Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Mental Illness

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Mental Illness and the complex inner workings of the human mind have been discussed for years. Dr. Jekyll is a gentleman from London who has been presenting with symptoms in line with manic depressive psychosis, now known as bipolar disorder. He claims to be taking a potion or drug that “transforms” him into his seemingly evil counterpart Mr. Hyde. Without taking the drugs, Jekyll claims to lead a normal life in London society and it is only when he drinks the concocted mixture that he acts out as his alter ego, Mr. Hyde. The first time Jekyll drank the potion he concocted, he reported feeling ill at first with “deadly nausea” and more but after those pains subsided he was left feeling lighter, younger, with deep urges of recklessness and intense …show more content…

Hyde was seen to have trampled a young girl in the early hours of the morning on a dark winter day, by a number of spectators. The two were stated to have been coming to a corner from opposite directions and while one might think that they would stop and wait to continue on their way, Hyde simply carried on, walking right over the girl without a second thought or glance. (page 50). Mr. Hyde displayed evidence of psychosis, specifically disorganized behavior, a significant change in comparison to the refined, and proper member of London society, Dr. Jekyll. While describing why he chose to explore what he called the duality of a man, the good and the evil, Jekyll talks about how he did not feel satisfied with his life, the monotonous cycle that he lived, always trying to suppress his desires. (page 110). He had always believed in the “profound duplicity of life” and finally decided it was time to explore the side(s) of himself that had been repressed for so long. After reflecting on himself, he realized that he was not just one person, that the desires that he had been ignoring for so long were another aspect of his identity, in a sense. And in total, people were neither inherently good or evil, it just depended simply on what course of action they were willing to