I have chosen to write my Case Study paper on Edward Gein from the Psychodynamic theoretical perspective. I believe that his behavior is a perfect case for the psychodynamic perspective because of the family dynamic in his home. These circumstances led to the actions that would become the inspiration for many books and movie characters because of the oddity and extreme nature of his human interactions.
Possibly the first crime that Edward committed was killing his older brother. This has significance on the psychological level because Edward’s older brother began to disagree with their mother’s world perspective and I believe this was the motivation for this crime. He loved his mother very much possibly to the point of Parent-Child Relational Problems and could not handle that his brother began to discredit her. Edward was not charged with killing his brother because they were burning a marsh and it was determined to be asphyxiation from the fire. It is suspicious because his brother was not in an area that was burned and his body was found with bruises.
After the death of his brother Edward Gein lived alone with his mother until her death after suffering from numerous strokes. Her death devastated him she was his only friend and companion. Even after a lifetime of mental and physical abuse he loved her I believe he developed a Dependent Personality Disorder with his mother because he never separated from her. Once considered maybe a little odd not Gein started to show multiple escalated behaviors that were and still to this day are considered some of the most abnormal ever witnessed.
Now alone in the world Edward Gein had no real connections with the outside world. All he knew was what his mother told him and now ...
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...uld certainly lead to a desire to dig up the bodies of recently buried women and use them to create macabre artifacts around the house. “Necrophilia can best be described as sexual arousal stimulated by a dead body. The stimulation can be either in the form of fantasies or actual physical sexual contact with the corpse.” (Hucker, 2010)
I think that some intensive psychoanalysis would prevent the actions of Gein and save the life of at least the one woman that he murdered. I do not think he could avoid all dysfunctions but there could have been a remarkable difference.
Works Cited
Ed gein. (2011, September 1). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein
Comer, R. (2011). Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology. New York, NY: Worth Publishers
Hucker, SH. (2010). Necrophilia. Retrieved from
http://www.forensicpsychiatry.ca/paraphilia/necro.htm
She had to watch her father leave her mother, and “the gloomy atmosphere of their once happy home overclouded the morning of [her] life” (187). She had to watch her mother suffer from a heartache that eventually killed her, and was then given a lifelong babysitter. It then seemed that Edward attempted to buy the love of his daughter with the promise of financial stability. It seemed as though he tried to buy his way out of guilt by employing the best educators for his daughter. Despite his efforts, he formed an unhealthy relationship with alcohol and met death after falling from his horse on route to see Xarifa. Because of these ill-fortuned events, Xarifa found herself thrown into a relationship with a man that she might not have otherwise pursued. Similarly, the children of the world today find themselves suffering as a result of their relationship with their parents. How involved a parent is in a child’s life constantly affects the way the child behaves and the actions they take.
his psyche had to deal with. He was very up-set (as any other person would be)
Edward exercised in a way that was excessive, violent and on the verge of punishment, he also ate food sparingly, he was practically suffering from anorexia and worried excessively about the way he looked particularly about the thinness of his legs, he had slight OCD, an unusual manner of speaking, social insensitivity and often had nervous tics such as constant fiddling, this is why some believe Edward may have suffered from Autism or Asperger's Syndrome, some thought Edward may ha...
On November 17, 1957 police arrived to the house of Ed Gein, they had suspected him of robbing the local hardware because he was found loitering around the store and being the last person seen at the store. When the police entered the house they found chairs, couches, lampshades, bowl made from a skull, a belt of female nipples and a costume made from human skin.
Sigmund Freud is considered to be one of the most studied and respected historical figures in psychology. Freud has had a huge impact on the way we think today. He also is responsible for creation psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud is even known as the “father of psychoanalysis”. Through endless contentious theories such as, the Case of Anna O, the Unconscious Mind, the Psyche, and the most infamous of his theories, the Psychosexual stage, Freud has generated many fans and supporters. His works has earned him a place in the list of psychology legends today.
These acts did not go unnoticed. He cut off the heads of his sister’s dolls and convinced his sisters into playing a game he then called "gas chamber". Where he would have them blindfold him and take him to a chair. His mother noticed this and immediately took action by locking him up, in order to prevent him from hurting his sisters. Instead of helping him, she was hurting him and frustrating him even more. Her abuse towards him only caused more destruction than ever. A great amount of people would state that sociopaths’, such as Edmund Kemper, only intention is to harm and inflict pain on others. There is no doubt that they are incredibly dangerous, but their true intentions seem to feel right to them because they do not have emotions or a conscience. This causes them to deal with people as if they were objects. Sociopaths usually have the urge to destroy people that are the closest to them, but instead of emotionally doing this, they physically do it. Because sociopaths usually contain deep anger, they feel that it is alright to act out of rage. Nothing for them is planned out, they simply do as they please, thinking that it is alright. None of the acts that Edmund committed were planned out. When he saw a woman he wanted to kill, he simply did
The life story of Ed Gein depicts his numerous brutal acts as illustrations of his insanity and madness. His deranged childhood, especially his relation to his domineering mother led to his psychosis and ultimately to the horrible killings we still fears today. He is the killer whose fiendish fantasies inspired many movies such as, PSYCHO, Silence of the Lambs, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre all of which focused on gruesome and bizarre acts beyond all imagining. Ed Gein was evidently guilty as all the evidence obviously pointed to him. Yet I believe the psychiatrists were without a doubt in my mind, accurate in declaring Ed Gein insane at the time he committed the perverse and evil acts.
Freudian psychoanalysis distinguished three types of anxiety, - objective anxiety, neurotic anxiety, and moral anxiety. It is the ego's job to deal with anxiety (Hergenhahn, 2009). Freud's theories emphasize on sex as the main motive for human behavior, therefore a Freudian psychoanalysis therapist may attribute origin of the person’s anxiety to sex oriented issues such as sexual relationship, conflicts, and abuse, etc. The role of Freudian psychoanalysis therapist is to encourage patients to focus on affect and the expression of emotion and to explore their attempts to avoid distressing thoughts and feelings. One technique of Freudian psychotherapy is free association which means that patients are encouraged to recall and talk about their
Of the copious number of topics in the world today, nothing captivated Sigmund Freud’s attention like psychology did. Known as the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud laid the foundations for comprehending the inner workings that determine human behavior (1). Through his involvement with the hypnosis, dream analysis, psychosexual stages, and the unconscious as a whole, Freud began a new revolution that faced its own conflict but eventually brought the harvest of new knowledge and clarity to the concept of the mind.
Specifically social isolation. Social isolation is the lack of social interaction with society or friends (Miller, 2011), neither which Edward had because he was not fully educated by his creator yet. Edward was all by himself in the mansion up the hill after his creator died. Because the creator died before he could teach Edward the basic lifestyle etiquette, Edward had hid himself in the mansion the whole time void of social interactions until Peg decided to venture into the mansion in hopes of selling cosmetics and ended up bringing Edward back to her home. The social isolation that Edward experienced since the death of his creator was quickly eased from him after he got introduced to the townspeople. The talent Edward had for having scissor as his hand was impeccable. He managed to capture the attention and trust of the townspeople in a short amount of time he was there. However, the attention that Edward had when introduced to the townspeople was short lived after he was arrested by the police for breaking and entering a home. Edward went back to his mansion after a few unsuccessful attempt of reconciliation with the townspeople. The study by Ahmetoglu, Swami and Chamorro-Premuzic, (2010) stated that reconciliation tactic was used to maintain positive relationship but it did not worked for Edward when he was trying to get back on the good side of the
To think how far we have come with medicine and technology is astounding. Looking into the biological model of abnormalities we learn that the focus is to connect a medical prospective to the variations in abnormal behavior. The text uses the case of Philip Berman, a person who exhibits a wide range of emotion when triggered with certain topics. In this case researchers are looking to find a glitch between his body chemistry and his behavior. The question here is: Can there be a connection between imperfect organisms within the body which in turn display abnormal behavior? We learn from the text that the brain has many parts that are designed to specific duties. If one of the nerves or cells is faulty, can it somehow be tied to the way a person acts? The answer is yes. We know that abnormal behavior is not just that of a mental disorder, and we know that certain chromosomal disorders have been proven to cause abnormalities within the human body. In Philip’s case, it is not necessarily a behavior that we know could be caused by a glitch in the system. We learned many facts about his life that can play a role in the way he carries himself. If we were looking into his genetic inheritance we might ask questions like the genetic makeup of the family history (i.e. has there been a history of mental disorder in the family?). Was Philip used to being an only child for so
The social structure of George Orwell’s 1984 is based on Freud’s map of the mind and the struggles between the id, the ego and the super ego. The minds of these individuals living in this society are trained to think a certain way. Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis can be applied to Orwell’s 1984. Using Freud’s psychoanalytic approach, 1984’s main character Winston Smith is portrayed as the one who goes against the ideas of the Party. In a Freudian point of view, Winston’s character represents a mind where the id is the driving force and where the ego and superego are ill developed in the views of the Party. Freud describes the psychoanalytic process as something that is normally used to treat patients with metal disorders, and in the eyes of the party, Winston is seen as one that has a mental disorder. The procedure that Winston undergoes directly parallels Freud’s psychoanalytic process.
Freud's methods of psychoanalysis were based on his theory that people have repressed, hidden feelings. The psychoanalyst's goal is to make the patient aware of these subconscious feelings. Childhood conflicts that are hidden away by the patient, become revealed to both the analyst and the patient, allowing the patient to live a less anxious, more healthy life.
This essay is going to describe in depth and detail the theories of Sigmund Freud's psycho dynamic approach. The strengths and weakness as an evaluation of Sigmund Freud's work. A summary and evaluation of the cognitive perspective as an alternative of human behaviour will also be identified in this essay.
According to Merriam-Webster, necrophilia can be defined as an, “obsession with and usually erotic interest in or stimulation by corpses” (Webster1). Someone must experience a minimum of six months of strong, habitual urges or dreams regarding sexual interaction with cadavers to be diagnosed with necrophilia (USCB1). An individual can be diagnosed with necrophilia even if they do not act on or follow through with any of their urges.