Ansh Gupta
The uniqueness of an individual is a product of their personality. This is why personality development is such an integral part of the self and is given so much importance in clinical psychology. But what happens when the normal course of personality development is hampered by mental illness? Personality disorders affect nearly 7.8% of the global population, showing just how widespread this condition is (Winsper et al., 2019). There was a significant interest in the topic in the 1990s when several Hollywood movies were centred around the topic of personality disorders. One such masterpiece was the movie “Primal Fear” which focused on multiple personality disorder. This blog seeks to analyse the depiction of multiple personality disorder in the Hollywood movie “Primal Fear”.
The depiction of multiple personality disorder in “Primal Fear” was very unconventional and provided a different perspective towards the topic. It was among the first Hollywood movies to link the topics of psychology and law. The movie was also rather controversial at the time but evolved into a modern-day classic. The movie links the themes of deception, manipulation and sympathy with mental illness, as will be discussed in subsequent paragraphs.
The movie begins with the murder of a famous Archbishop in Chicago. The man responsible for the murder is a 19-year old altar boy named Aaron. He is represented in court by one of the top lawyers of the state, Martin Vail, who agrees to fight his case pro bono. Vail believes that Aaron is innocent. By nature, Aaron is a very submissive and meek boy. He also has a severe stutter and seems extremely gullible. This is a trend seen amongst many patients of multiple personality disorder (Coons et al., 1988). His behaviour and personality traits point towards his innocence as it seems a scared young boy like Aaron could not have been capable of murder.
As Vail talks with Aaron about his past he discovers that Aaron was born into poverty. He moved from Kentucky to Chicago and had no place to live, ending up begging on the streets. Furthermore, he had an abusive father who used to beat him from time to time. To make matters worse, he did not have a mother growing up, as she died when he was very young. Childhood interactions and experiences are key in shaping the development and course of multiple personality disorder (Coons, 1986). Hence, all these factors together may have increased Aarons’s vulnerability to developing multiple personality disorder (Coons, 1986).
Aaron also tells Vail that he has been experiencing unexplainable headaches for several years. He also says that he blacks out randomly and has no recollection of the events taking place before the episode. When Vail asks him if he has seeked help for his condition, Aaron laughs it off saying that in Kentucky, no one seeked help for such problems. This shows that mental health access is limited in smaller cities and poverty also prevents access to mental health resources (Murali & Oyebode, 2004).
Vail subsequently receives a tip about a videotape which contains a footage of the Archbishop sexually abusing Aaron. When Vail angrily confronts Aaron about the tape, Aaron breaks down in tears and turns physically violent and aggressive. His stutter seems to have vanished as well. He seems like a completely different person. He refers to himself as Roy and confesses to having murdered the Archbishop as he sexually abused him for years. He also says that Aaron is innocent since he knows nothing about it. Aaron soon comes back to his senses and has no recollection of the event that just took place. Most patients of multiple personality disorders are not aware of the existence or actions of their different personalities (Nissen et al., 1988). They do not seem to know when they are switching between personalities (Nissen et al., 1988).
The most important theme of the movie is the manner in which people can pretend to be mentally ill for immoral reasons. Towards the end of the movie, Aaron is acquitted of all charges on account of unsound mind. However, Vail subsequently discovers that Aaron has been lying about his the existence of his condition in order to get away with the murder. As he talks to Aaron, he asks him if there ever was a real “Roy”. Aaron replies that there was never an “Aaron”. This illustrates how difficult it becomes to differentiate between the different personalities of a patient of multiple personality disorder (Miller & Triggiano, 1992).
Another extremely important aspect brought out in the movie is the hazard of misdiagnosis. When Vail first witnesses Aaron’s violent episode, he asks a psychologist friend of his to clinically evaluate Aaron. However, she was a research psychologist and did not have any real clinical experience. She wrongly diagnosed Aaron as having multiple personality disorder, which formed the basis for Aaron's acquittal from the trial. If, on the other hand, Vail had seeked the help of a clinical psychologist to evaluate Aaron, she may have been able to rightly judge Aaron’s lies. This is not an uncommon occurrence, with many gullible psychologists misdiagnosing cases of multiple personality disorder, especially in forensic practice (Tyrer, 2019).
As has been illustrated, multiple personality disorder is a serious mental condition which poses a great danger to the individual and those around them. Furthermore, the symptoms of multiple personality disorder need to be carefully considered and evaluated by a trained psychologist in order to arrive at a sound diagnosis. “Primal Fear'' is a masterpiece for the manner in which it builds on psychological themes and warns viewers about the harmful nature of manipulation and deceit. The movie leaves viewers confused and one cannot help but think if criminals who are acquitted on account of unsound mind are truly mentally ill?
References
Coons, P. M. (1986). Child abuse and multiple personality disorder: Review of the literature and suggestions for treatment. Child Abuse & Neglect, 10(4), 455–462. https://sci-hub.se/10.1016/0145-2134(86)90049-9
Coons, P. M., Bowman, E. S., & Milstein, V. (1988). Multiple Personality Disorder. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 176(9), 519–527. https://sci-hub.se/10.1097/00005053-198809000-00001
Miller, S. D., & Triggiano, P. J. (1992). The Psychophysiological Investigation of Multiple Personality Disorder: Review and Update. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 35(1), 47–61. https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1080/00029157.1992.10402982
Murali, V., & Oyebode, F. (2004). Poverty, social inequality and mental health. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 10(3), 216-224. https://sci-hub.se/10.1192/apt.10.3.216
Nissen, M. J., Ross, J. L., Willingham, D. B., Mackenzie, T. B., Schacter, D. L. (1988). Memory and awareness in a patient with multiple personality disorder. Brain and Cognition, 8(1), 117–134. https://sci-hub.se/10.1016/0278-2626(88)90043-7
Tyrer, P. (2019). Dissociative identity disorder needs re-examination. BJPsych Advances, 25(05), 294–295. https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1192/bja.2019.39
Winsper, C., Bilgin, A., Thompson, A., Marwaha, S., Chanen, A. M., Singh, S. P., Wang, A., Furtado, V. (2019). The prevalence of personality disorders in the community: a global systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 1–10. https://sci-hub.se/10.1192/bjp.2019.166
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