Scientists have named films with the most believable psychopaths

Miscellaneous / by admin / January 13, 2022

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Images from cult thrillers turned out to be far from reality, but there are exceptions.

Psychiatrists Samuel Leisted and Paul Linkowski of the Erasme Academic Hospital in Belgium have analyzed the portrayals of psychopaths in popular films since 1915. As a result of the studyPsychopathy and the Cinema: Fact or Fiction? they identified characters that could be used for training in forensic psychiatry.

According to scientists from Complutense University in Madrid, psychopaths make upPrevalence of Psychopathy in the General Adult Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis about 4.5% of all inhabitants of the planet (and among the prisoners they are up to 35%). Leisted and Linkowski, together with criminologists and film critics, studied the images of 105 men and 21 women and came to the conclusion that known maniacs are most often not psychopaths, but psychotics.

What is the difference? Psychotics are people who did not develop a basic trust in the world as a child, so they are insecure, disoriented and constantly trying to fight for life. Psychopaths, on the other hand, are people devoid of compassion and empathy, self-centered and unable to repent.

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Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates. Frame from the movie "Psycho"

Scientists have given two examples of images of psychotics:

Well-known examples of this can be found in the films Psycho (Norman Bates) and Taxi Driver (Travis Bickle). These characters are out of touch with reality in various ways and suffer from delusional ideas.

Samuel Leisted, Paul Linkowski

psychiatrists at Erasme Academic Hospital, Brussels, Belgium

Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh. A scene from the movie "No Country for Old Men"

Experts named Anton Chigurh, the antagonist from the Coen Brothers film No Country for Old Men, as one of the best images. He is a prime example of an idiopathic or primordial psychopath: fearless, envious, prone to outbursts of anger. The scientists noted:

We have no information about his childhood, but there are enough arguments and detailed information about his behavior in the film to make a diagnosis of active, primary, idiopathic psychopathy. inability to love, lack of shame or remorse, psychological intuition, lack of skills to learn from past experience, cold-blooded attitude, ruthlessness, determination and lack of sympathy. He appears to be virtually invulnerable and resistant to any form of emotion or humanity.

Samuel Leisted, Paul Linkowski

psychiatrists at Erasme Academic Hospital, Brussels, Belgium

Michael Rooker as Henry Lee Lucas. Frame from the film "Henry - Portrait of a Serial Killer"

Another realistic example is Henry from the painting "Henry - Portrait of a Serial Killer". It was based on the biography of real-life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, a cannibal and arsonist. The psychiatrists explained:

In this film, the main and most interesting theme is the chaos and instability in the life of a psychopath, the lack of insight in Henry, severe lack of empathy, emotional poverty, and a well-illustrated inability to plan in advance.

Samuel Leisted, Paul Linkowski

Erasme Academic Hospital, Brussels, Belgium

But Hannibal Lecter, for whose role in The Silence of the Lambs Anthony Hopkins received an Oscar, was called a "cartoon" example of a psychopath. According to psychiatrists, he has "personal characteristics not commonly found in everyday clinical practice."