6 Beloved Characters That Had Undiagnosed Mental Illnesses
#3. Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye -- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
America's favorite literary rebel, The Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caulfield, has a special place in the hearts of readers. After all, everyone was 17 once, and likely tried really hard to articulate all the things they felt about ... stuff. Holden is intensely contemptuous of the insincerity of the world and people around him (the "phonies"), yet still strives to find his place in a society he ultimately despises. Or to put it simply, he has to grow the fuck up.
Oh boo hoo, you're terrible at baseball. To be honest, we skimmed this bit back in high school.
What no one in the book acknowledges, though, is that Holden isn't acting like your standard-issue Hughesian teen, but actually exhibits classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
No, really. While PTSD is generally associated with people who've experienced horrific events like war, any traumatic incident can cause it. Holden has had to deal with both a brother dying of leukemia and seeing a classmate commit suicide while wearing his borrowed sweater.
"It was from Abercrombie and Fitch ... bastard."
The Red Flags
One of the telltale signs of PTSD is reliving the traumatic event over and over. Holden consistently, almost compulsively, refers to seeing the face of his dead classmate, James Castle, yet he never seems to have any emotional reaction to the event. Instead he concentrates on the visual of seeing the blood and teeth everywhere, or the look on James' face. PTSD causes that kind of persistent emotional numbing, which would explain his distance from the experience.
schoolworkhelper
If Catcher had been written today, Holden would be nursing a Pabst in this picture.
It can also trigger thoughts of suicide, which Holden fully acknowledges throughout the novel ("What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window.")
While some of these symptoms could just as easily stem from depression, it's important to also point out that J.D. Salinger himself likely suffered from PTSD. Following World War II, Salinger was diagnosed with "battle fatigue," which sounds much milder than PTSD (and in fact sounds like it could be cleared up with a quick nap). In reality, it was a primitive way to diagnose the thousands of mental breakdowns following conflict that we now call PTSD.
Wikipedia
"You're just tired, J.D. War does that to people."
In fact, The Catcher in the Rye wasn't Salinger's only attempt to write about the disorder. The short story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" also deals with the suicidal thoughts of a man trying to live a normal life after traumatic events, and the story "For Esme" parallels his own traumatic experiences in the military (it was published only five years after Salinger was hospitalized in Germany for his nervous breakdown). A lot of fiction gets more depressing when you realize that writers are usually writing about themselves, whether they admit it or not.
#2. Glinda the Good Witch -- Sadistic Personality Disorder
Our only evidence that Glinda the Good Witch is "good" is that she bears that title, and even then we don't know who bestowed it. As we have pointed out before, her actions in The Wizard of Oz involve dropping a house on her rival, blaming it on a teenage child and then encouraging that teenager to assassinate the dead woman's last living relative.
"Congratulations, Dorothy. You've earned your first teardrop tattoo."
Throughout The Wizard of Oz, Glinda never gives any reason for murdering the witches other than that they're ugly and different and therefore -- according to good ole-fashioned Dust Bowl logic -- completely evil. So maybe Glinda won the title of "good" by default, simply because anyone left who would question her goodness ends up fertilizing those bitchy apple trees who throw things at tourists.
These tortured creatures were Munchkins once.
No, Glinda is by no means good. In fact, she's likely suffering from sadistic personality disorder.
The Red Flags
Sadistic personality disorder doesn't just mean somebody is an evil dick. There are particular aspects that identify it as a disorder. For instance, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders suggests that sufferers are amused by the emotional turmoil of others. Now keep that in mind when you watch the vague, detached, smirking expression on Glinda's face throughout the string of tragedies that open the film.
Note the radically different facial expressions. One of them is appropriate.
As soon as the "Wicked" Witch of the West begins mourning her dead sister, Glinda immediately starts taunting her. Glinda then takes the dead woman's slippers -- the only keepsake by which the Wicked Witch might remember her sister -- and forces Dorothy to wear them. The Wicked Witch even tells Dorothy, "They're of no use to you," but Glinda convinces the girl never to take them off.
"Not when we've put so much effort into prying them off her cold dead feet!"
The Good Witch is so dead set on demeaning the Wicked Witch in front of a crowd that, in a weird magic pissing contest, Glinda calls the Wicked Witch's power into question and throws out the threat that someone might drop a house on her, too. That need to demean people in the presence of others is a primary symptom of sadistic personality disorder, and Glinda's unwavering enjoyment throughout the ordeal is a testament to her sickness.
Also she is blatantly using Dorothy as a human shield.
In addition, the disorder fuels a desire to restrict the autonomy of others, and to lie for the sole purpose of confusion. And sure enough, we find out that Glinda knows from the start how to send Dorothy home, but instead she makes up a ridiculous quest to the wizard with no tangible gain. The fact that Glinda is the one who helps Dorothy get home in the end is almost sickening, given the mortal danger she put the girl through (not to mention the two deaths that are now on Dorothy's hands as a result). Yet Glinda can't stop smiling that vacant Stepford Wives smile. Not ever.
"I wouldn't have believed that the slippers were the key home! Lady, I just dropped a house on someone."
#1. Scarlett O'Hara -- Antisocial and Histrionic Personality Disorder
Gone With the Wind's Scarlett O'Hara is one of the most iconic heroines in American film. Living in an era when women weren't considered their most attractive unless their mouths were shut, Scarlett was portrayed as a hard-workin', hard-drinkin', hard-screwin' Southern belle who wouldn't take shit from anyone. In fact, it's probably easier to just think of her as Doc Holiday in a dress.
Wikipedia
"You, Miss, are no lady."
Women the world over have cited her as a role model and one of the most prominent feminist icons of all time. However, she has some downright unsavory characteristics as well. Most notable among them are a quick temper, a willingness to show a little skin to get what she wants and a cutthroat determination, regardless of who gets hurt.
The North would probably have run for their lives if she showed up like this.
And while those traits would win her a lot of competitive reality shows, they are also the definite symptoms of antisocial and histrionic personality disorders.
The Red Flags
One of the chief signs of antisocial personality disorder is the inability to understand the motivations and feelings of other people. That lack of empathy manifests itself right from the start, when Scarlett tries to seduce the engaged Ashley Wilkes, fails, and then seduces his brother instead out of spite.
What man could resist this?
From there, things just get worse. She burns her way through three marriages over the course of a few years, sticking with each man only until he wears out his usefulness. The worst example is Frank Kennedy, her sister's fiance, whom she tricks into marriage only because she needs him to pay the taxes on her plantation. This seductive behavior, the incapacity to maintain enduring relationships and her persistent manipulation are all signs of a disorder that even Civil War-era doctors could have picked up on. You know, if they weren't busy digging bullets out of Confederates and calming night terrors.
One of most telling signs of histrionic personality disorder, on the other hand, is Scarlett's need to constantly be the center of attention and her wild overreaction to every problem she faces.
"LOOK. LOOK AT MY ENORMOUS HAT."
In the beginning of the film, while the men's conversation changes from her to the war, she says, "War, war, war. This war talk's spoiling all the fun at every party this spring. I get so bored, I could scream." Psychologists would recognize that desire to be at the center of attention at all times -- the disorder means a person's self-esteem "depends on the approval of others and does not arise from a true feeling of self-worth." Now watch Scarlett collapse into a puddle of melodrama when she is rejected by a man:
It's worth watching just to see him give her a handful of soil in the middle of her crying fit.
She literally needs constant praise, or as Rhett Butler puts it, she "needs to be kissed often." Which makes it all the more sad when characters gradually turn their backs on her and her crazy hurricane of bullshit.
Though we're sympathetic with everyone who leaves her, because if we knew someone like Scarlett in reality, it would be hard after a while to pretend to give a damn.
"He'll be back. I'm sure of it. He left his umbrella."
You can find more from Amanda at gizmachronicles.blogspot.com. You can read more from Chris at raddystuition.com or Twitter.
For for more in depth looks at your favorite characters, check out 9 Beloved Characters Made Horrifying by Japan and 6 Famous Characters You Didn't Know Were Shameless Rip-Offs.
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It's interesting, I've also heard the claim that Sherlock Holmes had ADD (for some reason his cocaine use factored into that diagnosis). But then I've also heard of Einstein as having both ADD and Asperger's. Sometimes I think that variously-disabled groups like to claim popular heroes as being in their camp.
ReplyIs it wrong to Like the Guy Ritchie Sherlock better than the Doyles'? I have read the books they're ok but not as entertaining.
ReplyThe movie Gone With The Wind does show Scarlett in a bad light. But the book kind of nails her personality a bit better. The Civil War breaks out when she's 16 years old, you remember that age when you needed to be the center of attention all the time, and randomly would shout "I hate you!" to whoever would listen? (or was that just me?)
ReplyShe made some rash decisions when she married her first husband, true. But the rest of the book is almost sad in the way she's stubbornly clinging to a past that's dead and gone. Though not in the same way that the others do. She continues to try and be the bell of the county when all the rest of the southern gentiles shut themselves away from the yankees. Whereas, she's stuck as a 16 year old that doesn't understand that you just can't do some shit.
She's really one of the more complex characters you can read, where one minute she's completely mature, the next minute she's a cranky 7 year old, so in reality, if she's anything, she's bipolar. Given fits to manic-ness then sudden depression where she needs someone to love her. And that someone tends to always be the man that she loved when she was 16, before she had to face the horrors of the war.
She also, it shows in the book, suffers heavily from PTSD, waking up from nightmares of the war, and clinging to Rhett and having rage fits due to it.
Two deaths on Dorothy's hands? The first wasn't really her fault...
ReplyWith Ariel think of it like this: an alien ship has just crashed down near her home. Are you saying that in the same situation you wouldn't go and grab every piece of bizarre alien tech, regardlss of whether or not you knew what it was? Those forks and s**t are like alien technology to her
Replyand she does show it off to her fish friend. I am sure she would have shown it to more people if it wasn't deemed taboo by the Almighty Ruler of her entire species, ocean, and household.
Well, first, the man Scarlett O'Hara "seduced" (i.e. accepted a proposal from) was not Ashley's brother, it was his cousin. He was the brother of the girl Ashley did marry, so it's kind of a logical mistake.
ReplyAnd Scarlett didn't have three marriages because she "discarded" them when they were no longer useful; the first two DIED. One from illness he contracted in the army, the other getting shot when he went out with other men to kill some bad guys.
And not everybody who enjoys being flirted with, or occasionally loses their temper, has a disorder. Sheesh.
i am reading the catcher in the rye currently, and i only have 3 chapters left in the book with no mention of a classmate's suicide. did i miss something?
ReplyThe kid that was wearing Holden's coat that dove out a window rather than get his ass kicked. Mr. Antolini covered the body. There was blood and teeth everywhere.
i loved this article, the only one i did'nt agree with was belle, only cause the fact that she did'nt want to marry, then shag gaston (or what ever his name was) was because he was a total douche... not because she had a fear of intimacy lol
ReplyFrom "Sherlock Holmes and the Stock-Broker's Clerk:"
Reply“Quite so, of course,” said Holmes. “I should
like to have a look at the gentleman, and see if I
can make anything of his little game. What qualities
have you, my friend, which would make your
services so valuable? Or is it possible that—” He
began biting his nails and staring blankly out of
the window, and we hardly drew another word
from him until we were in New Street.
**
HMMMMM
3 people i had the misfortune to know i believe had Histrionic personality Disorder. The funny thing is they all had dark hair like Scarlett.
ReplyYou fucks! How dare you pick on cartoons for the disabilities they may or may not have! As some commenters will gladly point out, you don't have the ability to diagnose them, even if they can't actually say you're wrong or not either! Grrrrrr!
Replyreading a cracked article does not make you a psychologist. the people who WRITE cracked articles are most likely not psychologists. treating cracked articles as if they are 100% truth (despite them contradicting each other) is stupid.
Replythat said, i enjoyed this until belle's part. asexuality is in no way a mental disorder. thanks for that, though. will we be pushing the myth that bisexuality doesn't exist next? or maybe homosexuality really IS a disease?
Symptom. It's a *symptom* of schizoid personality disorder, not the disorder itself.
Thankfully there is a disclaimer on the home page; Something about being a humor website.
Uh, I have to stop right at Belle. Authro, please go back and watch the movie and pay closer attention. Belle clearly states she wants someone to talk to but she doesn't fit in. And when Gaston practically forces a relationship on her solely because she's just as pretty as him, she sends him packing. As to Beast not being a "sexual threath" did you watch the excessively volitale relationship they had at the beginning? That's called sexual tension. And if you don't want to believe that, then lets talk about the wolf scene. Her hair comes down for the ONLY time in the movie and he ends up on top of her. Then he fights off all those that threaten to take her away from him. Sorry but at this point I feel your stretching to get a disorder. Please hang up and try again later.
ReplyYou've misdisagnosed Scarlett O'Hara. She's definitely Borderline Personality Disorder. It would cover both sets of behaviors (the lack of empathy and the incessant need of attention and being in the center).
ReplyThats true but not the only mistakes. There's no such thing as Sadistic Personality Disorder, what Glenda can be diagnosed with is Anti-Social Personality Disorder and I'd probably diagnose Scarlett O'Hara with Narcissistic Personality Disorder rather than Histronic because it's more apt for her behavior and there is talk of Histronic being removed from the DSM-V.
Yes, I did have to pull out my Psychopathology textbook just to check... ;-)
It all depends on which manual you're consulting... For example, in ICD schizophrenia has 7 subtypes, whereas in DCM there are only 5.
Go figure.
dorothy was suffering from a head injury, ariel was fascinated by alien technology, and belle was constantly living in fear of rape, of course she hated people. Sherlock probably wasn't autistic because what the hell autism is probably a fad.
ReplyDorothy isn't the one they were referring to and autism isn't a fad. A broken fork isn't technology, either. Point about Belle, though.
And now I'm POSITIVE that I have Schizoid Personality Disorder. Thank you Cracked!
ReplyI feel the exact same way...
Wow, I have all of those too!
ReplyHolmes was mentally ill because Doyle was, or at least a crackpot. He believed in fairies and that Houdini could dematerialize. Holmes embodies Doyle's fantasies of scientific omnipotence. As for Glinda, I always thought she was a picklepuss. Even under the green skin and hook nose, you could see Margaret Hamilton wasn't bad looking. And she's a type example of the fact that the best villains are played by good people. In real life she loved children.
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesSo you're saying fairies aren't real?
sherlock could still be based on some smart-but-crazy scientist doyle knew.
a lot of famous scientists from history have shown some signs of aspergers, the scientific world attracts them (little interaction with outsiders. and you are encouraged to learn more and more about your chosen subject and then rewarded for that knowledge)
Conan Doyle, in fact, stated that the character of Sherlock Holmes was based on one of his professors at university, a brilliant man who could deduce all manner of things about someone - provided the evidence fell within one of his areas of perseveration...
I held on to the elaborate attempts to diagnose Disney characters with mental disorders until I got to the Glinda entry, which I think is just pushing it. The only thing I agree with is that she could have told Dorothy how to get home from the beginning, but then again, there was a whole lesson to be learned in Dorothy's journey. To claim that Glinda is actually evil and the Wicked Witch was actually a harmless character that you should sympathize with (and was "mourning" over the loss of her sister...what? The movie isn't a drama, calm down) is just ridiculous. You seemed to leave out the fact that the Wicked Witch terrorized the Munchkins, and Glinda protected them. It's a much too simple, whimsical story for this type of thing. Not to mention the whole thing was all in Dorothy's head and based on the people in her life that she liked and disliked.
ReplyHoly crap, your lack of knowledge about this is stupefying. L. Frank Baum wrote plenty of sequels where it's shown (well, in-story that is) that Oz is a very real place. Dorothy even brings her aunt and uncle to live there in the end. And people giving the witches an Alternate Character Interpretation is nothing new- there's a very popular Broadway play called "Wicked" (based on a novel of the same name) which makes a pretty good case for this. Of course, we can't have that in the Black-and-White La La Land where you prefer to live. And who say whimsy can't be host to complex allegories, hidden meanings and dark undertones? You should read some Roald Dahl or Jorge Luis Borges sometimes. Also, grow a sense of humor. There are better (or worse) things to be indignant about than articles about fake people on a satirical website.
The Fact that anyone would get all up in arms about a COMEDY website saying cartoon characters had undiagnosed mental illness makes me feel smart. You are al clearly suffering from a serious disorder called Chronic Dumb ass Syndrome, there is no cure but there is a treatment. It involves being kicked in the genitals repeatedly every time you say something stupid.
ReplyCracked is a humor website, not a comedy website.