Saga Do you view Anakin as mentally ill?

Here's an article I found interesting, although older fans may have already seen this a hundred times: http://www.livescience.com/10679-psychology-darth-vader-revealed.html the author, who teaches psychology, says that based on Christensen's performance alone (II+III) Anakin could be considered a candidate for borderline personality disorder.

Since watching the movies I've always had this kind of feeling, that something's not quite right with Anakin, which is why I love II so much because of how creepy and unstable he seems throughout the whole thing. But it's not just about the prequels, another moment that stands out to me is the famous fight at the end of V. Anakin is earnestly, honestly trying to convince his son to join him... after having just cut off his freaking arm! To me that's very clear cognitive dissonance.

So, do you consider Anakin to be suffering from mental illness, why or why not?

 

He's someone who can't control his emotions. In TPM, he seems like a fairly normal/balanced child despite his circumstances of being a slave and presumably having a tough childhood. We don't know what he experienced prior to that film, but early childhood trauma often results in issues. I'll leave diagnoses for someone more qualified.

 

Not mentally ill in the sense of having a dangerous condition. I think he just had a great difficulty in social situations and general outwardness due to his harsh childhood and life as a Jedi when he started really at too old an age, considering how massive a change in lifestyle it was for him

 

This is one of the reasons that I disliked the ROTS novelization. It seemed to portray Darth Vader not as an alias Anakin adopted, but as a fully-fledged alternate personality, culminating in a "there is no us, there's just you" internal conversation (which was a blatant rip-off from William Goldman's thriller "Magic").

The problem I have with that is that is undermines one of the main points of the saga. Anakin wasn't a good man who was deceived. He wasn't a man who decided that following the Dark Side was the best way to achieve his goals, and paid dearly for his self-deception. He was mentally disturbed. It wasn't his fault; he wasn't responsible.

It's clear that Anakin knew what he was doing was wrong and would bring terrible harm, but he did it anyway. He knew he was betraying his friends, but was convinced this was the proper action. He was gullible; he was conned. He was even foolish. But he wasn't insane, nor was he disturbed. Darth Vader wasn't a separate personality; it was Anakin's way of denying what he knew was the truth, getting around his conscience, and putting aside those he loved so that he could pursue his obsessions through the Dark Side.

 

I don't know about mentally ill, per say but yeah, there was definitely some cognitive damage in his thinking. I assume some of the trauma is probably from slavery, his mother's death and the horrors of the Clone Wars. Probably PTSD but there's more to it, I say. I would also say he is still responsible for his choices though as some said before me.

 

I don't think he is mentally ill. I see him as someone fully capable of understanding right and wrong and he chose wrong, besides I think a lot of psychology is hogwash.(Not saying all of it is) I did take a psychology course in school, but don't agree with everything.

I don't think the character was handled as well as he could have been in the movies.
I think he should have been shown as more of a good character in AoTC instead of selfish teenager with issues.
Then in RoTS get corrupted, and progressively get worse. Perhaps if there were more movies. I feel Star wars is kind of condensed and would have preferred it more stretched out and not have things seem rushed and have more of a character journey.

 

He had some problems when he was Padawan, but I think he matured a lot when he became a Knight until his fall.

Watch AOTC then go watch ROTS and you will notice how maturer he is in in ROTS then in AOTC where he whining a lot.

Anakin is a great character and I really enjoyed his movie portrayal.

His redemption is one of my favorite moments in the saga.

I hope to see him in the ST as a force ghost.

 

Yes, he certainly does have issues and indecisiveness.

I'm certainly not gonna kill a tribe of Tusken women and children or a bunch of Jedi kids, but not gonna lie, I must say AOTC and ROTS Anakin does remind me of some of my own more awkward traits, insecurity, and mood swings I experienced in my teenage years.

I sometimes overthink myself half to death and spend too much time trying to self-diagnose myself online.

I wonder if a drink would have helped the lad? It helps me.

The real question though... Does PT Anakin reflect Lucas's own inner Demons? I find that both fascinating and disturbing tbh.

 

(Sorry for the double Post)

I agree with what most you say except for the part I bolded.

Sooo... By that logic Jeffery Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, Adolph Hitler, and Joseph Stalin "weren't at fault"
I heard Kim Jong Ill drowned his baby brother as a young child... I'm sure he was a nice guy though.

A lot of people suffer from mental problems, end up living normal lives, and don't go on to become mass murderers, Anakin... while unstable, was not justified, especially when he caved to Palpatine after seeing Fisto and Co.'s bodies strewn everywhere.

All he had to do to save Padme was not pay any attention to that dumb dream to begin with.
EDIT: "Always in motion is the future." -Yoda
Remember is ESB Luke "saw" Han and Leia "die" in a vision, and it didn't happen.

Padme herself even warns Anakin near the start of the movie that the death-dream may be a rouse.

 

No, I was saying what the apparent attitude was among those who say Anakin was mentally ill and, thus, was not at fault.

In fact, it certainly was his fault. He knew exactly what he was doing, what it would entail, and what it would cost him. But he did it anyway because he'd let himself get conned into thinking it was the best choice.

 

I agree with KM generally, though with the caveat that whilst I am not totally convinced Anakin had a condition of some kind he most certainly DID have childhood trauma and an inferiority complex that being raised as a Jedi only made worse (inadvertently for my money but the point stands.) His thinking was muddled and Palpatine lead him very carefully down a very specific path to self-destruction but every choice he made and every lie he told himself he did entirely of his own free will. Whatever his mental state/condition actually was does not for one moment absolve him of any blame for anything he did.

 

No. He knew what he was doing and the morality of his action.

 

Stover wasn't trying to portray it as mental illness. He was portraying it as Anakin trying to justify that he wasn't evil, but that Vader was. He was taking the certain point of view to what he felt was its logical conclusion. It was an extension of what Lucas said to Hayden about how to play the scene after killing the Separatist Council.

Anakin isn't mentally ill. His problems is that he's got a lot of emotional problems that he hasn't worked out yet and he's got a Sith Lord who is telling him that he's the best there is, but he keeps feeling inferior and feeling like a failure. He's supposed to be all powerful, but instead, his arrogance has lead him to slack off on his training. So when he fails to save Shmi, he becomes obsessive and possessive. The very foundations of the dark side.

YODA: "Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is."

 

no. It's insulting to those with mental problems to suggest he is imo.

This is a fantasy set in space. Not a Nolan/Zemmekis production.

He was an insecure young man who took a drug, the drug called "the dark-side".

 

There are varying degrees of mental illness. But there is also stability and instability, separate from mental illness.

I think Anakin was a perfect storm, to be honest. I think he was confused, lost, angry, had a volatile personality. He most definitely could have had mental illness that contributed to his general personality and ability to cope. However, I don't think he was entirely mentally ill, definitely not to the point he was separated from reality. I think he was unstable for various reasons. His personality, his past, his experiences. All potentially traumatic and all contributing to his instability. If he has borderline personality, it's not to the point that we can absolve him of all fault. He wasn't psychotic the entire time - he felt guilt.

That being said, I don't usually blame people for their actions when they are severely mentally ill. I will say it once - if they are that far gone, they don't realise it. If they don't feel remorse, they don't feel it. That is their brain, and that is who they are unfortunately. I don't blame them. Sure, they shouldn't be out walzting around freely in society if they pose a serious danger or have done terrible things, but I don't think it means they should be punished severely for something they don't understand. Someone like Palpatine would fall into that category.

Anyway, Anakin isn't that ill so it's irrelevant. He felt remorse. He knew what he was doing was wrong. He was manipulated and such, but he felt the guilt and had signs of a moral compass. That tells me all I need to know.

 

Yeah true. We star wars fans can get rambunctious when it comes to studying characters' psychological issues though....

 

Deliveranze: that is very true

for me though if people are going to argue mental illness in Star Wars, you might as well diagnose Sheev Palpatine as a Sociopath

and again I'd argue no, "corrupted by the dark-side the Emperor is" is a suitable answer. Kind of takes my out of the movie if a Jedi master suggested the Sith took some anti-psychotics, you know?

 

Yes, sometimes he seems very odd to me.

 

Anakin has a lot of anger in him if you want to diagnose it as a mental disorder I would strongly disagree with that assessment I just always like to think of him as a good person who made poor choices out of desperation turned to man he didn't fully understand accepting false promises. One reason I will always agree with the decision to start Anakin as off as a child is that you can see he is a good person, but we see him as a slave with a hint of anger and he has a bit of a chip on his shoulder always wanting to prove to everyone how great he is and to shed the label that Watto gave him that he is just a slave and he carries that chip on his shoulder as a Jedi taking every criticism as a slight against him as a person and this makes him upset. Having just watched the entire saga again I think Anakin is a good person who made horrible decisions and their was a lot of factors that caused him to make those horrible mistakes and a lot of the blame has to be his own, does it make him irredeemable not in my eyes

 

No. No, I don't think Anakin was mentally ill. I thought he had the potential to give in to evil like anyone else. I never saw what made him more susceptible to evil more than anyone else. All of the characters had their own particular traits that enabled them to give in to evil.


Why is it important that Anakin is viewed as mentally ill? Because he gave in to evil? I don't think that is a good excuse.

 

I'm not so quick to make diagnosis, since I don't have a background in psych, or any medical background really. I do think he's a mentally unstable person, who was very prone to bouts of jealousy bordering on paranoia, moments of uncontrollable rage, and volatility, and could definitely have made good use of a therapist. Normal people don't murder children and choke their spouse to save their spouse.

 

Imagine a gritty Palpatine prequel where he is struggling with taking his medicine....

 

Because he killed kids and only the mentally ill would do that.