Kevin Crumb

The Psychoanalysis of Kevin Crumb

Split, directed by M. Night Shymalan is about a man with twenty-three personalities seeking to find justice for the broken and meek. The movie kicks off with a bang when three girls by the names of Casey, Marcia, and Claire are gassed and kidnapped after their party. The girls do not know Casey very well and invited her out of pity.

When they awaken they soon find that this is no conventional kidnapping. Their kidnapper, Kevin Crumb, has Dissociative Identity Disorder and is conflicted with twenty-three personalities inside of his head. He goes to therapy and meets with Dr. Fletcher to aid him in his inner turmoil. They meet the primary personalities quickly when one personality argues with the other.

After

His OCD and neatness was a way to cope from the abusive mother. He has also been banned from the light because of his dark nature. He enjoys when the girls are shirtless and is the one who kidnapped the girls. Born as an innocent nine-year-old boy, the personality of Hedwig plays an important role throughout the movie. He befriends Casey and show favoritism to her over the other girls. He shows her around the basement and dances for her in his room. He excitedly repeats that the girls will be violently killed by The Beast. Patricia is a female personality who serves as the mediator of “the horde” and the girls. She constantly recites facts about animals and is very nice to the girls. The Beast is the personality of evil and pain from Kevin’s life. Being able to change his body chemistry, The Beast evolves into an animal with tough skin and extreme strength. He climbs walls and has the strength to rip open jail cell

The first criterion is the number of personalities that are present in the mind. The DSM 5 states, “Two or more distinct identities or personality states are present, each with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to and thinking about the environment and self”. Kevin has twenty-three personalities. The 2nd criterion is that amnesia must occur after personality switches. Kevin or any of the personalities do not remember what the previous personality did. The 3rd criterion is the person must be distressed by the disorder or have trouble functioning in major life areas because of the disorder. Kevin cannot function as a regular citizen because at any moment he is a different person, potentially evil. The fourth criterion is that the disturbance is not part of normal cultural or religious practices. Kevin kidnapping, killing, and evolving is not a normal facet of his culture. The 5th criterion is that the symptoms are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (such as blackouts or chaotic behavior during alcohol intoxication) or a general medical condition (such as complex partial