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Example research essay topic: Antisocial Personality Disorder Socio Political Reality - 2,390 words

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Final Paper (1) Ever since the release of movie Silence of the Lambs, one of its major characters Dr. Hannibal Lecter has attained a status of cultural icon, which can be explained by illusive nature of his mental deviation that is both repulsive and fascinating. Hannibal Lecter a highly acclaimed psychiatrist has a secretive side to his existential mode. Apparently, he takes an immense pleasure from engaging in activities that are considered socially inappropriate.

Namely, he likes to kill and to cannibalize people who he considers as such that lack the sense of cultural finesse. What amazes viewers the most is the fact that Lecter's mental inadequacy does not seem to affect his rationale, since his supreme sense of logic alone allows him to identify another serial killer Buffalo Bill, thus benefiting the society, which he loathes. Lecter does not recognize a psychology as the legitimate science and is able to substantiate his point of view on many occasions. In this paper, we will resort to Psychodynamic approach, in order to come up with with psychiatric diagnosis to Lecter's behavior. (2) It is important to understand that psychology, as science, does not operate with universally recognized notions, because the essence of mental deviations remains the subject of scientific disputes. For example, psychodynamic approach to personality, originated by S. Freud, implies that it is the interaction between persons irrational desires and objective reality that defines his behavior.

Behavioral theory of personality, associated with names of B. Skinner and A. Bandura, define ones behavior as result of interaction between persons intellect and the environment, while denying credibility to the method of psychoanalysis as being unscientific in its essence. Biological theory of personality, promoted by H. Eysenck, suggests that peoples behavior is genetically predetermined and that, in order for us to understand what causes a particular individual to act in one way or another, we need to resort to medicinal terms. As we have mentioned earlier, in this paper, we will discuss personally of Hannibal Lecter within a context of psychodynamics.

Theory of psychoanalysis suggests that ones behavior is being defined by constant interactions between individuals psyche, his mind and his personality. Individuals psyche is best defined as the set of subconscious behavioral impulses that derive out his need to satisfy its irrational desires. The practical realization of these desires is often impossible due to socio-political reality that defines our everyday living. Therefore, ego strives to find alternative ways to incorporate itself in persons existential mode. Psychodynamics deal with components of psychological system as such that have great influence on each other, during the process of systems functioning.

Just as any system subjected to physical laws, psycho-system strives towards stabilization. In other words, Lecter's ego prompts him to seek the realization of his desires. In their turn, these desires can be viewed as the product of his ego coming in touch with environment; therefore, they can only be satisfied within a context of objective reality. Thus, we can describe Lecter's psycho-system as being in the state of constant transition it strives towards stabilization, but after becoming stabilized, it begins to disintegrate. Psychodynamics suggest that it is possible to define the degree of psycho-systems instability, associated with every particular person, with the mean of analyzing the components of persons behavior, which we will do in the next part of this paper. (3) Even though Lecter's latent desires and anxieties appear to affect his behavior to a significant degree, it would be wrong to strive to rationalize them, in order to explain his existential monstrosity. Before we embark on our analysis, we will have to provide readers with important facts from Lecter's biography, as they will allow us to demonstrate what might have caused his deviation in the first place.

When he was six years old, Lecter saw his parents being killed, during the course of WWII, and his sister being eaten by the group of military deserters. Therefore, many psychologists suggest that Lecter's mental abnormality was being triggered by the emotional shock that he experienced in his early childhood. The latest movie Hannibal Rising exploits this theme in rather unconvincing manner. However, it appears that Lecter's taste for human flesh has purely gastronomical properties; therefore, it cannot be referred to as pathological sublimation of Lecter's strive to revenge. The reason why Lecter became a cannibal and serial killer is to boost up his sense of existential superiority, in regards to people that surround him. In one of his monologues, Lecter suggests that: I am royalty, a champion not simply without, but especially without God or law.

In Lecter's eyes, his anti-social behavior has value in itself, which allows us to describe him as being affected by Schizotypal Personality Disorder. This disorder is best characterized by patient intentionally adopting existential eccentricity as such, that defines his behavior. Lecter appears to be genuinely puzzled by the fact that cannibalism is considered a social taboo. He does not understand why it is morally wrong to kill people, when provider of conventional Western morality, Jewish tribal God Jehovah, is known to take pleasure in killing people for the purpose of his amusement alone? At one point, in the movie, Lecter mentions the famous incident in the largest Catholic Church in Lisbon in 19 th century, when church's roof had collapsed on the heads of devout Christians at the very peak of their religious ecstasy, resulting in deaths of thousands of people. If God has a sick sense of humor, it would be only natural for the people who are created in his image to follow his footsteps.

The fact that Lecter's disgust of conventional morality is backed up by absolutely rational considerations, on his part, only further strengthens the argument that Lecter is affected by Schizotypal Personality Disorder. Lecter is unable to live in society, without constantly trying to improve it, while relying on socially inappropriate methods, which proves that his psyche has Schizotypal and Schizoid properties. Lecter has never been married and has no close friends, which corresponds to his inability to integrate into society. The moral and social dogmas have absolutely no meaning to him because he does not understand how they can affect him personally; therefore, Lecter cannot feel remorse over his deeds in principle. The legal system has a particularly hard time, while dealing with criminals affected by Schizotypal Personality Disorder: on one hand, they are fully capable of rationalizing their act, on the other they fail to understand the reason for them to be punished in the first place. They are not quite mentally ill, which would allow them to skip the trial, but they are unable of referring to their punishment as the mean of social protection, which deprives it of its effectiveness.

People affected by Schizotypal Personality Disorder are known to have a taste for physical violence, which is why this particular mental deviation is often being confused with Antisocial Personality Disorder. Lecter feels that his physical and intellectual superiority needs to be manifested in most shocking manner, in order for him to be recognized as truly extraordinary individual. Lecter refers to the rules of social conduct as such that need to be disregarded altogether, because they are meant to protect existential mediocrity. His physical violence does not come as a result of society provoking him, but rather as his way of dealing with objective reality. This is the reason why Lecter had to constantly wear mask, while being in public his attacks did not seem to be motivated by rational considerations, on his part. At the same time, the fact that he used to engage in careful planning of his attacks, suggests that his anti-social stance was not being caused by emotional impulsiveness, with which we associate Antisocial Personality Disorder.

The fact that Hannibal Lecter pays great attention to his physical appearance suggests that he is quite aware that his mental inadequacy has a potential of fascinating other people, therefore, he strives to emphasize on it with variety of visual means. While doing it, Lecter gradually becomes attracted to himself. The reason he likes gastronomical exclusivity is not that he simply enjoys the taste of human liver, washed down with the glass of Chianti, but because dinners settings add up to his value as individual, in his own eyes. Lecter applies an extensive effort, while looking for the silverware that he thinks would be suitable to be used during the course of dinner. This is because Lecter strives for nothing less then viewing himself, during the process of enjoying his meal, from the position of remote observer. This points out to him as being subtle narcissist.

As time goes by, Hannibal appears to take less and less pleasure in eating human flesh, but he simply has no choice but to continue living up to his reputation, because he can only admire himself for as long as people are afraid of him. It also appears that narcissist motives in Lecter's behavior grow stronger, as action develops, because his cannibalism, from being simply a method of expressing his existential uniqueness, turns into something that has value in itself. One of the typical symptoms of Narcissistic Personality, are the delusions of grandeur, on the part of a patient. Lecter's refusal to live by conventional rules of social conduct helps him to maintain his identity of intellectual revolutionary, which greatly comforts him, during his time in jail. In fact, Lecter enjoys being incarcerated, without willing to admit it to himself, because, as person affected by Western religious mythology, he subconsciously associates himself with Jesus Christ his suffering confirms his greatness in his own eyes, thus slowly transforming itself into the source of masochistic pleasure.

In his relations with Clarisse, Lecter manages to make her seeing him as what he thinks of itself a misunderstood genius. His affection towards her has a very practical purpose. Clarisse is needed for Lecter as someone who adds objectivity to his convictions, in order for him to fall in love with his ego more easily. Thus, we can say that Lecter's self-image has a great influence on the way he acts, which can be seen as another proof of him being a Schizotypal narcissist. (4) It appears that Schizotypal Personality theory appears to be the most applicable, when it comes to explaining his behavior, because it is Lecter's intellectual eccentrics that underlines all other aspects of his existence.

As we have mentioned earlier, there are good reasons for us to resort to psychoanalytical methods, during the course of analyzing Lecter's personality, because we were able to define a link between Lecter's latent desires and his behavior. Psychodynamic approach suits the best, when we embark on discussing the ways Lectors ego realizes itself. However, such approach does not provide as with the clue as to what had triggered Lecter's mental abnormality in the first place. The majority of psychologists believe that we can only discuss Schizotypal Personality within a context of genetic predisposition. In his article Phychopathy, Schizoid Personality and Borderline/Schizotypal Personality Disorders, Adrian Raine points out at biological nature of Schizotypal Personality Disorder, because it is closely linked to Schizophrenia, which has been proven as being mainly caused by the variety of genetic factors: Given a genetic linkage between psychopathy and schizophrenia, one might expect a stronger relationship with schizotypal personality disorder which bears a genetic relationship with schizophrenia (Raine, p. 495). Schizotypal Personality Disorder often corresponds to persons supreme ability of operating with highly abstract concepts.

In Silence of the Lambs Clarice mentions the rate of Lecter's IQ being truly extraordinary, which means that it should be higher then 150. In its turn, ones IQ rate depends exclusively on his or her genetic hereditary. People with high IQ are known for their contempt for conventional morality, which explains the essence of Lecter's anti-social stance. In other words, it was only the matter of time before Lector would become an anti-social element. However, his anti-social attitudes do not derive out of the fact that Lector is being driven by his own anomalistic instincts alone, as it is the case with majority of regular criminals, but out of his existential superiority, which has objective essence, regardless of what we might think of him as individual. The nature of Schizotypal Personality Disorder has not been fully studied and there are actually no objective reasons to refer to it as disorder.

All we know is that persons behavior, affected by it, differs from the behavior of normal people and that it often assumes socially inappropriate forms. However, this does not allow us to refer Schizotypal Personality Disorder as such that creates precondition for the development of mental illness. Since Schizotypal Personality Disorder is often being associated with the high rate of IQ, on the part of patient, it would be wrong to think of it as something ultimately evil, simply because patients behavior does not correspond to our understanding of what the notion of morality stands for. After all, morality is subjected to socio-political reality, whereas high intellect has always been an objective factor that pushed cultural and scientific progress forward. The process of evolution consists of living organisms becoming increasingly complex, which means that it is perfectly natural for the individual with high IQ to defy the notions of moral conventionalism. Therefore, we can think of Hannibal Lecter as serial killer and anti-social element and as precursor of future race of super-men, who will keep contemporary humanity in the same regard as we keep apes.

Bibliography: Clark, J. (2008). Clinical Approaches to Axis II Comorbidity: Commentary. Journal of Clinical Psychology, V. 64, No. 2, Pp. 222 - 30 Kerns, J. (2005). Positive Schizotypal and Emotion Processing.

Journal of Abnormal Psychology, V. 114, No. 3, Pp. 392 - 401 Leo, J. (2001). Lovely Monsters: Cultural Left's Canonization of Monsters. U. S.

News & World Report, V. 130, No. 9, p. 14 Raine, A. (1986). Phychopathy, Schizoid Personality and Borderline/Schizotypal Personality Disorders. Personal and Individual Differences. Vol. 7, N. 4, Pp. 493 501.

Raine, A. (2006). Schizotypal Personality: Neurodevelopmental and Psychosocial Trajectories. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. Vol. 2, N. 2, Pp. 291 - 326 Abstract: This paper discusses the character of Hannibal Lecter from movie Silence of the Lambs within a context of Psychodynamic, while referring to him as person affected by, Schizotypal Personality Disorder. Outline: Introduction Psychodynamic approach Main part Conclusion


Free research essays on topics related to: socio political reality, antisocial personality disorder, serial killer, conventional morality, hannibal lecter

Research essay sample on Antisocial Personality Disorder Socio Political Reality

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