Silence Of The Lambs Etiology

Etiology:

In Silence of the Lambs, Doctor Hannibal Lector, a well-known psychiatrist and cannibalistic murderer, is a prisoner in a psychiatric hospital. He shows signs of Antisocial Personality Disorder. The movie does not go in to what caused the disorder, but the next book entitled Hannibal does. Hannibal Lector was born in Lithuania and during World War II, he and his sister were orphaned when German deserters murdered their parents along with others from their town. Lector, his sister, and other children from the town were kidnapped and kept as a food source for the deserters. Lector witnessed the brutal murder of his beloved sister and then was forced to watch as his sister is eaten. Lector himself was even forced to partake in this so called meal. This

traumatic event is what is believed to have caused his disorder. Lector was very intelligent and was able to escape the deserter and camp and work his way to America. Here he became a popular psychiatrist as well as a closet serial killer and sociopath.

Diagnosis:
Doctor Hannibal Lector exhibited symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder. He does not give any regard to the people around him. He killed at least nine people and felt no remorse. Lector is able to easily cannibalize and disfigure his victims. At one point in the movie, after Lector brutally beat one officer and bit off the cheek of the other he was shown calmly enjoying the music that had been paying. Lector is excited at the thought of consuming his victims. At the end of the movie he makes it out as a joke saying “…I’m having an old friend for dinner!” (Gary Goetzman,1991). Hannibal Lector is rude and enjoys making offensive remarks to others. He shows no guilt for the crimes he has committed and is able to keep a calm, collected presence about him.

Treatment:
Silence of the Lambs never expounded on the treatments Dr.

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

problems.

Prognosis:
In Silence of the Lambs, Doctor Hannibal Lector has Antisocial Personality Disorder. Throughout the movie, Dr. Lector was nicknamed Hannibal the Cannibal, because of his signature to eat parts of his victims. The people around Lector were constantly frightened of him. He is known as a psychopath. Because of his disregard for other people Lector enjoyed getting inside other people’s heads and toying with them. At one point, he was able to agitate a man named Miggs, so much so that Miggs swallowed his own tongue and died. Lector did all this without even being able to see the other man. He was shown as narcissistic, manipulative, and blood thirsty. After Lector escapes, the end of the movie shows him with the intention to kill his lead psychiatrist Dr. Chilton. This gives the impression that Lector showed no signs of improvement of his disorder and that he will continue killing until he is caught again.

Social Implications:
The movie Silence of the Lambs portrays people suffering from Antisocial Personality Disorder as dangerous and even deadly. Throughout the movie, Lector is constantly called a monster. He was shown as narcissistic, manipulative, and blood thirsty. Silence of the Lambs correctly shows the symptoms and complexity of Antisocial Personality Disorder, but it also portrays that people who suffer from this disorder are almost always psychopaths who cannot be trusted and should be feared. While Antisocial Personality Disorder can be a dangerous and violent disorder most people suffering from it will not take it to that extent of murdering and eating people.