Wednesday, December 24, 2008

p. 595-612

After reading about personality disoders, dissociative disorders, and schizophrenia, try to connect any one character from the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to a particular disorder.

Provide as much detail from the text to highlight why your chosen character may have had that disorder.

Due on Wednesday, January 7.

17 comments:

lovejonas91 said...

Hmmm.... I really had to think about this one after reading. I had to re-think about the movie.

By the way Mr. Yip, I asked my mom and her brothers if they ever seen this movie and my mom said she never did. One of my uncles said it was the funniest movie ever and the other said it was the best movie ever made.

Ok... now to respond to this blog.

Well, let's talk about McMurphy. There are certain parts in the movie where it seems like he has manipulated Bibbit and Chief. This can be seen as Antisocial Personality Disorder. McMurphy shows his how he can be manipulative by making Chief speak when he gives Chief the Juicy Fruit gum and making Bibbit stop stuttering. Also, as a part of this disorder, it has to do with being deceitful and impulsive. McMurphy is deceitful (sly) when he gets all the guys on the bus and takes them to the boat. When a man tells them they can't be on the boat, McMurphy says they have permission to use the boat because they are all doctors.

Nurse Rached can also be seen as having an Antisocial Personality Disorder. She takes all the joy/fun of the men by meditating them daily. They don’t even want to be there. Who would want to discuss their personal problems with others? No one wants to admit their weaknesses. Also, she is always reminding the patients of their problems. As a part of this disorder, she is “violating the rights of others”. She is also trying to be manipulative by saying that McMurphy is the one who took away the patients’ privileges and their cigarettes. She blames it all on McMurphy.

P.S. Hope everyone is having a nice vacation!

~Natalie D., period 1

Anonymous said...

While reading about the disorders I continuously thought back to the characters in the movie.

When reading about Paranoid Personality disorders I thought about Chezwick. When he had his break down about not receiving his cigarettes, he could have been thinking that everyone was against him, and by him yelling that he wants his own cigarettes and no other ones, he could be asserting himself to the people that he may think are against him. Such as Nurse Rached.

While reading about the Antisocial Personality disorder, I thought about McMurphy because McMurphy manipulated one of the guards into letting two women into the facility one night. He cheated at games and disobeyed the 'no gambling' rule while playing cards.

While reading about Borderline Personality Disorders, I immediately thought about that man in which everyone thought that he was Gay. I can't remember his name. He obviously had issues with his relationships and mood swings along with his low self esteem and image.

~Nunes

Unknown said...

One of the characters that quite clearly had a disorder right from the start was Cheswick. He suffers from generalized anxiety disorder. He has a "persistant chronic worry about everything" and is "afraid of doing anything." The slightest things upset him to the point of having a fit, like when he wasn't given his cigarettes.

Martini, I think, is just suffering from mental retardation. I didn't notice any other type of disorder he may be suffering from. He's clearly not fully engaged in the world around him. Well, none of the guys in there are, but him more than the others. He can't grasp what's really going on making him about as self-sufficient as a toddler. I'll post more later. The others are more complex.

- Katherine Gannon

MLRoxYourSox said...

After reading about personality disorders, I thought about Billy Bibbit. I'm not too sure about this but I believe he has Dependent Personality Disorder. I think he has this because he was so afrad of him mother thinking something bad of him. Also because Mr. Yip said that Nurse Ratched was like Billy's mom.

However he may have Borderline Personality Disorder because he had sex with that woman and then killed himself which was overly dramatic and therefore he was "self destructive". So it may be Borderline Personality Disorder....i'm not qite sure.

I also think that Chief had Schizoid Personality Disorder because he was always by himself and never said a word to anyone (except McMurphy). He had "Pervasive detachment from social relationships".

The characters in the movie are all very hard to diagnose... I know i'm not capable of diagnosing anyone :)

Wynne said...

Out of all the characters that might have a personality disorder the most obvious is, oddly enough, McMurphy. He has no regard for laws or the rules of society, he impulsive and dangerous, and he has no care about his personal well-being or the well-being of others. Not once does he show any signs of remorse for his actions or reason for those actions. He simply DOES stuff. He doesn’t think of the possible consequences nor does he care. Throughout the film he goes about life being impulsive and dangerous. The fishing trip. Antagonizing Nurse Ratched (the higher authority). The imaginary baseball game. They all lead to good results in the end, yet they still they have their negative consequences. Like Billy's death. Is McMurphy likable? Yes. Is he charming and persuasive? Yes. Yet, he has no care for anything other than what he wants. He has no guilt. No conscience. He is a classic example of a sociopath.

Ted Wynne

Unknown said...

To add on to my last post, we began to relate McMurphy to a bit of a sociopath, aka a suffer of antisocial personality disorder. The rules of society hold no meaning to him and he acts on impulse, doing whatever he wants whenever he wants. He's pretty arrogant and self-centered which I think also accurately qualify him as someone suffering from this disorder. That's really all I wanted to add.

- Katherine Gannon

Ben Pickering said...

Good evening fellow scholars,
The charcter I'd like to focus on is McMurphy as he was the main character in the movie. McMurphy clearly suffers from anitsocial personality disorder. This is clear in numerous ways. First, McMurphy is good at manipulating others, especially his felloew peers, specifically the men in the mental institution. He gets these men to do basically whatever he wants and they all look up to him as some sort of leader or hero. He also even convinces the guards to turn to his side by letting the girls in that one night. Another way is how he has no regard what soever for others or for himself. For example he takes the boys on a fishing trip just for the hell of it and because he feels like doing. Lastly he has little regard for the law and does not like to follow simple rules. This is even shown while he is in the mental institituion as he does not want to listen to anyone but himself. He even refuses to take the medicine that they urge him to take this. He does this just to prove a point that they cant force him to and to try to look better than all the others. Therefore, McMurphy clearly struggles with antiscoial disorder.
Love your boy
Bengi Miguel

Chris said...

Mr. Yip,

After reading the pages and thinkning about the film, I believe that, as we said in class, that Dale Harding has a disorder that causes him to be paranoid.

He doesn't seem to trust anyone around him. He doesn't trust his wife, or any of the patients in the institution, particurally, MacMurphy. He thinks that everyone around him, is after him.

Marissa Mardo said...

Throughout the movie, I thought that the only person who didnt have a disorder was McMurphy. But after reading and listening to class discussions, I now think that McMurphy suffers from antisocial disorder. Although McMurphy seemed very loud, outspoken, and wasn't afraid to voice his ideas, he did show symptoms of antisocial disorder. By taking the patients on the boat, he showed that he fails to conform to rules and he demonstrated that he is irresponsible.

In addition, the movie illustrated borderline disorder through Billy. Billy was often hard on himself, and as a result showed low self-esteem. Billy committed suicide, which is also a symptom of borderline disorder.
-Marissa

McCall Theriault said...

Continuous signs of the disturbance persist for at least 6 months. This 6-month period must include at least 1 month of symptoms (or less if successfully treated) that meet the first criteria (i.e., active-phase symptoms) and may include periods of prodromal or residual symptoms. During these prodromal or residual periods, the signs of the disturbance may be manifested by only negative symptoms or two or more symptoms listed in the first criteria present in an attenuated form (e.g., odd beliefs, unusual perceptual experiences).
(http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/thought_disorders/site/schizophrenia.asp)

This is the common definition of Schizoaffenia. During the movie, "One Flew of the Cuckoo's Nest" the character that I think demeninstrated this symptoms is not a main character but one who was in the background. Soe that might have deminstrated in the insaine ward. When McMurphy and Chief went to the insane ward many of the people acted like they had Schizoaffenia. So in conclusion, I think that not only did the main charcters exibate some of the signs, most of the real deal type were found in higher level wards!

Unknown said...

I believe that Randal McMirphy suffered from Antisocial Personality Disorder. I have done some research and the following all applies to him....

* failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
* deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
* impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
* irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults
* reckless disregard for safety of self or others
* consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations
* lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.

this disorder fits McMurphy perfectly it couldnt get any better.

Leslie said...

Well, Randall McMurhpy definitely had antisocial disorder. Not one instance in the whole entire time he was in the mental institution did he go by the rules. He didn't really care for the social norm. He just wanted to do what he wanted. It just didn't matter to him and I don't think that he really care if it affected anyone either.
I think that Cheswick may have had Borderline Personality disorder. He was always looking for approval from McMurphy and before McMurphy he was looking for approval from Dale Harding. He just wanted to make sure whatever he did pleased them. There was one instance in the movie when he asked McMurphy if they were friends. If he did get the answer no, he'd probably get very upset.
On top of the Borderline, he had very high anxiety. He was antsy all the time and he was constatly worrying about things all the time. A majority of them unnecessary.

Roberto said...

Dale Harding is a classic case of paranoid schizophrenia. He was sure that his wife was cheating on him and pretty much everyone in the ward made fun of him. They did make fun of him however because of another symptom., the delusion that he was superior to them. This is probably the reason that Harding uses so many big words when speaking about "order and form".

Matt L said...

I think it is pretty clear to see that McMurphy has a personality disorder. I would label his disorder specifically as antisocial. Because McMurphy refuses to confrom to social norms and shows a lot of impulsiveness, he fits the symptoms of this specific disorder. McMurphy is also reckless and not concerned with others safetly, hence bringing a group of mental patients on a fishing trip. The only symptom McMurphy does not exhibit is not showing remorse. After Billy commits suicide, McMurphy seems pretty remorsful and attacks Nurse Ratchet.

Anonymous said...

McMurphy is a Sociopath

Chief is Dissociative fugue, he may be a sociopath as well.

Danny Devito's charecter is DPD.

Billy Bibbit is APD

Harding is Paranoid

the others, i cant remember to well

Anonymous said...

i hink that mcmurphy is a perfect example of an antisocial disorder his lack of caring for the law taking he mentally unstable out on boat trips and so on

Max said...

If you honestly think McMurphy is a Sociopath or has antisocial personality disorder, you couldn't be more wrong.
People with these issues don't feel guilt like others do and rarely empathize with others.
While McMurphy clearly enjoyed flaunting the rules, he comes to care about the other patients. Though he originally had selfish intentions, he displays empathy on many occasion, such as breaking the glass to get Cheswick his cigarettes to calm Cheswick down. Where is the disregard for others and selfishness there? The longer McMurphy is there, the more he tries to help the other patients. This is cleary not a sociopathic or APD behavior.