Pro Military Gaming & Entertainment

This is a old post from back when I was going to do a blog about games from a psychologist perspective. Needless to say it never really took off but I thought it would be interesting to share.

Psycho is short for Psychology not psychopath

**Disclaimer** I would like to state that it is not my intent to make fun of anyone who suffers sever or less than sever mental disturbances. Mental Illness is a very serious matter that I do not take lightly! My goal is to one day work with and treat individuals that suffer from PTSD and other Anxiety disorders. Please look at this post as an attempt to combine both of my passions in a new and creative way. **

I loved just about everything the first Dead Space had to offer. The atmosphere reminded me of movies like Event Horizon and Alien (Which I might add are two great Sci-Fi horror flicks that I still watch from time-to-time). The main protagonist, Isaac Clarke, was silent but likable. His struggle to; survive, stave off hysteria, and rescue his girlfriend really helped to develop a character that sits right up there with other silent male protagonist. (The likes of Master Chief and Gordon Freeman in my opinion.) The story had its plot holes but still facilitated a great game play experience and packed a couple of good twists. Finally, yet most importantly, the game play and interface were outstanding. The lack of a traditional HUD helped the immersion factory, coupled with the non-traditional weaponry and edge of your seat thrills around every corner. This made Dead Space one of my favorite survivor horror franchises amongst juggernauts the likes of Resident Evil and Silent Hill.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to take Isaac Clarke through his second adventure against the Necromorphs until late February or March. I have a couple of big tests coming up and just do not have the time to slip in what is shaping up to be a fantastic sequel. Therefore, in between homework assignments I decided to evaluate Isaac Clarkes’ mental health using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV *(DSM-IV). This week in Abnormal Psychology, I learned about the DSM-IV and performed an evaluation on fake client in a case study. It made me ponder; if I could perform this diagnostic on any video game character which one would it be.

Unlike, the 5-10 page Case Study I have to read and then evaluate, a video game gives me hours of actual experience with the protagonist and his environment.  I think this could be a fun way to experiment with a tool and take a deeper look at the characters and worlds. Out of all the characters, I could think of no other character would have a greater need for a psychiatrist than the lone survivor of the Ishimura, Isaac Clarke. .. Or Kratos because his anger issues really need to be addressed! (Maybe next time..)

If you have not played the original Dead Space, go play it! What are you waiting for? Or click here for a brief synopsis via Wikipedia.

The DSM-IV is comprised of five sections:

Axis I- Clinical Disorders and conditions that need Clinical Attention

Axis II-Personality Disorders and Mental Retardation

Axis III-General Medical Conditions

Axis IV-Psychosocial and Environmental Problems

Axis V-Global Assessment of Functioning Scale

Axis I: During and after the events on the Ishimura Clarke will most than likely suffer from Acute Stress Disorder. Acute Stress Disorder is “a anxiety disorder that develops within one month after a severe traumatic event or experience.”( “Dsm-iv™ multiaxial system,”) After crash landing; being attacked by the limbs of deceased crew members, having to dismember your attackers, having your brain controlled by a mind altering (government reversed engineered) relic, and finding out the girlfriend that has been helping you from a far was a hallucination caused by the relic. Yeah, I’m guessing there would be some signs of acute stress after such events. I’m also sure that if Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine were seen after RE1 they would also be pretty distressed. Individuals suffering from this disorder also make every attempt to avoid being reminded of the trauma in question but will re-experience the “event” in dreams and nightmares. I would not be surprised if this was a theme in the upcoming sequel.

Here is how I drew my conclusion for Axis I:

Three or more of the following dissociative symptoms that developed during or after the event or experience:

1.       Loss of emotion, numbing, or detachment. –Isaac was designed to be silent in order for the player to attach him or herself and become immersed in the game and environment. If Isaac were a real person, he would have been silent and emotionless because he had to dispatch  humanoid enemies that wanted to rip him apart. A certain amount of detachment would be a necessary coping mechanism.

2.        Diminished awareness of surroundings.- Isaac Clarkes awareness  of his surrounding on the Ishimura were pretty sound because he always had a map or was being guided by one of the NPC’s to accomplish  the next task.  I will agree with statement only in that the power of the Marker (the mind altering relic) caused everyone on board to become hysterical and lose a large amount of awareness of his or her surroundings.

3.        Depersonalization.- I guess a fair amount of depersonalization exists for every game. Another person controls your reflex’s, inventory, and respawn fate! (Think Bioshock) If Isaac were real this symptom could be attributed to being sent on errands to flip switches and other misc tasks out of his control.

4.        Derealization.-No feelings of not being real but a feeling of altered reality that occurs often in schizophrenia and in some drug reactions was seen when the protagonist believed his girlfriend was helping him on many occasions. Maybe more of this will occur in Dead Space 2.

5.        Dissociative amnesia. Not in this game but I would love to see a little bit of this in the next game. Yeah, it is a little cliché and corny but I can’t help it.

Isaac Clarke may also be suffering from Residual Schizophrenia because of the delusions and hallucinations of his dead girlfriend, Nicole. However, he does not have enough of the symptoms to be considered a sufferer of full-blown Schizophrenia.

Axis II: N/A (no personality disorders or mental retardation in the first game)

Axis III: N/A (No general medical conditions outside of the need to heal after a nasty Necromorph melee)

Axis IV: Isaac has a boatload of psychosocial and environmental problems.

Problems with primary support group- What primary support group!? Everyone Isaac arrived with dies at some point and the girlfriend he came to save is deceased. The military vessel that comes to the rescue was really sent to kill him and its occupants are also dead, by the way.

Problems related to the social environment-Needless to say, there is no social environment. Isaac is all alone in the vacuum of space in a ship that is just as dangerous as the enemy characters that inhabit it. His social environment is a problem.

Occupational problems- imagine being a welder on the Titanic seconds after it hit the iceberg that brought it down. The tremendous stress of being of the one occupation that is in more demand than anything else in the world would have to be overwhelming. Isaac is under a similar amount of pressure but in this case, the ocean isn’t his enemy, the Necromorphs are.

Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (27 Currently)

“The Global Assessment of Functioning Scale is a 100-point scale that measures a patients overall level of psychological, social, and occupational functioning on a hypothetical continuum.” (“Dsm-iv™ multiaxial system,”)

The Global Assessment of Functioning Scale is not suppose to be taken as strict literal doctorine. Just like all tools, it is to be used to help the clinician diagnosis the patient and track history. Isaac just survived a horrible experience that thousands of the inhabitants of the ship and planet below did not. I’ll go out on a limb and say Isaac would need a substantial amount of psychotherapy just to function on a day to day basis. I would assess Mr. Clarke would be sitting around a 27 on the Global Assessment of Functioning scale.

“21-30 Behavior is considerably influenced by delusions or hallucinations OR serious impairment in communication or judgment ( e.g., sometimes incoherent, acts grossly inappropriately, suicidal preoccupation ) OR inability to function in almost all areas ( e.g., stays in bed all day, no job, home, or friends ).”

At the games conclusion Isaac has righted almost every wrong and fly’s off into the sunset so to speak, or so we think, up until the last seconds when we see a Necromorph on the ship with him that looks a lot like his ex-girlfriend, Nicole. Was this another delusion or was Isaac under attack?  I guess I’ll have to wait to play Dead Space 2. I like this ending because the protagonist doesn’t walk away unscathed and from the previews given Isaac Clarke’s mental state isn’t the healthiest mentally at the start of Dead Space 2. I actually had the time to play the demo and of course noticed a segment of the game when Isaac perceived he was under attack but it was just an hallucination. Thus, I conclude that the events and influence of the Marker has had severe negative effects on Isaac’s mind. Isaac Clarke’s behavior is influenced by delusions and or hallucinations that severely impair his judgment.

So what do you think? Interesting or not really?

* The DSM-IV is “intended to be applicable in a wide array of contexts and used by clinicians and researchers of many different orientations (e.g., biological, psychodynamic, cognitive, behavioral, interpersonal, family/systems). DSM-IV has been designed for use across settings, inpatient, outpatient, partial hospital, consultation-liaison, clinic, private practice, and primary care, and with community populations and by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, occupational and rehabilitation therapists, counselors, and other health and mental health professionals. It is also a necessary tool for collecting and communicating accurate public health statistics.” (“Dsm-iv™ multiaxial system,”)

Dsm-iv™ multiaxial system ( made easy ). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://psyweb.com/dsm_iv/jsp/dsm_iv.jsp