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Mental Disorders In The Film Silence Of The Lambs

670 Words3 Pages

Mental disorders are often villainized through popular media, but movies like Silence of the Lambs use mental disorders to accurately portray members of law enforcement and criminals. The movie tells of the relationship between FBI agent in training Clarice Startling and a very interesting ex-psychiatrist Hannibal Lector (Hannibal the Cannibal). Clarice Startling is told to go visit Dr. Lector in the facility he is being held, to find out if he can help profile a serial killer, known in the movie as "Buffalo Bill." Dr. Lector appears to grow respect for Agent Startling after she is treated indecently by one of his fellow inmates. Through the movie, Dr. Lector plays games with Agent Startling while guiding her with clues. However, he stops …show more content…

According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, there are four categories of symptoms and if any of the symptoms in these categories persist for more than 3 months, one should seek psychological help. Agent Startling shows symptoms from category 1, 2 and 3. Category 1 symptoms include reliving the event. During Agent Startling's trip to the funeral home to observe the autopsy of "Buffalo Bill's" newest victim, she enters a trance-like state where she approaches a body in a casket, reliving when she approached her father's casket at his funeral. Category 2 includes avoiding situations that remind one of the events. Clarice Startling showed throughout the movie that she did not want to discuss her father's death with either her boss Jack or Dr. Lector. Category 3 symptoms are categorized by "negative changes in beliefs or feelings." Clarice is a good agent because she is wary of the world, this is most likely a change from how she had been as a child. Still, it is difficult to say if she is still the emotional and soft-hearted girl that tried so hard to save a lamb, or if she is the toughened FBI agent because of losing her father so brutally as a

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