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Rob ShermanD. SchaeferPSY15112/9/2010

Do you know Tyler Durden?Dissociative Identity Disorder analysis of the movie Fight Club

When compared with the DSM-IV-TR’s description of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

the movie Fight Club correlates quite well. The DSM-IV-TR puts forth these four criterion for a

DID diagnosis.

1. The presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states.

2. At least two of these identities or personality states recurrently take control of the person's behavior.

3. Inability to recall important personal information that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.

4. The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance or a general medical condition (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, p. 529).

The Narrator’s personality is passive, dependent and depressed while Tyler’s is

flamboyant, controlling, and mischievous. The difference between how the characters act is

obvious. The Narrator initially has a head down, arms close walk while Tyler’s is more open and

observant. This changes as the Narrator’s exposure to Tyler continues. While the Narrator

becomes more like Tyler was initially, the personality of Tyler continues to develop along an

anti-social and destructive route. He drops the suave hair cut and clothes for a shaved head,

colored faux-fur lined parka and increasingly violent commentary. Without knowing the ending

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in advance, a new viewer would be hard pressed to detect the characters are splinters of the

same person.

The Narrator’s frantic attempts to locate Tyler halfway through the film exemplify the

DSM’s description of memory gaps and meet the criterion for different personalities taking

reoccurring control. Since the Narrator is the passive personality of the two it would follow

that he would not know what Tyler was doing according to the DSM. The insomnia and

perceived narcolepsy become the method that Narrator’s personality employs to try and create

order during a lack of control. This is also true of the visual hallucinations the Narrator has of

“watching” Tyler lead meetings and is also an example of a dormant personality intruding upon

an active one. As the Narrator’s personality becomes more aggressive, memory leaks are

depicted. The first being of Tyler’s first night with Marla. The rest of the memories come with

his suspicion and final acceptance that he is in fact both personalities.

Tyler claims to have been created by the Narrator in direct response to the Narrator’s

angst over becoming so materialistic. This materialistic tendency could be a direct result of the

Narrator’s father leaving when he has six. The sense of abandonment would then be

complicated by pangs of inadequacy caused by feeling replaced by each of his father’s

subsequent families. With no mention of the Narrator’s mother, it can only be inferred that she

was there physically but not emotionally. The Narrator’s affirmation that he is a thirty year old

boy indicates a feeling of being unprepared for responsibility and is unable to see beyond his

needs. The materialistic tendencies shown by the Narrator might have developed as a result of

all of this. If they own an inanimate object, it cannot leave them. The higher the desirability of

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the object, the better a person its owner appears to be. Tyler is also an example of what the

Narrator considers a male role model. The Narrator does not exhibit any substance

dependencies, or physical issues that DID could be attributed to.

The DSM also mentions potential specific actions and possible traits of those with DID.

The chemical burn scar inflicted upon the Narrator is an example of self mutilation along with

the cuts and bruises that followed a fight. The dysfunctional relationship that Tyler creates with

Marla is another. He is drawn to her because of the Narrator’s subconscious realization that

they are similar, but he rejects her as he cannot, or does not want to, emotionally connect.

Tyler’s reoccurring sex with Marla could be a ploy to force the Narrator to interact with her as

Tyler may realize the Narrator’s need for connection. Or he could just enjoy making him

squirm. At the close of the movie, the Narrator shoots himself through his cheek, an action that

normally would reduce a person to a deaf, sobbing mess. The Narrator’s ability to almost

entirely ignore the pain is also documented within the DSM.

The movie hints that Tyler has been with the Narrator for a long time. Single frame

“blips” of Tyler throughout the movie, possibly equating Tyler to the porn he was splicing into

movie reels. The scene where Tyler himself says he will take care of things as he always had

blatantly proclaims it. Combine these with the closing of the movie depicting a film change

over with a splice of a penis onscreen, and the impression is that Tyler is still around. Tyler’s

professed reason for existence was to make the Narrator come to terms with death and be able

to accept it. Once that purpose had been met, his direct intervention was no longer needed.

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Fight Club does not conform to the average description of DID within the DSM-IV-TR in a

few areas. The most important being is that the Narrator does not mention any childhood

sexual or physical abuse. Traumatic abuse is believed to be required for a person to develop

DID. The Narrator has one alternate personality while the average for men is eight. The movie

does not address the increasing prevalence of DID diagnosis, or the fact that it crosses cultural

boundaries.

Treatment for Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) would initially involve a combination

of a projective personality test with followed by structured interview. A Rorschach inkblot test

would be able to provide initial guidance by scoring the subject’s emotional or perceptual

responses to the inkblots. Since each psychological disorder has been shown to fall within a

calculable range, by using the Labott Signs those with DID could be filtered out from those with

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Bi-polar disorder. The Labott Signs postulates that the

Dissociative aspects could manifest in three areas corresponding to descriptions containing the

adjectives, blurry, far away or extremely distant, or unstable. The second aspect the Labott

Signs postulate is the usage of fragmenting, or splitting apart descriptors when describing

inkblots (Exner Jr. & Erdberg, 2005, p. 126). The Rorschach test has also has a high probability

of detecting people attempting to fake DID. The Rorschach could also offer up insight into the

nature of the trauma experienced.

A woman who had DID who reported a history of severe early sexual abuse saw "a bloody vagina" on card 2, which made her extremely anxious. Immediately afterwards, she reported a dissociative-sounding percept of a "far away castle, surrounded by clouds." She disconnected from the discomfort aroused by a traumatic intrusion by immediately switching to a pleasant,

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fanciful image of a place of refuge, which is a classic example of the defensive role of dissociation (Brand, Armstrong, & Loewnstein, 2006, p. 159).

The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Dissociative Disorders-Revised (SCID-D-R )

would then be used to measure the patient’s degree of dissociation within five areas. “The

SCID-D-R is a clinician-administered interview that evaluates the severity of core dissociative

symptoms, and diagnoses the dissociative disorders based on DSM-IV criteria” (Steinberg, Hall,

Lareau, & Domenic, 2001). Amnesia is the first symptom assessed by the SCID-D-R and can be

defined as the inability to recall large blocks of time, and/or the inability to recall important

personal information. The second area evaluated is depersonalization. It involves the

experience of detachment from one's body or self. Possibly feeling that their body is strange or

unreal, or feeling that they are "going through the motions of life" like a robot. The third area

involves the sense that one's physical environment has lost its sense of familiarity or reality and

is called derealization. Identity confusion is the fourth area assessed by the SCID-D-R. It is

defined as a sense of uncertainty, puzzlement, or conflict regarding personal identity. The last

area evaluated is identity alteration. It involves observable behavior indicating the assumption

of different identities as reported by the patient, family or by the usage of different names,

finding possessions that one cannot remember acquiring, and possessing a skill that one cannot

remember having learned.

Once the breadth and scope of the DID has been approximated, the process of teaching

each personality to cooperate and get along would begin. This would facilitate the sharing of

unique skills and memories between identities. The reason cooperation is pursued before

reintegration is to lessen the possibility of conflict erupting from the fear an identity might have

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over being subjectively killed. Along with cooperation, each personality would be taught coping

mechanisms. These coping mechanisms would allow the therapist to ask probing questions

concerning issues indicated within the Rorschach results without triggering an identity swap.

Hopefully as each identity is treated, they will begin to fold into each other with the resultant

personality being a fusion of memories, abilities and personality. Twenty-Seven months after

final fusion results in a single identity with no observable incidents of alternate personalities,

the patient would be given the “stable” designation (International Society for Study of

Dissociation, 2005).

While enjoyable in a voyeuristically deviant way Fight Club does nothing but

sensationalize DID. I could relate to the “everyman” persona of the Narrator but not to Tyler.

The Narrator’s search for purpose and identity resonated with many of my memories. While I

could not understand the concept of what piece of furniture defines me, I could understand his

need for identity. After sitting in on an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, seeing the Narrator

using other support programs was just plain awkward. I alternated between revulsion and pity

over his duplicitous actions. I simply could not relate to him. After he met Tyler, I did begin to

live vicariously through the Narrator as he explored his new found aggressive and assertive

nature. I abruptly stopped empathizing with him when he began to act openly disrespectfully

towards his coworkers and boss. I have worked with, and have had to pick up after, many

people that acted similarly. As a result the scene in which the Narrator’s boss confronts him

about copying the Fight Club rules actually made me feel disappointed in his actions. His

subsequent framing of his boss for physically abusing him deepened my disappointment. From

that point up until the death of Bob, the Narrator and Tyler were essentially identical to me.

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After the Narrator has his epiphany and goes in frantic search for Tyler, I begin to empathize

with him again.

Tyler initially reminded me of a manipulative car salesman.

Works CitedAmerican Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic And Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth ed.). Washington: American Psychiatric Association.

Brand, B. L., Armstrong, J. G., & Loewnstein, R. J. (2006). Psychological Assessment of Patients with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Psychiatric Clinics of North America , 145-168.

Exner Jr., J. E., & Erdberg, P. (2005). The Rorschach: Advanced Interpretation. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

International Society for Study of Dissociation. (2005). Guidelines for Treating Dissociative. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation , 69-149.

Steinberg, M., Hall, P., Lareau, C., & Domenic, C. V. (2001). Recognizing the Validity of Dissociative Symptoms. Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal , 225-242.