Mental Disorder

Mental disorders are behavior and thought patterns that interfere with an individual's cognition or emotional regulation, impairing their day-to-day lives. These include behavioral or chemical dysfunction, abnormal disorders, intense fears, chemical dependency and, natural to comics, exposure to substances which affect a person's thought process and actions.

It is a common attribute of characters in comics and a somewhat poorly-aged trope in fiction. Many comic book supervillains, particularly members of Batman's rogues gallery, are written as being mentally ill as a way to explain or justify their actions, which has attributed to the increased stigma surrounding mental illness over the years. However, more modern media often shows superheroes struggling with their emotional and behavioral well-being as well, painting a more accurate and respectful picture of those who live with these disorders.

Identifying mental illness in comic books requires notice of a character's behavior as it is or becomes irrational to the social norms of the comic book. For instance, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny may act in strange ways to our eyes, but within the context of his story, he is perfectly normal.

Types of disorders[]

• Anxiety disorders are categorized by significant feelings of anxiety and fear that are difficult to control and interfere with normal functioning. Commonly recognized anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), specific phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
  • An example of a DC character with an anxiety disorder is Jessica Cruz, who lives with PTSD and generalized anxiety.^[1][2]
• Mood disorders are categorized by significant and frequent emotional disturbances. Common among these are major depressive disorder (MDD), which can lead to intense, lengthy periods of sadness or despair, and bipolar disorder (BD), which involves mood states fluctuating between abnormally "high" and depressive.
  • Examples of DC characters with mood disorders would be Robotman, who suffers from major depression,^[3] Poison Ivy, who has seasonal affective disorder,^[4] and Two-Face, who has bipolar disorder.^[5]
• Psychosis is categorized by a struggle to distinguish reality from delusions and hallucinations. Types of psychosis include schizophrenia, delusional disorder, and schizoaffective disorder. Despite common misconception, psychosis is not related to psychopathic personality.
  • An example of a DC character with a psychotic disorder is Peacemaker, who has an unspecified psychosis that causes him to hallucinate.^[6]
• Personality disorders are categorized by abnormally rigid and maladaptive behaviors and cognition. They can be classed in different subcategoties: eccentric, such as paranoid and schizoid personality disorders, emotional, such as borderline and narcisisstic personality disorders, and fear-related, such as avoidant and dependent personality disorders.
  • Examples of DC characters with personality disorders would be Harley Quinn, who displays traits consistent with borderline and dependent personality disorders,^[7] and Lex Luthor, who is frequently depicted as having narcisisstic personality disorder.^[8]

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