Fictional Characters Diagnosed by an Armchair Psychologist (Part 2)

BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER, there are spoilers ahead for these series':
Black Lagoon
Guardians of the Galaxy
Chronicle
Step Brothers
Call of Duty: Black Ops (first)

Also keep in mind, as the title suggests, these characters are NOT professionally diagnosed. I do not hold a degree in any of the psychological fields. Also, although somewhat unrelated, I do NOT condone trying to diagnose yourself and/or others who aren't fictional without an actual licensed professional. Having said that, I have tried my best to make sure that these diagnoses are done as accurately as possible while also consulting the DSM-5 that I have on hand. I have also refrained as much as possible from slapping PTSD onto everything that moves. And finally, I only considered characters that I see to actually have a mental issue. Just because a character has problems doesn't necessarily mean they have mental issues. And so, let us move on to...

I thought I was only going to need one or two diagnoses to settle this character, but the more I read, the more the illnesses just kept piling up on top of one another. This girl is a very bad girl, and her dossier would make even someone like the Joker proud. As a matter of fact, Lagoon Company seems to be the only thing that's keeping this demoness from tearing apart at the seams. It's not exactly hard to see where all this chaos and anger is coming from too. Not only was she brutally raped at a young age by the police, it looks like her mother was entirely absent from her life and her father didn't care at all about her. Rebecca's own execution of her father started her down a long dark path and, until Rock came along, it didn't show any signs whatsoever of stopping. Her modus operandi is to acquire power in all its forms, and she uses her sheer will, her penchant for conflict, and her talent for gunning others down to get it. But it's also clear that inside, she is just a vulnerable scared girl, putting up miles and miles of walls between anything that can possibly hurt her. Very sadly, she is so broken that she doesn't even know in the slightest how to handle the basic human emotions of love and caring. She has never truly cared about anyone before Rock and no one's ever really cared about her or for her. Her entire life is just one big coping mechanism. Constantly putting temporary bandages of short-term pleasure over a gaping abyssal hole that she is doing her best to ignore. Although Rock is helping return some semblance of humanity to her, I doubt that at this point Revy can ever truly recover from what she's done and what's been done to her.

And here, we have one of our more wild subjects. Technically a raccoon, but it's been modified with high-level intelligence and normal language and speech capabilities, among other things. It would seem that such a creature would be a stranger to trauma, but not so. For we find out that Rocket has undergone numerous torturous experiments for an unknown purpose, and perhaps even some plain abuse. The result is a subject with an itchy trigger finger, boundary issues, trust issues, and a rather cynical outlook on life and others. Though his abilities are unquestionable, his depression and his attitude causes him to constantly lash out, which distances himself heavily from almost everyone until the events of Guardians of the Galaxy and beyond. Thankfully though, he has begun to show signs of trusting and care.

Another case of trauma, and this time, this one hits uncomfortably close to reality. As we first see Andrew, we see that he has bought a camera to record his life with, and as Chronicle progresses, we see that the camera is more than just a novelty. It is, in actuality, a barrier between Andrew and the rest of the world. It is very clear that this poor kid is being put under a lot of stress and abuse. Stress from his unpopularity at school, stress from his mother dying, and abuse from his own alcoholic father. We see that all this has combined to give Andrew a bleak and even somewhat paranoid outlook on life. Like Revy, this is one person that the world has completely unfairly chewed up and spit out. By the time Chronicle was ending, it was no surprise that he had lashed out as extremely as he did and met the unfortunate fate that he had.

Finally getting out of the darkness and gloom for a little bit, we have the "twins" Brennan Huff and Dale Doback. Just five minutes into this film and we see just how mentally challeneged these two individuals are. While the levels of retardation aren't at all to the point of inhibiting speech or anything, their maturity level at this age is far below normal. On top of this, we see certain weird idiosyncrasies in behavior from the both of them. The... attachment Dale has with his drum set for example is a particularly apt example. Having said all that, I would say it is a pleasant feat that they were both able to rise out of these depths and actually live at least a somewhat responsible life, so it's not all absurdity here.

Of all the characters I've analyzed for these two parts, Cale is definitely the most "questionable" of them all as to whether he actually has any mental disorder. On one hand, given just a bit of time into the movie, we see him break out of his shell, healthily bonding with the crew, and finally at the end finding a romantic companion. But on the other hand, well... Let's just call it what it is. Whether out of necessity or not doesn't matter in this case. Cale was left by his father and was instead raised for the remainder of his life by Tek, a blind alien. Among other aliens. And while Tek didn't dislike him or mistreat him at all, there were many many more who did simply because of who he was. And we do see in the beginning just how much he doesn't care anymore and how much he's distanced himself from his environment and from the situation of humanity as a whole. In the end though, I think I'm going to stick with my initial diagnosis and let you guys decide.

Bartleby is a man of unrecognized talents. With a bit of study of his life, we see that he can not only form and carry out effective plans, but be a charismatic leader. Unfortunately though, school doesn't care about any of that. Schools care almost purely about what you can listen to and write back down onto a piece of paper. Nevertheless, we all have to get through it, and many do. But Mr. Gaines here is one that, like many other people, has significant trouble with that. If you didn't understand this disorder, you would just think him lazy, but the thing is, people with ADHD tend to be able to "hyperfocus" on subjects they have an affinity for, and Bartleby is no different in this regard. And so, when you pull him out of a school environment, and put him in the place that he is in the movie, he not only survives, he excels and sets the standard for others. Thus, ADHD makes the most sense to me for this one.

Did you know the DSM-5 actually has a specific diagnosis for Alex Mason's brainwashed condition? It's true. Page 306. "Identity disturbance due to prolonged and intense coercive persuasion". I don't know about you, but I think that fits Mason very well here. While the exact details of his detainment, torture, and brainwashing are a little bit sketchy, the basics are undeniable. The Russians used incredibly invasive and intensive techniques to make Mason dissociate from his natural self and obey orders given through coded radio transmissions. Or at least, that's how it should have gone, but there was a problem in the process for the Russians and Mason ended up rejecting their reprogramming, but an outlier later decided to finish and rework the process which, for whatever reason, ended up succeeding. Hence, Mason dissociates at specific times and manifests a different personality with goals different from his. Once again, like the Fight Club Narrator, there is a certain element of fantasy here in that DID usually is triggered in childhood, but regardless, Mason's symptoms are definitely dissociative.

Note the diagnosis says Obessive Compulsive PERSONALITY Disorder. The distinction between that and OCD is important. Now here, we have yet another black ops specialist. But this time, we're looking at a much more realistic covert operator instead of some kind of inhuman supersoldier. Despite that though, Michael Westen's abilities in the field are absolutely nothing to scoff at, and he has indeed had some military experience of his own as well. But this isn't entirely a rosy picture here. From a young age, though he had a caring mother, his father was abusive and his mother did little to prevent it. Nevertheless, Michael was always willing to help his family out. Though his father later died, he enlisted in the army at the early age of 17, and since then, his life has been one of very careful discipline, planning, and coordination. During the show, we see that Michael has very little room for error both for himself and for others. In this way, he is like Nicholas Angel, but Michael does not strike me as autistic at all. He clearly understands social customs and even knows how to be the very party itself, should he choose to be. No, Michael strikes me definitely as someone who has been so compressed by his past experiences and environment that he has forgotten somewhat how to simply just relax and not think of work, the next mission, the next thing that he must accomplish. This poor man has been hounded for years and years by governments, organizations, and really anyone with a chip on their shoulder. Taking this into account, it would surprise me if Michael were anyone other than who he is now.

And finally, we come to Ahbed Nadir. A man of surprisingly many talents. The symptoms Ahbed manifests pretty much speak for themselves, though there is some question as to where exactly on the spectrum he belongs. The DSM-5, however, excuses the diagnoser from putting a mark on where exactly the subject falls on the spectrum, saying that people with autism manifest the disorder in many forms and that only a basic explanation of level was needed, so it looks like I can get away with a vague marking. Going back to Ahbed though, perhaps the most interesting question one can ask about this character is how smart he really is. He seems to understand high-level abstract concepts like Chaos Theory, but then later on struggles to understand even a basic concept others would know all about. I imagine that Ahbed's mind lends itself very well to complex pattern finding, but when the job calls for something more direct and simple, that's when the difficulties really begin to arise for him.

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Thank you one and all for reading these long lists! It took so long to do the research and write the analysis' but it was worth it. I'm interested though in hearing your opinion on if these characters were all diagnosed properly. Whatever your opinion, just remember to put it down in a post!

Gotta agree with revy diagnosis. Though I'd be inclined to add something to do with anger issue (not sure if the DSM has anything that'd fit that criteria), just because I feel like that's something she would have. I'd like to add that I think dutch, benny and rock do care about revy to some degree, probably not a great deal, but still to some degree. Also thought of the grenade launcher scene when I saw Intermittent Explosive Disorder, which i thought was pretty fitting

I'm tempted to suggest some form of schizoprenia for alex mason, but not having read the DSM or playing black ops in years, it might not be fitting for him