Primal Fear Essay

Understanding Mental Illness Through Film Mental health and its disorders are an intricate part of the individual and society. Mental health incorporates our emotional, psychological and social well-being. Understanding human behavior and the social environment in conjunction with biological, social and cultural factors helps in diagnosing and treating individuals accurately. Film can be used to understand and visualize how mental disorders may affect one’s life. This paper examines the film “Primal Fear” and explores the character Aaron Stampler and his mental illness, reviews literature on the diagnosis given and critically analyzes the film’s portrayal of the disorder.

Identifying Character and DSM-5 Diagnosis

Aaron Stampler was an Alter

Given the information of Stampler’s character, a provisional diagnosis of 301.7 Antisocial Personality Disorder can be specified. According to the DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), antisocial personality disorder is defined as “A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, occurring since the age of 15 years” (P. 659). For criterion A, Stampler portrays criterion A1 of continuing to perform unlawful acts. Stampler commits the murder of the archbishop, kills his girlfriend Linda, physically assaults his lawyer, and also grabs the attorney around her neck in court and threatens to kill her. Criterion A2, displaying deceitfulness, is present and is the twist on the movie. Stampler knowingly continues to lie about having two personalities separated by a lost in time and amnesia. He states that he often blacks out and does not remember anything that others witness during the arrival of the Roy character. Stampler alludes that there was a third person at the crime scene of which he does not remember. He also cons his lawyer and makes him believe that he did not commit murder, is innocent and does not remember any of

The term was introduced in attempt to operationalize psychopathy which was used in the 19th century. According to the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, British Psychological Society, and Royal College of Psychiatrists (2010), Emil Kraepelin a German psychiatrist created the classification for personality disorders in 1905. In 1923, Kurt Schneider classified psychopathy as a personality disorder. In these times individuals with psychopathic personalities were those who had abnormalities and suffered from them (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health et al., 2010). It wasn’t until 1939 that the foundation of the term antisocial personality disorder was defined by David Henderson a Scottish psychiatrist. National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health et al (2010) states that he defined it as “individuals with ‘psychopathic states’ as those who conform to a certain intellectual standard but who throughout their lives exhibit disorders of conduct of an antisocial or a social nature” (P. 15). The DSM-I classified this disorder as sociopathy but was then termed antisocial personality disorder in the DSM- II from 1968 and