Running Head: PSYCHOLOGY CONCEPTS IN SHUTTER ISLAND 1

Psychology Concepts in Shutter Island

Patric Corrocher

Northampton Community College

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SYNOPSIS

The movie Shutter Island starts with two United States Marshals, Teddy and Chuck, on their way

to Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, located on Shutter Island. The Marshals are

responsible for investigating the disappearance of a patient named Rachel Solano. The entire

investigation seems askew when the staff on the island do not help the Marshals. The movie

progresses, and the viewers learn that Teddy is also looking for a man named Andrew Laeddis,

who murdered Teddy’s wife. Rachel Solano suddenly resurfaces, and Teddy finds this suspicious

and decides to investigate the off-limits areas of the island. Teddy speaks to patients and finds

out that the treatments on the island are inhumane, and is told that everyone on the island is

playing games to trick him. Teddy breaks into the lighthouse, where alleged mind control

surgeries are taking place, to finally find some truth. The psychiatrists tell Teddy that he is in fact

Andrew Laeddis and he murdered his wife after she drowned their children. Laeddis then learns

that this was an experiment to see if they can break his insanity. Everyone on the island was

aware of the experiment, even his “partner” Chuck, who was in fact a psychiatrist. The ending of

the film is up to the viewers’ interpretation of whether the experiment cured Laeddis (Scorsese,

M., Kalogridis, L., Medavoy, M., Messer, A. W., Fischer, B. J., Brigham, C., . . . Robertson, R.

2010).

POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is one of Andrew Laeddis’s most easily recognized mental health

issues. The character was a soldier during the liberation of Dachau and as a result ended up

seeing some very heinous things. The flashbacks used in the movie include things like killing the

prison camp guards, seeing frozen and dead corpses, and letting someone slowly die after a

botched suicide attempt (Scorsese et al. 2010). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is one of the most
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common issues plaguing veteran and military personnel, so it is not shocking that Laeddis suffers

from it. Other symptoms of PTSD that Laeddis displays, other than flashbacks, are proneness to

outbursts, detachment from others, and persistent negative emotions, like sadness, anger, and

guilt (Spielman, R.M., Dumper, K., Jenkins, W., Lacobe, A., Lovett, M., & Perlmutter, M.

2014). Laeddis is constantly getting upset at the staff in the hospital, and even has moments of

throwing things. Laeddis was also relatively unattached to his family, not paying mind to how

mentally ill his wife was, and not realizing his children were in danger. Throughout the film.

Laeddis was constantly suspicious, angry, guilty about his wife, and even upset. The events that

conspired with his wife and family also could have caused PTSD, and the flashbacks of his wife

could be from that (Scorsese 2010).

DIATHESIS-STRESS MODEL

A diathesis-stress model is simply when an event that caused great distress combines with

biological predispositions and creates a mental illness (Spielman et al. 2014). The diathesis-stress

model is applicable to Laeddis’s situation. As viewers know from the movie, Laeddis’s is an

alcoholic, a condition that is often triggered by genetic predisposition. This can hint that Laeddis

has other genetic predispositions that can make him a contender for something like a diathesis-

stress situation. Laeddis went through his children being murdered by his wife, whom he then

murdered. That is an incredibly high stress and tragic event. The psychiatrists in the hospital

often reference the murdering of his children and his act of murdering his wife as the beginning

of his mental health issues (Scorsese 2010). While not impossible, such a sudden onset of an

intense mental disease only has a few ways of occurs, and the diathesis-stress model is one of

them. The diathesis-stress model could be used to explain why Laeddis suddenly became so

severely ill. The genetic predisposition he had combined with the heinous family events created a
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debilitating mental illness. There is no way of knowing for sure if Laeddis has a genetic

predisposition, but for the purposes of this analysis, it is possible that he did, and this model can

be applied to his situation.

SCHIZOPHRENIA

Schizophrenia is one of the most debilitating mental illness, and it played a large role in the film

Shutter Island. Both Laeddis and his wife Dolores could be used as examples for schizophrenia.

Dolores, Laeddis’s wife, struggled from what is understood to be mood disorders and

schizophrenia. Dolores has a past filled with tragic events, many of which she caused because of

her schizophrenia. She burned down her and Laeddis’s apartment because the voices in her head

told her to (Scorsese 2010). Auditory hallucinations are the most common form of hallucinations

with schizophrenic patients (Spielman 2014). Delusions are another major symptom of

schizophrenia and Dolores had delusions that her children were standing in the way of her

happiness, which is why she drowned them in the lake. Laeddis himself also showed signs and

symptoms of schizophrenia throughout the film. Despite having what seem to be PTSD

flashbacks like discussed earlier in this analysis, Laeddis also suffers from visual hallucinations.

The body at the bottom of the cliffs, and the interaction with Dr. Rachel Solano in the cave were

all visual hallucinations. Laeddis’s entire experience on the island can be argued as a

schizophrenic delusion. Laeddis thinks his name is Teddy and that he is a United States Marshal

investigating a crime until the final confrontation by the doctors. According to the doctors, this is

a psychotic delusion that Laeddis revisits constantly (Scorsese 2010). Schizophrenia is a serious

diagnosis, and it is never mentioned by name in the movie, but both Laeddis and his wife

Dolores exhibit common signs and symptoms of the disease.

HISTORICAL MENTAL ILLNESS TREATMENT

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A fascinating aspect of the film Shutter Island is the glimpse of how mental health was dealt

with historically. The movie is set to take place in 1954, and revolves around an island housing a

mental hospital for the criminally insane. The movie does not focus majorly on the actual

treatment of mental health issues, considering the mental health of the protagonist was unknown

until the end of the story, but there are still some hints about how patients were treated. Living

conditions were not great on the island. Some of the patients in the restricted sections of the

hospital were living in disgusting conditions, dirty and cold cells. The main treatments at the

hospital are hinted at, making the viewers aware they are medicating the patients and/or

lobotomizing them (Scorsese 2010). This depiction of mental health hospitals, or asylums, is

surprisingly accurate. According to Spielman, “… a typical asylum was filthy, offered very little

treatment, and often kept people for decades” (2014). Antipsychotic medications were not

introduced until 1954, and these pills eventually reduced the used of procedures like lobotomy

and electroshock therapies (Spielman 2014).

BIOMEDICAL TREATMENT VS HUMANISTIC TREATMENT

The treatment of mental illness is another huge component to this movie, and the concept of

Biomedical treatment versus humanistic treatment is major. The idea of treating psychosis and

other mental illness with medications and procedures like electroshock therapy or lobotomies is

considered biomedical treatment (Spielman 2014). Conversely, the idea of treating patients with

therapy based around them and their conscious thoughts is considered humanistic treatment

(Spielman 2014) Laeddis’s entire treatment is a battle between medicating him and lobotomizing

him versus treating him in client based, conscious thought therapy. Despite the humanistic

therapy taking place throughout most of the storyline, there is still threat of lobotomy behind the

scenes, and Laeddis is still being medicated throughout his enactment of his fantasy. Eventually,
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the outcome of the humanistic therapy is unknown, as Laeddis seems to fall back into his fantasy

again, but willingly this time. Either the treatment did not work, or it did and Laeddis cannot live

with himself, and he is sent to be lobotomized. Ultimately, biomedical therapy wins in the end

(Scorsese 2010).

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Shutter Island did a good job at accurately representing mental illness in the 1950’s. The

misconception that “Teddy” is normally functioning makes viewers think about the reality of

mental illness. The viewers are so surprised at the plot twist of “Teddy” being the mentally ill

Laeddis, yet they do not pick up on any of the warning signs presented earlier in the film.

Laeddis is presenting serious signs of PTSD, alcoholism, and schizophrenia for most of the film

and it gets overlooked. To a certain extent, this brings attention to the fact that mental illness,

regardless of the condition, is often not taken seriously in this culture. As far as the actual

representation of the mental illnesses, I think the story played them well. It is hard to know

exactly what conditions Laeddis had because they were never formally diagnosed beyond

psychosis, but the symptoms he portrayed accurately depicted PTSD and schizophrenia. The

conditions of the “hospital” or asylum seemed accurate for the time-period. The story took place

in 1954, and that was just as medications were coming out for mental illness and it was before

Kennedy put the act into place that revamped mental institutions (Spielman 2014). The idea of

biomedical treatment versus humanistic treatment was also intriguing and considerably accurate.

Lobotomies would never be considered as an option now, but treatment modalities often battle

until the correct one for each patient is found. I think that the movie Shutter Island, while not

perfectly correct, was an intriguing film about the complexities of mental illness.
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References

Scorsese, M., Kalogridis, L., Medavoy, M., Messer, A. W., Fischer, B. J., Brigham, C., . . .

Robertson, R. (2010). Shutter Island (Widescreen.). Hollywood, Calif.: Paramount Home

Entertainment.

Spielman, R.M., Dumper, K., Jenkins, W., Lacobe, A., Lovett, M., & Perlmutter, M. (2014).

Psychology. Retrieved from https://northampton.odigia.com/