Case Analysis: Jack
In the film Fight Club, Jack is a single white male, mid-30s, insomniac. He is mildly depressed, bored with his day job, and looking for something more fulfilling in his life. His father left the family when he was young and though they maintained some contact it was negligible. Jack has essentially had no substantial father figure in his life and he feels as though he is trying to compensate for some lack of manliness in his character by joining a fight club, where he can duel with other men who feel the same as he does. The fight club seems to take on a life of its own and soon the members have formed a kind of vigilante squad whose aim is to eliminate the emasculating elements of society that keep men from returning to a hunter/gatherer type of existence. It turns out that Jack has been leading this squad without realizing it: he has dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality disorder).
DSM-5 states that criteria used for diagnosing dissociative identity disorder are that alterations occur in the person’s state of consciousness or in his identity, to produce such symptoms as amnesia, somnambulism, fugue, and multiple personality. DSM-5 also takes into consideration that spirit possession may be an alternate diagnosis. While in the case of someone like Jack Torrance, possession is a real possibility based on what is revealed in the film The Shining, for Jack in Fight Club there is no indication of possession. Instead, the film clearly shows that Jack has multiple personality disorder as he shows symptoms of altered states of consciousness, amnesia, somnambulism, fugue and multiple personalities throughout the film.
Possession would be ruled out as a diagnosis as would schizophrenia because there is no evidence of spirit possession and Jack does not show any symptoms of schizophrenia—no hallucinations, no irrational speech patterns, no disordered thinking or inability to concentrate. He does exhibit anti-social behavior at times but this is perhaps a co-morbidity that stems from some...…needs is honest talk therapy where he discusses who he is and where he comes from—the way he does with his 2nd personality Tyler. He and Tyler have conversations together. The fact that they do have conversations together could suggest that he is hallucinating his relationship with Tyler, which could perhaps indicate schizophrenia, but he has no other signs of schizophrenic behavior in the film and the hallucinations are perceived to be more of a theatrical/cinematic trick to deceive the audience as to what is really going on with the protagonist than an accurate reflection of his mental state. CBT and the miracle question could be used to help Jack identify the negative triggers that prevent him from addressing issues in a positive manner so that he can resist slipping into the other personality to cope with stress or cultural or trauma-related issues. Optimal functioning would look like a well-adjusted Jack who fits in well with others, has friends, and feels pro-social at work.
References
Naumova, O. Yu.,…
References
Naumova, O. Yu., Hein, S., Suderman, M., Barbot, B., Lee, M., Raefski, A., Dobrynin, P. V., Brown, P. J., Szyf, M., Luthar, S. S., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2016). Epigenetic Patterns Modulate the Connection between Developmental Dynamics of Parenting and Offspring Psychosocial Adjustment. Child Development, 87(1), 98–110. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12485
Perry, B. D., & Szalavitz, M. (2006). The boy who was raised as a dog: And other stories from a child psychiatrist's notebook – What traumatized children can teach us about loss, love, and healing. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Shriner, B & M. Shriner. (2014). Essentials of Lifespan Development: A Topical Perspective. Bridgepoint Education: San Diego, CA.
He is just as surreal as Palahniuk's Tyler Durden, and yet he is not freeing any hero from consumerist enslavement but -- on the other hand -- burying the reader behind a false and deluded masculine mythology -- namely, that a masculine hero is virile not because he "knows himself" and seeks virtue but because he knows how to drive fast cars, win at cards, be physically fit and
Fight Club The 1999 feature movie, Fight Club, directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton seemed as if the entire film was dedicated to the phenomenon of antisocial behavior. This exploration into the mind of an apparently normal man demonstrated the significance and the trials of an individual dealing with the pressures of society. The purpose of this essay is to explain antisocial behavior as it is
It is also important to note that major offenses within the fight club are punished through castration, as if to imply that the punished person is no longer a man and therefore no longer worthy of being part of the violent organization. The roles of women in Fight Club are extremely limited. Marla Singer is the only female character in the film. She shares qualities that are present in "Durden,"
Schizophrenia Psychosis and Lifespan D Schizophrenia and Psychosis and Lifespan Development Schizophrenia and Psychosis Matrix Disorder Major DSM-IV-TR Categories Classifications Subclassifications Schizophrenia and Psychosis Symptoms Positive (Type I): represent excesses or distortions from normal functioning Delusions Bizarre Nonbizarre Hallucinations Auditory Visual Disorganized Speech Loose Association Neologisms Clang Associations Echolalia/Echopraxia Word Salad Grossly disorganized behavior Catatonic: motoric Waxy Flexibility Negative (Type II): the absence of functioning Apathy Affective Flattening Withdrawal Anhedonia Avolition Poor Concentration Poverty of speech Alogia Schizophrenia and Psychosis Diagnostic Types Paranoid Delusions and Hallucinations Disorganized Disorganized speech Disorganized behavior Withdrawal Affective flattening Catatonic Grossly disorganized behavior Disorganized speech Catatonic Echolalia/Echopraxia Undifferentiated Active symptoms that do not fit other diagnostic types Residual No Type I symptoms but some negative symptoms Schizoaffective
Schizophrenia When people think of what it means to 'go crazy,' quite often the common image that comes to mind is that of someone with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a serious mental health disorder that can be physically, socially, and personally destabilizing. "Schizophrenia affects men and women equally. It occurs at similar rates in all ethnic groups around the world. Symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions usually start between ages 16 and
Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder, resulting in the patient hearing voices and noise inside his or her mind. Historically, this disorder has been a serious barrier to proper functioning in society. In the past many people were simply locked up in mental institutions because they were a danger to themselves and others. In some cases that is still necessary, but medications and treatments have come a long way. They
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now