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Examples Of Schizophrenia In Fight Club

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Fighting Yourself
The Movie, Fight Club, depicts a man experiencing hallucinations and hearing voices, which leads to insanity. Less than one percent of the population experience this phenomenon, which is referred to as schizophrenia, “symptoms can include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, trouble with thinking and lack of motivation” (American Psychiatric Association). The movie, Fight Club, depicts a man with overlapping symptoms of schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder, who ultimately clashes with his alter ego, Tyler Durden. The hallucination embodies everything the man wants to be and will become. Tyler is not physically real to anyone but the narrator. Many schizophrenic patients experience hallucinations which …show more content…

Schizophrenics will often believe something is true and will not be convinced otherwise. Tyler embodies all of the narrator's delusions, and together they make the delusions a reality through their “fight club”. This dark psychological thriller, Fight Club, depicts schizophrenic tendencies and dissociative identity disorder, identity crisis, and psychosis.

Throughout the movie, the narrator is constantly influenced by Tyler Durden, his other persona. Some people with schizophrenia also experience dissociative identity disorder and will have hallucinations of their alter self/selves. In one instance, Tyler blows up the narrator's apartment along with all of his possessions. Of course, it was actually the narrator who did this to himself but he is unaware of this fact. He believes Tyler has committed this heinous act. This is how many undiagnosed patients operate. They will unintentionally harm themselves or others because they are either completely unaware of their other persona or believe that their different persona is not theirs. The movie is shown from the narrator's perspective but he operates as himself and Tyler. The people around him treat him strangely and he cannot figure out why. …show more content…

When someone experiences a psychotic episode, the person’s thoughts and perceptions are disturbed, and the individual may have difficulty understanding what is real and what is not” (American Psychiatric Association). The narrator experiences psychosis throughout the whole movie and it progressively gets worse. The narrator loses touch with reality as soon as he starts to see Tyler. As time goes on, Tyler starts to build a criminal empire while the narrator is left lost and confused. The narrator was a part of the first fight club he and Tyler established, but he does not know that Tyler had been busy starting fight clubs all around the country and quickly gaining followers. At this point, the narrator's reality does not involve Tyler. Tyler’s experiences are completely different from the narrator's experience which depicts his strong psychosis. This delusion and disturbed perception of reality are very common among schizophrenic people. When experiencing hallucinations and hearing voices that are real to them but not others surrounding them it is very hard to determine what is reality. This leads to insanity and an inability to comprehend the situation at hand. Psychosis is not easily dealt with and the narrator does not come to terms with reality

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