Darth Vader's Psyche: What Went Wrong?
Anakin Skywalker, Who Became Darth Vader, Had Borderline Personality Disorder, Psychiatrists Say
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Darth Vader had problems, say French psychiatrists. (20TH CENTURY FOX)
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The news comes not from a galaxy far, far away, but from San Diego, where the American Psychiatric Association (APA) is holding its 160th annual meeting.
Experts from the psychiatric department at France's University Hospital of Toulouse told the APA's annual meeting that Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader could "clearly" be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
Borderline personality disorder is a serious mental illness marked by instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior, according to background information on the Web site of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
The French psychiatrists — who included Laurent Schmitt, M.D. — based their diagnosis on original Star Wars film scripts.
Schmitt's team describes Skywalker's symptoms, including problems with controlling anger and impulsivity, temporary stress-related paranoia, "frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment (when trying to save his wife at all costs), and a pattern of unstable and intense personal relationships," including his relationships with his Jedi masters.
Changing his name and turning into "Darth Vader" is a red flag of Skywalker's disturbed identity, note Schmitt and colleagues.
The researchers aren't suggesting that real people with borderline personality disorder are Darth Vaders-in-the-making. Skywalker's symptoms are an extreme, fictional case.
Borderline personality disorder can be treated through psychotherapy and with medication. But that wasn't part of Skywalker's script.
By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang, M.D.
© 2007, WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.



Just remember, folks - the next time you pay a shrink for a visit, remember how much was spent to determine a fictional character's purported "mental illness".
Psychiatrists attend these conferences to discuss and propagate research findings on psychiatric topics. Most of their day is spent pouring over research findings and the like. Boring.
Since they're already there and they want to build camaraderie amongst researchers and lessen the boredom, they try to have a little fun aside from all the serious topics. Conferences like these B always /B include some fun topics to spice up the rigamarole.
That's old hat. For example, there's a tradition of song and dance at the after-dinner show of the ASEAN Regional Forum a time for foreign ministers of various Asia-Pacific countries to loosen up after discussing security issues. In 2004, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell dressed up as construction worker and sang a song to the tune of "YMCA".
Of course the media only reports on the interesting stuff happening at conferences, leaving the vast majority of idiots like you to get all puffy about the possible "research dollars" or "time wasted" or "Frenchiness" of one little topic presented at a conference where dozens of more serious topics are also being discussed. The "research" on Anakin Skywalker probably took place somewhere in France after working hours at a cafe over a bottle of wine.
What a waste of Bandwedth.
Posted by andrew_693 at 05:00 PM : May 23, 2007
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Do you believe that only "hard" news should be reported? I found this article interesting and assume that others did as well.
I also read about the tests done on the body found in Iraq. Are you concerned that the person writing about the war in Iraq was taken from their duties to write about Darth Vader?
I don't think that CBS is running low on reporters. I also don't think the Web is running out of space so you might have to get used to stories that don't meet your "importance" criteria.
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by shrinkraproy
May 25, 2007 7:05 AM PDT
- Thevian is correct (not so much the 'stupid' part, but the fact that these presentations are done in a tongue-in-cheek, semi-serious way).
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Reply to this comment
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See all 20 CommentsThe problem here is that this story is reported as "news", when it is actually just psychiatric convention filler. The folks at home can rest assured that we psychiatrists aren't taking ourselves TOO seriously.
-Roy
mythreeshrinks.com