and how does it effect patient and society as a whole? To answer these questions one needs an accurate background picture of the disorder.
Dr. Hannibal Lecter a character in the film The Silence of the Lambs is portrayed as a brilliant forensic psychiatrist, an extremely refined gentleman with a charismatic and charming personality. Hannibal Lecter is meticulous in appearance, speaks very exactly, has immaculate wittiness, and astounding intellect (Demme, 1991). Though not directly indicated in the film, there is clear evidence of his educational background as he was a well-known forensic psychiatrist which requires an extensive amount of education. This film did not speak to Lecter’s relationship history nor his childhood background. Hannibal Lecter was sanctioned to the Baltimore State Forensic Hospital for cannibalistic crimes he committed against his own patients during his practice as a psychiatrist (Demme, 1991). At the start of the film it was indicated that he had been housed at the hospital for approximately eight years.
Psychopathy was first written about by psychiatrist Philippe Pinel in the early 19th century. He referred to it as “insanity without delirium” and described individuals suffering from this as being “morally neutral”. In 1941, Hervey Cleckley wrote a book 'The Mask of Sanity' which is today considered as the cornerstone of the study of psychopaths. He wrote that the psychopath is capable of “concealing behind a perfect mimicry of normal emotion, fine intelligence, and social responsibility, a grossly disabled and irresponsible personality.” This supports the theory that not only is talk therapy inadequate as a treatment, but on the contrary it has the potential to make the condition worse as it enables the individual to practice the art of manipulation. Today worldwide, we use a checklist c...
The topic of dehumanization has an interesting dynamic in Demme’s film The Silence of the Lambs. This consists of the fact that the Clarice Starling’s own humanity is consistently undermined and almost immediately rectified by Dr. Lecter. Lecter in himself is an ironic character since while he has no fear about killing someone through cannibalism. One of the highest symbolic forms of dehumanization possible, he still respects and guards Starling’s humanity. This character receives even more complexity as Lecter is revealed as more and more calculating and cold throughout the series, almost appearing desensitized to most human emotions, interactions and concerns. Lecter’s analytical, observant, and almost sociopathic outlook on his surroundings contrasts heavily with Starling’s earnest desire to discover the secrets behind Buffalo Bill’s identity and reasons, a desire to
Lector was receiving. Lector is seen is a room of one glass wall with drawer to provide food and holes for air circulation and three brick walls with no windows. When Lector is being transported he wears a mouth guard and a strait jacket. Viewers get the impression that the head psychiatrist is corrupted and enjoys torturing and belittling his patients. After an incident at the hospital Lector is punished by being forced to watch a gospel program on television. There were no actual treatments shown in the movie. Since there is no actual medications for Antisocial Personality Disorder, many psychologist have tried different forms of therapy to help improve some of the symptoms. Psychotherapy is one of the options. This is to help the patient understand what he is doing to others. If the patient can understand the consequences of his actions he might have a greater desire to make corrections. The other therapy is Cognitive Therapy. This type of therapy is to bring to attention that he is the one to blame for his actions and not others. It will help him to understand that people are not out to get him but that he is the cause for his own
Without thought, Dr. Hannibal Lecter displays the general three P’s of personality disorders: persistent, pervasive and pathological. Specifically, Lecter appears to consistently exhibit the symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder, which is found in Cluster B of personali...
Are psychopaths like Alice, “mad or bad?” (page 21). The question whether psychopaths are mentally ill or just a bad seed has caused much debate. Dr. Hare explains that the problem is not only labeling them mad or bad, but who deals with them. “Does the treatment or control of the psychopath rightly fall to mental health professionals or to the correctional system?” (page 21). Not only are professionals confused on how to classify psychopaths, but the media also creates confusion. Psychopath means mental illness and the media uses the word to classify someone as, “insane or crazy”, (page 22). Dr. Hare explains that even though psychopaths, “cannot be understood in terms of traditional views of mental illness”, they, “are not disoriented or out of touch with reality, nor do they experience the delusions, hallucinations, or intense subjective distress that characterize most other mental disorders…psychopaths are rational and aware of what they are doing and why.” (page 22). Most professionals use the term psychopath and sociopath as one in the same. Since DSM-III, antisocial personality disorder has been used in place of psychopath and sociopath. Philippe Pinel was the first psychiatrist describe a psychopath and Harvey Cleckley was one of the first successful publish a book describing a psychopath to the general public . Pinel used the term, “insanity without delirium”, (page 25). Cleckley wrote The Mask of Sanity, which influenced researchers in North America. Dr. Robert Hare explained that WWII was the first time clinicians felt a need to diagnosis people with psychopathy. Due to the draft, there was a need to weed out the people could disrupt or harm the military structure. Dr. Robert Hare realized how hard it was to identify a true psychopaths from rule breakers and developed the Psychopathy Checklist. This checklist is used world wide to help clinicians identify true
Psychopathy is characterized by “deception, manipulation, irresponsibility, impulsivity, stimulation seeking, poor behavioral controls, shallow affect, lack of empathy, guilt, or remorse, a callous disregard for the rights of others, and unethical and antisocial behaviors” (Bonn). Psychopathic killers often disregard human life so they can achieve their own goals. They don’t feel the emotions that regular people would. Ted Bundy is an example of a killer who was influenced by his mental health. Bundy has been credited saying that his family was not to blame for his crimes. In fact, his last words were “Jim and Fred, I'd like you to give my love to my family and friends.” Jim was his lawyer and Fred was a minister he had talked to all night about his upcoming execution. He was raised in a normal home and lived a seemingly normal life. His psychopathy seems to be the main reason for his killing; however, his home life was not as normal as he let on. His mother had him at a young age, so his grandparents raised him as their own and he believed his mother was his sister. This is enough to mess with anyone, but he refuses to blame anyone but himself for his crimes. He maintains that his childhood was happy, so did his family have more of an effect on him than he thought or was his mind to blame? Psychopathy is not the only illness that
Ted Bundy was later given the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, many patients with this diagnosis exhibit traits of sociopaths or psychopaths. Ted Bundy when allowed to lead his sessions always gave the indication that the victim was the wrongdoer and deserved to be killed. All clinicians did agree upon one thing and that was the normalcy that Bundy placed on the murders he had committed. Ted Bundy was considered by law enforcement and psychiatrist to be a master manipulator in addition to being a dangerous person. Ted Bundy will forever be consider one of the most notorious killers throughout
Simons, C. (2001). Antisocial personality disorder in serial killers: The thrill of the kill. The Justice Professional, 14(4), 345-356.
A well-known personality disorder is psychopathy. Psychopathy’s shortened term “psycho” is often used as a slang term to mean crazy. Psychopathy is a real issue caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Psychopathic people have traits “common to some serial murderers, including sensation seeking, a lack of remorse or guilt, impulsivity, the need for control, and predatory behavior. These traits and behaviors are consistent with the psychopathic personality disorder” (Morton). Psychopathic tendencies are most common among killers. Although, “serial killers suffer from a variety of personality disorders, including psychopathy, anti-social personality, and others” (Morton). With psychopathy in a serial killer they feel they have a valid and justifiable reason for killing three or more people. With psychopathic killers feel their motives make their killing okay. Serial killers have “many other motivations for serial murders including anger, thrill, financial gain, and attention seeking” (Morton). A common motive for serial killers is revenge. They feel that someone did them wrong, much like a person who was abused as a child. They feel they have a valid excuse for murdering the person that abused them or substitutes if they find that object of their rage unreachable. Another common motive is simply anger. With anger it is more often than not that they do not have a target. They are just angry and are willing to kill anybody to cope with it. Antisocial personality disorder is often in people who show “a lack of remorse and/or guilt, shallow affect, a lack of empathy, and failure to accept responsibility” (Morton). Antisocial personality disorder is similar to psychopathic personality disorder yet, it remains different. The Behavior Analysis Unit at the Federal Bureau of Investigation stated, “Psychopathy is a personality disorder
There were two serial killers portrayed in the movie- Dr Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill. As far as diagnosis is concerned, they both have an antisocial personality disorder, and many similar characteristics, however each has his own array of psychological issues.
The character I choose to do my clinical diagnosis is Dr. Hannibal Lecter, from the movie The Silences of the Lambs, which is played by Anthony Hopkins. Dr. Hannibal is a psychopath serial killer who uses charm, manipulation, intimidation, and violence to control his victims and others to satisfy his own selfish needs. Because he lacks a conscience and feelings for others, he cold-bloodily takes what he wants and does what he pleases, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest sin of remorse, guilt, or regret. Also Dr. Lecter suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which explains some of his other actions as psychopath serial killer.