Lit The Dark Side Disorder

So I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this subject. Does anyone think there is a relationship betweethose that use the dark side and mental disorders? If so does the nature of the dark side just appeal more to psychopath, or does the dark side errode one's mind? How would the Jedi hande a member who is bi-polar or sadistic, ect.?

 

I am sure that The Jedi order would have a three strikes your out type of rule. If they thought that the person was reasonably safe in society, but not doing well in the order they would kick them out, however if they see these folks as dangers, then they could be imprisoned and in very very extreme situations brainwashed, as Reven was. I think the dark side slowly corrupts the body and the spirit, till there is nothing human left in you.

 

You don't have to be crazy to be a Sith. But it helps.
Anakin Skywalker was a cut and dried borderline case and quite possibly bi-polar. I don't think the Jedi Order would allow a sadistic person to attain the title of Jedi. As for bi-polar? Kind of defeats the purpose of being a Jedi but I'm sure it happens. Yoda was a horrible shrink.

 

Which is ironic, because he was fairly shrunken.

 

I'm just wondering if there is some genetic reasoning that might make someone more prone to falling to the Dark Side.

 

Maybe they don't even have bi-polar in the GFFA. Anakin still had loads of issues. In fact so many that he wasn't even a likable protagonist. Which was too bad. Had he been a likable guy, the whole becoming Darth Vader would have really felt tragic.

 

The definition of mental disorder is so broad in this day and age that I'm not sure where real disorders start anymore.

I've never heard of Sadism as a disorder until today, not that I have deep knowledge of the subject of course. I'd imagine where Star Wars is concerned one persons mental illness would be another person's strength of character. I mean can one be a government interrogator without having a little bit of sadism in their make up? I dunno.

 

Jedi Knight Tremayne's nasty streak started coming out in the Clone Wars- and afterwards, the Emperor recruited him as High Inquisitor.

 

One can have a ton of issues and still be incredibly likable. It's actually quite common.

Some say that a tendency toward anger is genetic, so there's that. Maybe. But like anakinfan, I don't think it makes for very good storytelling.

 

Hi there!

 

Whoa Manisphere! You seem pretty likable. Wait a minute!!

 

trust me you're not the only one.

 

For what it's worth, it's not necessarily those who had fallen to the dark side who are afflicted with mental conditions, but Force-sensitives overall. Victor Jun, an Alliance recruiter, was Force-sensitive, and he suffered from schizophrenia. Vydel Dir'Nul, a Jedi Knight, suffered from dissociative identity disorder. And of course, Zuckuss, a findsman, has a dual-diagnosis of both schizophrenia and DID. Kazdan Paratus, an Aleena Jedi Master, was also quite unhinged.

 

The dark side responds to, or perhaps resonates with, emotional extremes. That much we now, and we regularly see masters fo the dark side deliberately invoking emotional extremes in order to attempt to drive someone over the edge. When a sentient being draws on the Force out of emotional need, out of passion rather than understanding, they almost always draw on the dark side, often without even realizing it.

So, insofar as mental illness induces emotional imbalances or simply produces greater emotional extremes, then yes, it probably does lead to the dark side. We have some examples of Jedi who went mad first and then began drawing on the dark side without even understanding what they were doing: Kazdan Paratus, Joruus C'Baoth, etc.

It is also concievable, though not confirmed, that use of the Force may make treatment of mental illness more difficult - that the body may actively reject treatment chemically or via the Force as a sort of inherent protective mechanism of the damaged psyche - this seems to have been what the Abeloth-controlled Jedi in FotJ were doing, even when inside Force-nullification bubbles.

 

The Force itself may play a role in the development of the condition itself. If a Force-sensitive is predisposed to mental illness, they may use the Force to cope with stress. This may not even be a conscious decision, as Victor Jun was not aware that he was Force-sensitive or even using the Force. He heard voices and thought them to be gods. If he did what the gods wished, they granted him power.

One of the theories behind the development of multiple personalities is that the individual will dissociate and shunt that stressful or traumatic event out of their mind. The new identity develops from that coping mechanism, as the main personality doesn't want the event happening to them; it happened to "someone else." It's in essence protecting the main personality from harm, and over time, that dissociating will produce a myriad of identities, many with a "protector" role. Particularly active alters can also allocate time to other personalities, including the host personality. The afflicted individual may end up using one of their protector identities more often than their core identity.

Resistance to treatment usually depends on how advanced the condition is. If a person with schizophrenia was untreated for a very long time, their condition would be resistant and they would often have a higher occurrence of relapse. However, that is not to say that they themselves are unable with coping with the condition. Their coping methods may not be very sound, but they are coping methods. Take away that person's coping methods and they may decompensate.

 

A good example of a Darksider who went mad is Jorak Uln.
I wonder what made him mad in the first place? Perhaps he couldn't face the destruction of Exar Kun's Sith Empire?