Have you ever wondered why Norman Bates used his knife to please his compulsions? Or why did Forrest Gump changed the history of USA in so many ways as he did with his obvious cognitive insufficiency? Using some knowledge and experience in psychodynamic approach we can easily analyse and therefore understand behaviour divergence, personality traits, motives and etc. of each character we encounter, in real life, cinema, our fantasies...

Lets start with a capital one. The "ONE" everybody knows!

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MICHAEL CORLEONE and the Dark Triad – narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopaty

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The body and the soul of a mafia mastermind is a textbook sample of continuum of narcissistic and antisocial personality disorder.

ROUGH ANALISIS OF MICHAEL'S MENTAL STATUS (I've pin pointed few features, not the whole status)

APPEARENCE

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We can see Michael as an extremely reserved, kind of introverted guy. Always well groomed. Speaks softly, silently and extremely well thought, indicating high narcissistic traits as well as paranoid processing of reality. An ever threatened state.

THOUGHT PROCESS

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You'll hardly see any spontaneous verbal production from his side, unless it's some kind of command to his subordinates, or just a mere laconic, content empty answer to his „beloved“ wife. He processes, cautiously analyses situations. Speaks only when is needed. Any psychotic content? Delusions? Its hard to say as he doesn't give you much. But be sure something is boiling in there.

AFFECT, PSYCHOMOTORICS

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Only a glance at his facial expression and you'll see how reduced it is. Almost flat, which can (although isn't pathognomonic to any particular mental disorder) indicate an existence of a serious mental disorder, or few of them (from range of personality disorders to psychotic disorders at the other end). His movement is slow, saves his energy. Tensed on the shoulders, rubbing his aching head, smacking his finger joints. Full of aggression, without a channel to decompress.

MOOD

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It's really hard to say if he's ever happy. Nor sad. I don't think there is a moment of joy in his heart over the whole nine hour saga, but would you say his depressed?

WILL

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Nah, a depressed person will find it hard to empower that kind of motivation to build an empire, day day, over the decades. Than what drives him? He knew he was way smarter than his brothers so mediocre, rash and impulsive Santino and incapacitated Fredo never got as much attention form their father. He was "the one" and he always knew that.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

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His life has no other content other than his job to which he is fully and unconditionally dedicated. It's the only source of his joy, or shall I say source of content. Otherwise this guy has zero interests, no hobbies. He's never relaxing, never enjoying his wealth. Unlike his brothers Santino or Fredo, even Tom Hegan. He's unable to maintain any deeper emotional relationship as his premise is simple "me - good, you - bad". A simplified mental pattern of a person who has developed an avoidant attachment in his early developmental years, according to a "theory of object relations" by great Melanie Klein. The only firm object he had psychologically integrated was his father. An ultimate ruler of the dynasty to whom everyone had to kneel. I don't think there was any relationship with his mother that could fuse him with empathy and could counter the aggression installed by his father and his soldiers. These were the object Michael had integrated in his psyche.

COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING

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We don't see a significant cognitive deterioration. Quite opposite. He tests reality, doesn't brake under the pressure. Always full of drive. Numerous plans for any given situation... so on..

FUNCTIONALITY

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Dysfunctional in every aspect of his life except professional.

INSIGHT

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Insight? Zero. To his standards anything goes as long as it serves his will. Killing in his name can't be immoral as he sets the rules. He's a God basically. Smells like a delusion of grandiosity? Smells bad.

BIRTH OF A MONSTER (BACK TO THE START)

"I don't apologize; that's my life, but I thought that, that when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the strings: Senator Corleone; Governor Corleone.

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His father thought him that he is better in any way than anybody else. And more importantly, that his omnipotent. That no one else matters. When he refers to the importance of the family, he refers to himself. That's the way Michael was raised from his early days, by a dominant, extremely rigid father and passive, submissive mother that barely had a memorable appearance in the movies. At least not until the scene where she was laying dead in the coffin. Emotionally numb and distant parents, aggression and power that he was fed instead of mothers and fathers love turned out to be a corner stone for a malignant narcissistic personality organisation. Due to his high intelligence his methods were sophisticated. His abilities to manipulate others were brilliant and therefore far more brutal. He is not impulsive as his brothers. Obsessed over every detail. His appetites were never satisfied as his emptiness was infinite. He was emotionally/psychologically dead.

Why did he killed Fredo, Moe Green, heads of the five families...anybody who stepped on his toe?

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All there was needed was a slight narcissistic trauma. Something that his disintegrated self couldn't handle. Expected reaction - becomes paranoid, obsessed about revenge. Attacks and kills. To keep his peace. Until some other ego trauma. Pattern just kept repeating. If you kill your brother, you can't be far from psychotic.

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So. Bluntness of his soul, obsessive desire to own and rule, avoidant attachment pattern, socially autistic, without any significant interpersonal relations, no insight, anhedonic, aggressive as fuck. If you look at it like that we could say that he is deep into realm of psychotic functioning. At least at times.

Does it make him schizophrenic?

No.
Is he dezorganized? Can he control his behavior? Is he suffering? I don't think so. Everybody around him? Absolutely.

Is he mad?

What do you think?

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DIAGNOSIS

Delusional (grandiose, paranoid), aggressive, dangerous. Always in need to show superiority. If you're not with me, you're an enemy. Black and withe, no grey areas (splitting mechanism). We can conclude that Michael is a case of a severe disorder from the spectrum of personality disorders and self pathology.

His diagnosis would be somewhere in the continuum of malignant narcissism, schizoid personality disorder and psychopathy with periodic psychotic decompensations.

Diagnosis according to ICD (International Statistical Classification of Diseases ) - 10th revision

F60.2 Antisocial personality disorder (Psychopatic personality)

F29 Unspecified psychosis not due to a substance or known physiological condition

TREATMENT

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Treatment in this case would be very hard to conduct as he has no capability to look at others from the inside, nor himself from the outside. Others suffering around him is not his problem. If he had any capacitie for psychotherapy I'd go for individual psychoanalytical approach, as he is too aggressive and paranoid for the group setting.

For psychotic features i'd treat him pharmacologically, with risperidone for example, though I'm sure he wouldn't take a single pill.

You can't treat everybody.

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BUZZBEERGEEK! Thanks for the motivation to write again! :)

Is there any other character you'd like to dissect?

Psychologically of course! ;)

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Feel free to Upvote and comment!! :)

Cheers my dear STEEMEES!!!

Matko