Olm the Water King
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https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/stop-walking-eggshells/201006/putting-darth-vader-the-couch
Putting Darth Vader On The Couch
Randi Krege
Darth Vader is no more a borderline than he is a ballerina
Did Star Wars (link is external) supervillian and deadbeat dad Darth Vader (link is external) have borderline personality disorder? (link is external) Dr. Eric Bui and his colleagues at Toulouse University Hospital in France claim that he does But it's not true: Vader is no more a borderline than he is a ballerina.
Bui and his colleagues have used Vader/Anakin as a case study to teach BPD to their medical students for the past few years. Realizing that a famous fictional example could spread awareness, they wrote a letter to the professional journal Psychiatry Research titled, "Is Anakin Skywalker [Vader's birth name] (link is external)Suffering From Borderline Personality Disorder (link is external)?" that is slated to appear in an upcoming issue. (While the letter itself isn't available, a Google search will lead to dozens more articles from both major and minor news sources.)
Bui says that as Vader/Anakin moved from childhood to adolescence, he showed problems with impulsivity, rage, and identity crisis--all of which are consistent with borderline personality disorder diagnosis. Media outlets have seized on the story as if Vader/Anakin were a real celebrity.
While the publicity is great, the example is wrong. BPD is a complex mental illness that's hard to understand and easy to misdiagnose. While Vader/Anakin seems to fit some of the criteria, a closer look shows the traits don't add up to provide a cohesive portrait of a person with the disorder.
At first glance, you might not think this is a vital topic--after all, it's just a movie. But I find it bothersome because Bui and others are using this false example to teach their psychiatric medical studients, for gosh sakes. And do we really want a mass murderer to become the newest face of those who suffer from this disorder? There are many others to use, Princess Diana (link is external) being the best one.
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