Dissociative Identity Disorder In Fight Club

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At first, the movie Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk begins with a monologue from the main character, Jack. It’s quite apparent from his constant monotone thoughts that he is very tired of his life, and is a bit of a pessimist. Suffering from severe insomnia, he visited the doctor to ask for medication and is dismissed. The doctor himself told him to go to a testicular cancer support group to see real suffering. Following his instructions, he visited and instantly became addicted. In this environment it gave Jack the ability to let go and cry, allowing him able to sleep. He went to a different one each day, and with each meeting he found his relief. Soon after, he meets another woman, Marla, who attended all of the meetings as well, malingering…show more content…
When focusing on neuropsychology with its correlation to dissociative identity disorder, there are several brain structures that are affected. Dissociative identity disorder (DID) itself is the “mental process which produces a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity,” which is also associated with very subtle differences in the brain structures (Dissociative Identity Disorder 1). After several studies including PET scans and MRI’s it has been shown that the frontal lobes, the hippocampus and the temporal lobes are slightly different than that of a normal functioning brain. Other than that, it has even been shown that the frontal cortex and the temporal lobes are a little smaller as well. It has been discovered as well that dissociative identity disorder is also created by the excessive activation of dopamine receptors. It’s said that DID is a form of defense mechanism since the person will “dissociate [themselves] from a situation or experience that's too violent, traumatic, or painful to assimilate [too]” (Dissociative Identity Disorder 1). In Jack’s case, he seems to do this whenever he is sleep deprived or stressed out from work. Having this disorder causes one to change or have two distinct identities that can have their own age, sex, or race. They have their own…show more content…
This psychological theory states that there could be a biological predisposition vulnerability stress from life experiences, let alone the extra stress that people face as well. If you have this vulnerability, extra stress makes them exceed the threshold of tolerable stress and develop a disorder. For Jack, it seems that he has a vulnerability when it comes to how he was nurtured as a child. At one point during the movie, he mentions to Tyler how they are so alike because both of them had no father in their lives. This is means that he was mainly raised by his mother and that would therefor effect how he is as a person. Within Fight Club, it’s apparent that masculinity is frowned upon initially, but as Jack loses control of himself, grew substantially in acceptance. Society sees masculinity in negative light when it comes to the stereotypes of aggression, barbaric behavior, and chaotic tendencies. Since Jack was raised by his mother, this causes him to lack having a masculine father figure, leaving him with a predisposition vulnerability inevitably increasing his likelihood for dissociative identity disorder. The most common disorders that are developed with Diathesis-Stress Model include depression, anxiety and dissociative identity disorder. It’s even mentioned during conversations between Jack and Tyler that his father was never in the picture, which can surely affect him and the way he
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