Psychological Disorder In Fight Club
Are we who we thing we are? How do we know that we have not gone insane years ago? It’s these questions that may slowly start surfacing in the back of the reader’s mind as he proceeds to flip through the pages of Fight Club, written by Chuck Palahniuk in 1996. The story mainly takes place in an unspecified major city, which closely matches the setting of Wilmington, Delaware, and revolves around the life of a nameless narrator who is battling with insomnia. Inspired by his doctor's exasperated remark that insomnia is not suffering, the protagonist finds relief by impersonating a person suffering from various life threatening sicknesses in several support groups. Then he meets a mysterious man named Tyler Durden and establishes an underground
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“Insomnia is the feeling of inadequate or poor-quality sleep because of one or more of the following: trouble falling asleep; trouble remaining asleep through the night; waking up too early; or unrefreshing sleep for at least one month” (“Psychology Today: Insomnia,” 2015). There are many causes of insomnia as suggested by the article by Siamak N. Nabili; among them the nameless narrator of Fight Club would have met the criteria for several: jet lag, changes in shift work, stressful situations in life, and insomnia related to high altitude (flying in the case of the narrator) (2014). “One can also acquire chronic or long-term insomnia…[causes of which] are usually linked to an underlying psychiatric or physiologic (medical) condition” (Nabili, 2014). Throughout the text it is evident that the narrator met several of such factors, which may have been the cause of his insomnia, and yet there was one more, the previously unmentioned psychiatric condition—the dissociative identity disorder. “Dissociative identity disorder is a severe condition in which two or more distinct identities, or personality states, are present in—and alternately take control of—an individual.” (“Psychology Today: Dissociative Identity Disorder,” 2014). The condition is “characterized by a fragmentation, or splintering, of identity” (“Psychology Today: Dissociative Identity Disorder,” 2014). “Usually, a primary identity carries the individual's given name and is passive, dependent, guilty and depressed. When in control, each personality state, or alter, may be experienced as if it has a distinct history, self-image and identity. The alters' characteristics—including name, reported age and gender, vocabulary, general knowledge, and predominant mood—contrast with those of the primary identity” (“Psychology Today: Dissociative
“Insomnia is the feeling of inadequate or poor-quality sleep because of one or more of the following: trouble falling asleep; trouble remaining asleep through the night; waking up too early; or unrefreshing sleep for at least one month” (“Psychology Today: Insomnia,” 2015). There are many causes of insomnia as suggested by the article by Siamak N. Nabili; among them the nameless narrator of Fight Club would have met the criteria for several: jet lag, changes in shift work, stressful situations in life, and insomnia related to high altitude (flying in the case of the narrator) (2014). “One can also acquire chronic or long-term insomnia…[causes of which] are usually linked to an underlying psychiatric or physiologic (medical) condition” (Nabili, 2014). Throughout the text it is evident that the narrator met several of such factors, which may have been the cause of his insomnia, and yet there was one more, the previously unmentioned psychiatric condition—the dissociative identity disorder. “Dissociative identity disorder is a severe condition in which two or more distinct identities, or personality states, are present in—and alternately take control of—an individual.” (“Psychology Today: Dissociative Identity Disorder,” 2014). The condition is “characterized by a fragmentation, or splintering, of identity” (“Psychology Today: Dissociative Identity Disorder,” 2014). “Usually, a primary identity carries the individual's given name and is passive, dependent, guilty and depressed. When in control, each personality state, or alter, may be experienced as if it has a distinct history, self-image and identity. The alters' characteristics—including name, reported age and gender, vocabulary, general knowledge, and predominant mood—contrast with those of the primary identity” (“Psychology Today: Dissociative