American Psycho

Luis Briceno

April 6, 2016
 American Psycho is story that is revolving around a young Wall Street investment banker

named, Patrick Bateman. He narrates the whole story to include his daytime activities and his secret

belligerent night life. Patrick stands to be a very wealthy character that is capable of affording anything

he pleases. He explains how he has a very strict and precise morning routine that implies that he is very

particular about his appearance. He does the same exercise every day without changing up the uniform

workouts. These types of routines apply to his daily facial care. He only uses the best hygienic products

he can get. After he showers he stresses the detail in his facial ritual; the creams and lotions are the

finest and he explains that the face appliances he uses must be alcohol-free because it makes him look

younger. When it comes to the fashion he owns, he gets the finest suits made by the best tailors. In

addition to being able to afford theses clothing items, he wears this to present himself as very high

standard but yet, gets annoyed when he is complimented. These obsessive actions shows signs of

deviance. Throughout the movie he becomes hostile with small details in everyday things. If he isnt

right or things dont go as he wishes, he becomes very distressed and acts out furiously until things are

fixed or are to his advantage. This is shown when he is talking about his music and he speaks with so

much detail, but when others talk about it he becomes irritated. He also often shows this when there is

comparison of business card among his colleagues. At first he is boastful of his print, but then the others

show better ones and he freezes in anguish. Aside from these interactions with others, his social life

seems to be mirrored to himself. His friends seem to be exact replicas. They work the same jobs, talk
about the same things, become obsessed with following daily planners, and often misperceive each

others characters. Along with friends, he has a fianc, Evelyn, but both arent devoted to each other

and instead are involved in a series of affairs. Instead of being faithful, he shows matrimonial

dysfunction by cheating with Courtney, which is his friends girlfriend and his fiancs best friend. He

also is involved with prostitutes, which he would kill to pleasure himself and to relieve his distress

caused throughout the day. He made himself very dangerous for society because he acted so cold-

blooded with no remorse with his actions. Overall all these actions suggest that Patrick suffers from the

antisocial personality disorder.

According to the DSM-5, people diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder are also known

as sociopaths or psychopaths. According to the DSM-5, antisocial personality disorder has certain

criteria to diagnose to be categorize a person with the disorder. Some of these criteria included

aggressiveness, deceitfulness, impulsivity, and lack of remorse. Patrick shows a variety of actions

throughout the movie that show all these especially his unceasing aggression. In the beginning of the

movie, he attends a club and we get a hint of his ire when he tries to buy drinks with coupons and is

rejected. The bartender states the cash-only policy and as she makes his drinks after he pays, he begins

to indirectly insult her with profane words. He casually says how he wants to stab her to death and play

around with her blood (American Psycho, 2000). Another moment is when he goes to the cleaners and

tries to get his bloodied sheets washed. The employee didnt speak English, and began arguing with

Patrick. Instead of trying to reason with her, he threatens to kill her. The peculiar thing about his threat

was that the tone wasnt hostile, but instead he was very calm and playful. The certainty of his voice

made her realize that he would definitely act on his word, therefore she backed away. Along with the

threats he made, we would slay people for his own pleasure. He would be torturous and not feel

penitence after his actions. He would have an inclination of murdering people cold-bloodedly without

hesitation, in order to cope with his daytime irritations. In the movie he approaches a random homeless
man, and begins to deceive him with promises of helping him find a job. As the man begins to praise him

for his good deeds, Patrick begins to abuse him with a wave of insults. He uses the words worthless

and pathetic and demeans his hygiene. Patrick then mercifulness stabs and kills the man and his dog;

and walks away casually. Whether it was torturing prostitutes, murdering friends, or killing random

people; he would use a different identity and would act differently while using that identity showing his

deceitfulness. He would make impulsive decisions as the other identity, such as showing up to

restaurant he didnt make a reservation for, not thinking of the consequences of his actions and even

coming to the point here he kills anyone he sees.

These impulsive actions have him feeling content. With each person he murders, his pleasure is

increased and each time he does it with more ease. This can be explained in the behavioral model,

which states that behaviors influence actions/feelings. According to this model of psychology, Operant

conditioning is behaviors learned as a result of receiving awards because of certain actions performed

(Lecture notes, 2). In this case, operant conditioning was best connected as one of the roots of his

manners. Considering this, Patrick felt more pleasure every time he would hurt someone. He lacked

gratification with his regular life and felt like he had to resort to these extreme measures to gain his

reward of satisfaction. This explains why he continued to kill so many people without considering the

consequences because the satisfaction overcame the guilt.

Being a ruthless killer, Patrick would occasionally show a hint of aggression when he would be

acting normal. He would belittle others point of view and wouldnt be able to see anyones standpoint

other than his own. He would also disregard other peoples needs. These conditions would be included

in the cognitive model of psychology. This model explains how we interpret situations and how we

think about our problems (Lecture notes, 2). Patrick would revolve his thoughts on him and only his

needs. One of his actions that prove this is when he hirers the two prostitutes. Instead of letting them

talk, he focuses on his own interest such as talking about his music and would snap if anyone talked back
about them. He would also have them perform unusual acts. He would proceed to abuse them in order

to forget the negative thoughts of his day, even after they kept showing disgust and hesitation. His

excitement would increase and he eventually hurt them both, which ultimately lead to their deaths.

Since many of his actions were ignited with negative stressors, the sociocultural model, explains

that influence from the outside world ultimately shapes a person as whole. Patrick was a Wall Street

investment banker, his job was very competitive. Overall, his life seemed to be very competitive. He

tried to have the best suits, physique, business cards, and tried to make reservations at the best

restaurants. His main competition seemed to be his co-workers/friends. He murders one of his

competitors, Paul, with the primary anger being fueled over a reservation at Dorsia, the best restaurant

in the city according to the many mentions throughout the movie. He axes Paul in the head and cheers

Try Getting a reservation at Dorsia now you F**cking bastard (American Psych, 2000). The fact that his

competitor got a reservation Patrick couldnt get, influenced Patrick to murder him out of rage. This

model would best describe his behavior because the biological model isnt hinted in the movie. It

doesnt directly explain any biological factors such as his past generations suffering from anything, which

could otherwise have implied a transfer of bad genes. Biologically its possible his amygdala is

abnormally producing low levels of serotonin or his nervous system is responsible for his lack of fear, but

there isnt enough information in the movie to prove this.

Many personality disorders have different methods of treatment to either help control or

prevent actions that come from these maladies. Behavioral methods would include systematic

desensitization, which would constantly expose Patrick to stressors that cause aggressive behaviors in a

controlled environment and work for self-control over time. Cognitive therapy would have a therapist

help him understand and challenge his irregular thoughts. This would help him realize more humane

ways to interact with people and better ways to think about certain situations in his path. Therapy

concerning the sociocultural concept will focus on helping approach certain problems face-to-face. Since
his marriage fell apart due to affairs, matrimonial-based therapy would help him and his partner

understand the struggles within and may help change his attitude/emotions. Treatment to help with

biological factors usually include psychotropic medication (Anti-depressant drugs) or psychosurgery.

These wont work for him because it seems like Patrick occasionally abuses from drugs although it isnt

specified throughout the movie. Patrick has a wide selection of therapy methods, with the behavioral

therapy being the best, but the problem is that he believes he is perfectly fine and would not consider

seeking help. Eventually whether he tries or not, situations would arise where he cant act on, and he

would have to contain himself. With time he will be immune to smaller stressors and hopefully

increasing it to larger ones. The behavioral model will eventually work itself.

American psycho encompasses the specific personality disorder. It accurately depicts a character

suffering with the actual disorder and how it would evolve bigger with time. It begins with small factors

that feed his aggression such as oddly complaining to compliments for his suit, then they grow to

business card frustration and insults, to reservation jealousy that influence a murder, to a series of

murders because everything begins to annoy him. The character does a great job showing how his

impulses cause him to act with certain dangerous behaviors. The criteria for antisocial personality

disorder in the DSM-5 are shown with the certain characteristic of Patricks character. Unfortunately, I

feel like this portrays sociopaths as pugnacious killers. It is true they can be violent, and they can also act

normal at times, but this film highlights the absolute extreme to this disorder. Despite the unreal excess

of violence of the character, this thriller is a great movie that overall illustrates the psychopathic image

of the antisocial personality disorder.