“ Lady Macbeth shows schizophrenia by sleep walking and saying her hand will be stained forever and she will be haunted. She also admits that she has killed more than one person and talks about killing herself. Treatment for Schizophrenia involves medication and therapy to reduce risk of future psychotic episodes and improve
After carefully reading the case study for Lady Macbeth and thoroughly processing the DSM-5 and eliminating all other possible diagnosis, I determined that she properly fits the DSM-5 criteria for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) (F42). Some key evidence that directed me to diagnosed Lady Macbeth with this disorder will be, in the morning while getting dressed, she gets afraid that there are germs all over her clothes and things, which causes her to stand and shake the germs off her for half an hour. She also washes her hands before doing anything. If she was going to wash her face, she will wash her hands first and if she was going to get dressed, she washes her hands first before getting dressed. She also stated that washing her hands wasn’t enough, she sometimes used rubbing alcohol.
One of Shakespeare’s superlative examples of a troubled mind is located in Macbeth. The impertinent character Lady Macbeth exhibited many symptoms of depression and antisocial personality disorder. While mental illness is generally developed through an accumulation of several events, as it was in Lady Macbeth’s case, it was definitely more profound after the murder of King Duncan. Prior to killing the king, Lady Macbeth unveiled sociopathic behavior through her negligence of others.
The possibility that Macbeth may suffer from a Mental Illness is quite high, but one in particular stands out more than the rest, PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder). There are some crucial points that overall prove that Macbeth has PTSD from his past experiences in warfare. The hallucination of the dagger is an example in which patients
Ari Mattes again gives a great point of view in her statement, “ We watch her cry as the wife and children of Macduff are executed, and note the look of regret in her eyes as Macbeth becomes increasingly mad” (Mattes 1). Showing from the eyes of Lady Macbeth we watch her wreath in pain of sorrow as she witnesses her husband go “mad” from all his actions. The character of Macbeth manifests into a completely different person in the eyes of film maker Justin Kurzel, as the character seems to be suffering from the pains of his tragic past, also known as post traumatic stress disorder. The memories of battles and violent times in the life of Macbeth, from war times to murders he has committed, puts a serious toll on his mental state. Macbeth can be seen dragging many bodies after the aftermath of war, and the killing of Duncan has shown that it has put a scar into the character of Macbeth.
In reliving the horrific murder she is starting to develop a mental illness which later leads to her suicide. That mental illness closely resembles PTSD as she is having flashbacks of the murder she pushed Macbeth to commit while she is asleep.
“Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (V,I, 36-41) .She is experiencing delayed guilt from the murder of Duncan, whom she first pushed Macbeth to kill. There are treatments to help cope with PTSD.
In 1912, American psychiatrist and neurologist Isador H. Coriat wrote “The hysteria of Lady Macbeth”. He was one of the first American psychoanalysts and this book was also one of his first works. He analysed Lady Macbeth’s character using the modern psychopathology’s point of view and he determined that the woman is “an accurate example of hysteria” (2). The sleep-walking scene, under his perspective, has nothing to do with remorse. Lady Macbeth’s apparent bravery is in reality, but she is an unconscious cowardice.
Macbeth’s guilt and battle with mental illness begins early within the play: right after the murder of King Duncan. Macbeth, once a loyal sergeant in Duncan’s army, has killed the king in order to possess the throne of Scotland. This act of such extreme measures begins Macbeth’s descent into madness and insomnia. Immediately after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth says, “Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep.”
Although Macbeth possesses a plethora of mental health disorders Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is the most dominant of them. The Bipolar Depression (Which closely links attribute to PTSD, although the manic stage of a bipolar disorder is usually not obtained while some are experiencing PTSD) and PTSD traits and symptoms that are slowly built into her character are caused by the delayed stress she experiences after Macbeth murder of king Duncan. After the murders are committed, Lady Macbeth and her husband are immediately consumed with guilt. Many of the victims of PTSD fall into a period of confusion and guilt similar to Macbeth after the murder of his kinship, leader and king. “His wife thinks that 's a foolish thing to say, and when she notices
His anxiety and paranoia is further reinforced by the appearance of the ‘Ghost of Banquo’, showing that he is not able to repress his conscience and requires help, however he does not choose Lady Macbeth for this. It is evident that Macbeth has become increasingly dependent on the supernatural and not his wife, as he will ‘[speak] to the weird sisters’. This suggests that Macbeth does not need succour and intelligence from Lady Macbeth – it could be argued that the reason for this is that their relationship has deteriorated far beyond repair and the communication between them is deprived. Contextually this is accurate, as men did not need the assistance from women. Similarly, Lady Macbeth also suffers from anxiety.
The Truth Behind Lady Macbeth If Sigmund Freud (a well known neurologist) had been alive at the time of the play Macbeth, he would have most likely diagnosed Lady Macbeth with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. PTSD is developed after a traumatic or terrifying ordeal occurs that involves physical or mental harm. It is believed that Lady Macbeth had PTSD for many reasons.
During the reading of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth started showing signs of a couple different disorders. She showed a couple examples of panic disorder, while also showing multiple examples of post-traumatic stress disorder. Out of all the disorders that Lady Macbeth could be suffering from, I believe that these two best reflect Lady Macbeth’s problems. The first disorder that I looked into to try diagnosing Lady Macbeth is panic disorder. There is multiple times in the book where she says some things that make it seem like she is suddenly scared, or that she thinks there is serious danger.
One common misconception about PTSD is that it happens exclusively to combat soldiers, but that is not always the case. Some major factors of PTSD in civilians include: “natural disasters, serious accidents, life-threatening illness, physical abuse, and sexual assault during childhood or adulthood” (Gay and Yusko). However, Lady Macbeth’s PTSD was brought about through the guilt of having participating in a crime. She is traumatized by her actions and she even feels guilty about the murder of Lady Macduff and her children, although she was not directly involved in it.
A hallucination symptom of Macbeth and his wife. In this story, we see that Macbeth fears after he killed Duncan and Banquo. He was afraid until he see Banquo’s ghost. Lady Macbeth washes her hands every 15 minutes because she thinks that have blood on hands. These show their symptoms after they do the wrong things.
