Abigail D'Souza
Personality disorders are psychological disorders characterised by rigid and pervasive patterns of behaviour that persist over time. These must be maladaptive, or cause clinically significant distress to the individual, and are typically recognizable by late adolescence, or early adulthood. The most commonly known personality disorder is Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), or rather Psychopathy, since people often assume the two are synonymous. They aren’t.
ASPD belongs to the Cluster B group of personality disorders, along with Histrionic, Narcissistic, and Borderline personality disorders. Individuals with these tend to be dramatic, emotional, and erratic (Hooley et al., 2021). ASPD is characterised by a lack of moral or ethical development; inability to follow approved models of behaviour; deceitfulness; manipulation of others; history of conduct problems as a child, etc. (Hooley et al., 2021). Psychopathy however, is more a set of traits, like superficial charm, lack of empathy, and manipulativeness.
While a diagnosis of ASPD is wider and includes different kinds of criminal behaviours, psychopathy is best characterised by 4 correlated dimensions: interpersonal (superficially charming personality, inflated ego, pathological lying, and manipulation), affective (a lack of guilt and empathy, callousness, and failure to take responsibility for behaviour), lifestyle (constant need for stimulation, irresponsibility, impulsivity, and a lack of foresight), and finally, antisocial (early behavioural problems, delinquency, criminality, etc.).
It’s unsurprising then, that psychopathy is most featured in horror, and thriller stories. One of the most well-known psychopaths, pop-culturally, is Patrick Bateman, from the film American Psycho. Bateman is an interesting representation of a psychopath— specifically, of a Successful Psychopath. (Mullins-Sweatt et al., 2010, Babiak et al., 2010, Leistedt & Linkowski, 2013).
Although our knowledge of successful psychopaths is incomplete, they generally display the fundamental traits of a psychopath discussed above, but manage to largely succeed in their exploitation (Mullins-Sweatt et al., 2010). Also called ‘corporate psychopaths’ (Babiak et al., 2010), successful psychopaths are rated highly on the Conscientiousness dimension of the Big Five Personality Test (Mullins-Sweatt et al., 2010). Additionally, they are rated highly in competence, order, achievement-striving, and self-discipline.
Patrick Bateman seems a fairly accurate example of the Successful Psychopath. His conscientiousness comes across in his exact, time-consuming daily routine, one of his methods of maintaining his façade. Another example is how he molds his personality to best suit the company he is in— talking about social justice at dinner with his fiancée and their friends, but espousing a view of deep-rooted misogyny when around people he knows think the same. These traits of conscientiousness, order, and self-discipline, help him to get away with his criminal behaviour— they are reflected in, for example, the way he covers up his murder of Paul Allen, how he maintains his ‘mask of sanity,’ etc.
Bateman has also achieved a considerable degree of success. He graduated from Harvard, occupies a prominent, well-paying job at a relatively young age, and lives a life filled with material indicators of status. Where his traits of conscientiousness, order, etc. fail, the privileges his success confer upon him keep him safe, even after he confesses.
Successful psychopathy cannot be diagnosed without many traits it has in common with general psychopathy, and Bateman displays a majority of these throughout the film.
Interpersonally, Bateman is very charismatic— people’s opinions of Bateman range from admiration, affection and respect, to the idea that he is boring and even ‘a dork’- but no-one sees in him a threat. Women particularly seem to be drawn to Bateman, even when he is cold or callous with them. His ego is inflated, and he often kills when he perceives himself to be insulted- even when the actual slight is non-existent. We also see Bateman lie easily and often, to Veronica, to Courtney, to Detective Kimball, etc. The most interesting example of Bateman's manipulation skills are the strategies he uses to kill Paul Allen and to try to kill Jean— playing on the former’s egocentricity and the latter’s under-confidence to keep them unawares and in the dark.
With respect to emotionality, Bateman admits his lack thereof in his opening monologue, saying, "he simply isn’t there," and later, that he feels no emotions but greed and disgust. Indeed, his callousness is clear in his treatment of most other people, as with Evelyn, Jean, and Carruthers, though these are all people who serve no purpose to him, or who already follow him. He is not so dismissive of those he perceives as equal and necessary to maintaining his mask.
In terms of the ‘lifestyle,’ Bateman is easily bored and constantly chasing stimulation— though sex, drugs, or violence. His impulsivity and irresponsibility are reflected in the unplanned murders he commits, but also in smaller ways, like when he shows Veronica his bloodied sheets, without considering how he might expose himself, or when he uses Allen’s name and apartment, even while his disappearance is being investigated.
Bateman’s antisocial traits need no elaboration.
This isn’t to say Bateman is the perfect representation of a successful psychopath, nor his the only experience of successful psychopathy possible. Bateman definitely suffers from psychosis— a possible comorbidity, but not a necessary one. Additionally, the story seems to hint at the possibility of some kind of consciousness, such as when he leaves Evelyn, or encourages Jean to leave his house— by removing them, one might argue he spares them from himself. There are also other personality disorders that serve as models of explanation of Bateman’s behaviour, such as Bipolar, or Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which are likely also comorbid— the similarity of the symptoms of Cluster B Disorders makes it very difficult to separate one from another (Leistedt & Linkowski, 2013). Bateman’s admittance of emptiness and his desire for punishment is also interesting. It might be theoretically inaccurate, or possibly manifestations of Bateman's specific experience.
Finally, the influence of 80s ‘Yuppie’ culture on Bateman’s psychopathy oughtn’t to be discounted (Cooke & Michie, 1999, Hooley et al., 2021, p. 390). Although this analysis has separated Bateman from the metaphor of the movie, it’s a social commentary. Many of Bateman's psychopathic characteristics have been affected and magnified by the society he lives in, and its obsession with wealth, success, status and oneself.
In conclusion, American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman presents an interesting representation of the successful psychopath, prompting questions about the role of culture, and experiences of distress and emptiness, and perhaps the possibility of non-horror based future representation of ASPD. Regardless, as our understanding of successful psychopaths grows, it will be interesting to see how the movie ‘holds up.’
References:
Babiak, P., Neumann, C. S., & Hare, R. D. (2010). Corporate psychopathy: Talking the walk. Behavioral Sciences & the Law. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.925
Cooke, D. J., & Michie, C. (1999). Psychopathy across cultures: North America and Scotland compared. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108(1), 58–68. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.108.1.58
Henning, J. B., Wygant, D. B., & Barnes, P. W. (2014). Mapping the darkness and finding the light: DSM-5 and assessment of the “corporate psychopath.” Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 7(1), 144–148. https://doi.org/10.1111/iops.12123
Hooley, J. M., Nock, M. K., & Butcher, J. N. (2021). Abnormal psychology. Pearson Education Limited.
Leistedt, S. J., & Linkowski, P. (2013). Psychopathy and the cinema: Fact or fiction? Journal of Forensic Sciences, 59(1), 167–174. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.12359
Mathieu, C., Neumann, C. S., Hare, R. D., & Babiak, P. (2014). A dark side of leadership: Corporate psychopathy and its influence on employee well-being and job satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 59, 83–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.11.010
Mullins-Sweatt, S. N., Glover, N. G., Derefinko, K. J., Miller, J. D., & Widiger, T. A. (2010). The search for the successful psychopath. Journal of Research in Personality, 44(4), 554–558. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2010.05.010
Parry, W. (2009). Diagnosing an American Psycho. International Review of Psychiatry, 21(3), 281–282. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540260902747813
Walsh, Z., & Kosson, D. S. (2007). Psychopathy and violent crime: A prospective study of the influence of socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Law and Human Behavior, 31(2), 209–229. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-006-9057-5
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