Saga The mental conditions of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader

Funnily enough, you aren't the first person with autism/Aspergers on the Internet that I've come across who's said they could identify with some of Anakin's behaviors. I don't think it's what Lucas intended, but I also don't think it's an unreasonable interpretation of his character - I don't think you can say for certain that he didn't, since it's not like every autistic person acts or presents the same way.

Similarly, I don't think we can say for certain that Anakin had BPD, or NPD, or whatever. Firstly because yeah, I'd want to be careful about labelling a character mostly known for being a villain and killing people as mentally ill - real people with mental illnesses have enough trouble without reinforcing the idea that "mentally ill" = "dangerous." And (counting the movies) we do only see Anakin onscreen for a matter of hours, which isn't exactly enough to make any sort of diagnosis with certainty, as the Psychology Today article points out.

On the other hand, I also think that if you take into account TCW and Legends material, you do see the BPD symptoms in a more consistent pattern, beyond just moments of high stress. For example, that article suggests that Anakin's fears of abandonment only come when he has the "real reason" of premonitions that Padme is going to die. But, for example, in the RotS novel, we get things like him jumping to the conclusion that she's leaving him for somebody else just because she doesn't show up immediately on the landing platform. Similarly, the Clovis arc shows how irrationally jealous he can be even when there's not reason to believe that Padme is going to cheat on him. I would also disagree that Anakin's switches between idealization and devaluation are "gradual" - it takes about 2.5 seconds for him to switch between "Obi-Wan is a great mentor. He's as wise as Master Yoda, and as powerful as Master Windu" and "He's jealous! He's holding me back!"

I also disagree with the article's comments about identity disturbances - it says that Anakin is "quite full of himself," and while I agree Anakin can be arrogant about his abilities, I don't think it's true about other aspects of his life. He makes multiple comments about how he's "not the Jedi he should be," and if anything, the way he always seems to seek validation from Obi-Wan and Padme suggests he's insecure in those relationships, not overly confident. And then there's the bit in Rogue Planet where he tells the Council, he "doesn't want to look inward" because he "doesn't like what he sees."

So, long story short - I don't think we can "diagnose" Anakin with anything, but in the end it doesn't really matter to what extent his unhealthy attitudes and behaviors can be attributed to trauma or his own personality, or whether or not they're representative of an actual, pathological, mental illness. Or to other forms of neurodivergence, if we want to include autism.

 

One of my sisters took a class on Drugs in Society as part of her degree and learned that Hitler and other Nazis were talking Crystal Meth. If that doesn't mess with your mind I don't know what will.

Back to the subject.

Anakin must have seen many horrible things before his eight birthday that would shock many people. He left his mother behind with hopes to train as a Jedi only to be turned away and in a short amount of time the only father figure he has had is killed and his fate is up in the air. He then learns that Obi-Wan will train him. We don't know for sure what the first impressions of each other were but Anakin couldn't have missed Obi-Wan telling Qui-Gon that 'the boy is dangerous' before they left for Naboo. Add the facts that Anakin is told that he's some sort of savior and that he's supposed to bring Balance to the Force and that until the Battle of Naboo the Jedi Council believed that the Sith were extinct, no one on the Jedi Council seems to know what bringing Balance to the Force means.

And as far as we know Anakin never sat down with a consular of any kind to talk about his life as a slave and what he might have seen or experienced. He might have seen his mother "entertaining" males before and knew that she didn't want to. They seem to expect him to be a good Jedi and he wants to live up to their expectations even if he can't.

As far as his awkwardness with Padme he's a nineteen/twenty year old young man who has never been taught how to properly flirt with a girl. Alright I will admit that he might have flirted with females before as part of a mission but he actually has feelings for Padme and his father figure has never given him pointers.

On some level he might want cruelty from Obi-Wan and the Council simply because that's what he knew for nine/ten years of his life.

I do think Anakin had Abandonment Issues. With what happened in his life I would be surprised if he didn't have some issues.

As Vader I think he had a lot of Self Hatred and I think some of the things he did was so he could hate himself even more. And who knows what the Emperor does to punish him.

 

Given his obsessions over Padme, I'm fairly certain he never gave other female Jedi any consideration. Much less those he interacted with out on missions.

Want's cruelty? I don't think so. He tries to be authoritative because Palpatine's been filling his head with the idea that he's better than them, that he tries to act it. Hence saying that they will find the assassin, which leads to Obi-wan dressing him down. Then there's his reaction to Padme correcting Governor Bibble about Anakin's rank and trying to take charge, which just angers him. If anything, he's trying to assert himself as an equal and then a superior.

 

I have always believed that Anakin does display many symptoms of autism/Aspergers. It's just the way he seemingly has trouble with interacting with other characters and controlling his emotions in the prequels- his awkwardness and his lashing out etc.

That being said, I can see how sensitive and troublesome this interpretation can be, but it doesn't make it any less of a valid one.

 

Who does he have trouble interacting with? He's only awkward around Padme and that's because he's in love with her, but doesn't know how to tell her. Lashing out? Uh, people have anger management issues. Not all of them have Autism and Aspergers.

 

I personally would put Anakin in the broad diagnostic criteria of a possible cluster B personality disorder, due to mixed symptoms from Borderlind PD and Narcissistic PD, Histrionics, bloated Ego and Anti-social tendencies, such as his seemingly impulsive behavior, and towards the end, lack of empathy. In the end its all fictional so... Disclaimer: Samnz I do not regard Psychiatry as a "legit" science, since most of the models of how mental illness actually work are being challenged by current research and are widely being thrown out as dated and just incorrect. See: Lack of evidence that most psychiatric medications have almost no bearing on treatment outcomes when consistent, current, therapy techniques such as DBT, or certain types of CBT focusing on cognitive restructuring and so on are implemented over the course of treatment.//end disclaimer. Psychology is the closest thing to a "legit" science in the mental health field. If you can call a soft science legit.

 

Narcissism is definitely accurate. As is egotistic.

 

I agree. Many people with autistic spectrum disorders don't have anger management issues, and many neurotypical people do.

Eh, I disagree. He seemed invested in helping people (even if he went about it the wrong way), and he wasn't exploitative or anything. Generally speaking, he didn't lack empathy or fail to understand others except when his other specific issues and blind spots were in play (e.g. being afraid to lose Padme, and not understanding why she took had a problem with his behavior).

And while he was arrogant about his abilities, I would hesitate to label him egotistical - he had a lot of insecurity with regards to his personal relationships, was afraid of abandonment, etc. And given that he'd only been accepted into the Jedi Order at his age because they thought he had the potential to be very powerful and was destined to do something special, is it really so surprising that he was constantly trying to prove himself?

 

The narcissism tendencies stem from Palpatine, who has convinced him that he is better than any Jedi, which he believes. He says as much to Padme when she's packing in AOTC and egotism carries on from that and into ROTS when he's upset at not being made Master. And later when he claims to be more powerful than Palpatine and that Obi-wan underestimates his power.

 

I don't think being arrogant in a single area translates to having a narcissistic personality in general, though I agree Palpatine encouraged him to believe his emotions (read: emotional unhealthiness and anger management issues) were strengths rather than weaknesses.

And I'm not sure he does believe he's better than any other Jedi. For every claim he makes to that effect, there's another scene where he doubts himself. The scene with Padme packing in AotC? Well, what about the scene in the garage on Tatooine where he breaks down and says he should be "better than this"? He's upset about not being made Master, but he quite explicitly states to Padme: "I'm not the Jedi I should be."

So, sure, he can be arrogant about some things. But he's not completely self-centered, even if the methods he chose to help people were often problematic, and in other ways, he comes off as insecure. If he genuinely thought he was the greatest, he wouldn't be constantly seeking external validation from Padme/Obi-Wan/the Council.

Now, his words on Mustafar (claiming to be more powerful than Palpatine, telling Obi-Wan he underestimates his power, etc) are a little closer to the mark. But given that half of what he says in that scene comes off as completely disconnected from reality (thinking Padme would want to be Empress, saying the Jedi are evil, etc), I think those statements are just more of him being delusional while high on the dark side rather than narcissistic.

 

When I first watched the PT, my immediate guess was AS, as he reminded me of my ex. But since my ex also had a variant of schizophrenia, I'd say Anakin has very mild AS/PDD-NOS and some traits of NPD.

 

That's because he just did something terrible following a great sense of failure. It was his wake up call that he wasn't as good as he thought was. He doubts because of his failures, but then in his efforts to better himself, he winds up going down the same path again.

 

At least in Legends, there are a number of times we see Anakin doubting himself prior to RotS - in Rogue Planet, in Jedi Quest, etc.

Regardless, I don't think his arrogance in AotC is indicative of narcissism. Being a teenager who acts like they're invincible or right about everything does not a mental illness make. Someone genuinely narcissistic wouldn't be making "efforts to better himself," and as I mentioned before, there are a lot of things Anakin seems insecure about. Really the only thing he acts arrogant about are his abilities - and not only does he have every reason to believe he needs to prove himself to the Council, but his perception in that area is not entirely off-base. He is skilled, and he is powerful, even though he fails at the other qualities needed for a "good" Jedi.