The Psychological Diagnosis of Anakin Skywalker
Apr 27, 2017 1:24:32 GMT
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Post by jammer81386 on Apr 27, 2017 1:24:32 GMT
This is an interesting factoid that I stumbled upon recently. Apparently medical schools have been using Anakin Skywalker to help illustrate mental disorders to students. There are in fact multiple websites focused this across the internet, but here are a couple that explain the psychology of Skywalker and how it has been used in the field of psychiatrics.
From the National Geographic: ( link )
From LiveScience.com: ( link )
Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading.
From the National Geographic: ( link )
Getting Inside Darth Vader’s Head
But the ailments of the Star Wars universe aren’t just physical. In recent years, psychiatrists have turned to the cast of Star Wars in an effort to better explain the hallmarks of mental illness to medical students and the broader public.
“These are archetypal characters that everybody can relate to,” says Ryan C.W. Hall, a forensic psychiatrist at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. “All of us have suffering and adversity. We’d like to hope that we do as well as these characters—that we rise and overcome.”
The psychiatric literature is fascinated in particular with Anakin Skywalker, the tragically fallen Jedi who becomes Darth Vader.
In a 2011 letter to the editor in Psychiatry Research, a French team led by psychiatrist Eric Bui claimed that Anakin Skywalker displayed borderline personality disorder, a serious mental illness marked by difficult social interactions, impulsive behavior, and unstable moods.
If the diagnosis holds—it’s currently controversial—Skywalker is hardly unique among Earthlings. According to estimates from the National Institute of Mental Health, over three million U.S. adults share the diagnosis.
Bui notes, though, that “it is very difficult, if not impossible, to accurately diagnose a movie character. The point of our work was to provide an example that may be helpful in medical education.”
“As Obi-Wan put it," he adds, "‘only a Sith Lord [would] deal in absolutes.’”
But the ailments of the Star Wars universe aren’t just physical. In recent years, psychiatrists have turned to the cast of Star Wars in an effort to better explain the hallmarks of mental illness to medical students and the broader public.
“These are archetypal characters that everybody can relate to,” says Ryan C.W. Hall, a forensic psychiatrist at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. “All of us have suffering and adversity. We’d like to hope that we do as well as these characters—that we rise and overcome.”
The psychiatric literature is fascinated in particular with Anakin Skywalker, the tragically fallen Jedi who becomes Darth Vader.
In a 2011 letter to the editor in Psychiatry Research, a French team led by psychiatrist Eric Bui claimed that Anakin Skywalker displayed borderline personality disorder, a serious mental illness marked by difficult social interactions, impulsive behavior, and unstable moods.
If the diagnosis holds—it’s currently controversial—Skywalker is hardly unique among Earthlings. According to estimates from the National Institute of Mental Health, over three million U.S. adults share the diagnosis.
Bui notes, though, that “it is very difficult, if not impossible, to accurately diagnose a movie character. The point of our work was to provide an example that may be helpful in medical education.”
“As Obi-Wan put it," he adds, "‘only a Sith Lord [would] deal in absolutes.’”
From LiveScience.com: ( link )
The Psychology of Darth Vader Revealed
Anakin Skywalker's eventual transformation into Darth Vader might have more to do with psychological issues than the Force, researchers hint.
The tragic hero of the "Star Wars" prequels displays patterns of instability and impulsivity in the second and third films that make him an obvious candidate for borderline personality disorder (BPD), according to French psychiatrists and psychologists.
The researchers also suspect the traits exhibited by Skywalker might make him more appealing and relatable to teen fans, given that teens may also display certain characteristics of borderline personality disorder.
"I had watched the two prequel movies ["Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith"], and it was during my residency in psychiatry while trying to explain borderline personality disorder to medical students that I thought of Anakin," said Eric Bui, a psychiatrist at Toulouse University Hospital in France.
Bui and his colleagues first presented their diagnosis at the annual convention of the American Psychiatric Association in 2007. Now, their letter to the editor titled "Is Anakin Skywalker suffering from borderline personality disorder?" is slated to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Psychiatry Research.
Skywalker hit six out of the nine borderline personality disorder criteria as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV). He only needed to meet five criteria to qualify as suffering from the disorder.
A great disturbance in the Force
For instance, the future Darth Vader showed both impulsivity and anger management issues as an overexcited, lovelorn Jedi. He went back and forth between idealizing and devaluing Jedi mentors, such as a humorless young Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Abandonment issues also surfaced. Skywalker had a permanent fear of losing his wife, Padme Amidala, and he went so far as to betray his Jedi mentors and companions to try to prevent her death.
Two displays of dissociative episodes took place when Skywalker tried to distance himself from stressful events. The first episode took place after he slaughtered a local tribe of Tuskens responsible for his mother's death. A second episode occurred following his murderous rampage among young Jedi trainees, as he voiced paranoid thoughts about Obi-Wan Kenobi and his wife.
Lastly, any "Star Wars" fan would recognize Skywalker's identity issues and uncertainty about who he was. His fateful turn to the dark side and change of name to Darth Vader could represent the ultimate sign of such identity disturbance, the researchers said.
The future Darth Vader would also still qualify as a "borderline type" under the revised guidelines of the DSM-V, which will serve as the new bible for psychiatry.
"From what we know of the future DSM-V, Anakin is a "good" to "very good" match to the future BPD," Bui told LiveScience.
Searching for balance
Skywalker's case of borderline personality disorder has proven useful for both Bui and Rachel Rodgers, a researcher at the Center for Studies and Research in Applied Psychology in France. They have used the "Star Wars" example to teach their students for the past few years, and noted that such a famous fictional example could spread awareness.
The researchers also suggested that the success of the "Star Wars" prequel films might partially rely upon how teens can relate to the troubled Anakin Skywalker. Only adults can be diagnosed with to borderline personality disorder under the current DSM-IV guidelines, but Bui and Rodgers pointed to several studies that suggest the disorder is fairly frequent among teens.
Either way, the situation in the "Star Wars" prequels seems clear to Bui. He pointed out that the emperor's dark and destabilizing influence upon a young Skywalker might have even exacerbated the symptoms of borderline personality disorder.
But like any good doctor, Bui also has a treatment recommendation.
"I believe that psychotherapy would have helped Anakin and might have prevented him from turning to the dark side," Bui said. "Using the dark side of the Force could be considered as similar to drug use: It feels really good when you use it, it alters your consciousness and you know you shouldn’t do it."
Anakin Skywalker's eventual transformation into Darth Vader might have more to do with psychological issues than the Force, researchers hint.
The tragic hero of the "Star Wars" prequels displays patterns of instability and impulsivity in the second and third films that make him an obvious candidate for borderline personality disorder (BPD), according to French psychiatrists and psychologists.
The researchers also suspect the traits exhibited by Skywalker might make him more appealing and relatable to teen fans, given that teens may also display certain characteristics of borderline personality disorder.
"I had watched the two prequel movies ["Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith"], and it was during my residency in psychiatry while trying to explain borderline personality disorder to medical students that I thought of Anakin," said Eric Bui, a psychiatrist at Toulouse University Hospital in France.
Bui and his colleagues first presented their diagnosis at the annual convention of the American Psychiatric Association in 2007. Now, their letter to the editor titled "Is Anakin Skywalker suffering from borderline personality disorder?" is slated to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Psychiatry Research.
Skywalker hit six out of the nine borderline personality disorder criteria as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV). He only needed to meet five criteria to qualify as suffering from the disorder.
A great disturbance in the Force
For instance, the future Darth Vader showed both impulsivity and anger management issues as an overexcited, lovelorn Jedi. He went back and forth between idealizing and devaluing Jedi mentors, such as a humorless young Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Abandonment issues also surfaced. Skywalker had a permanent fear of losing his wife, Padme Amidala, and he went so far as to betray his Jedi mentors and companions to try to prevent her death.
Two displays of dissociative episodes took place when Skywalker tried to distance himself from stressful events. The first episode took place after he slaughtered a local tribe of Tuskens responsible for his mother's death. A second episode occurred following his murderous rampage among young Jedi trainees, as he voiced paranoid thoughts about Obi-Wan Kenobi and his wife.
Lastly, any "Star Wars" fan would recognize Skywalker's identity issues and uncertainty about who he was. His fateful turn to the dark side and change of name to Darth Vader could represent the ultimate sign of such identity disturbance, the researchers said.
The future Darth Vader would also still qualify as a "borderline type" under the revised guidelines of the DSM-V, which will serve as the new bible for psychiatry.
"From what we know of the future DSM-V, Anakin is a "good" to "very good" match to the future BPD," Bui told LiveScience.
Searching for balance
Skywalker's case of borderline personality disorder has proven useful for both Bui and Rachel Rodgers, a researcher at the Center for Studies and Research in Applied Psychology in France. They have used the "Star Wars" example to teach their students for the past few years, and noted that such a famous fictional example could spread awareness.
The researchers also suggested that the success of the "Star Wars" prequel films might partially rely upon how teens can relate to the troubled Anakin Skywalker. Only adults can be diagnosed with to borderline personality disorder under the current DSM-IV guidelines, but Bui and Rodgers pointed to several studies that suggest the disorder is fairly frequent among teens.
Either way, the situation in the "Star Wars" prequels seems clear to Bui. He pointed out that the emperor's dark and destabilizing influence upon a young Skywalker might have even exacerbated the symptoms of borderline personality disorder.
But like any good doctor, Bui also has a treatment recommendation.
"I believe that psychotherapy would have helped Anakin and might have prevented him from turning to the dark side," Bui said. "Using the dark side of the Force could be considered as similar to drug use: It feels really good when you use it, it alters your consciousness and you know you shouldn’t do it."
Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading.