While the terms are nowadays mostly used interchangeably for Antisocial Personality Disorders (ASPDs), their meanings do slightly differ. As part of the well-known nature-nurture debate, there has been a lot of discussion about these terms, but usually a ASPD patiënt is referred to as a psychopath when the person in question is completely unable to form emotional attachments and lack empathy and the term sociopath is utilised to describe a ASPD patiënt for who it’s difficult, but not impossible to form emotional attachment. In regard of the revelations of chapter 79, this discussion is reflected in the personalities of Tooru Mutsuki and Juuzou Suzuya.
First of all, I think it is important to point out that these terms are not strictly seperated; a lot of aspects are shared by both, yet the slight difference in meaning makes it rather interesting to look at in the retrospect of the stories of Tooru and Juuzou.
The sociopath – Juuzou Suzuya
Sociopathy is the ‘’nurture’’ side of the debate. The antisocial, violent and disregard towards social morals of the sociopath find their origin in childhood trauma, physical and/or emotional abuse.
By living on the fringe of societ, in the eyes of others, sociopaths will appear to be very disturbed.
But because sociopathy tends to learned rather than being innate, a sociopath is able to have empathy in a limited way. This in not a sense of empathy for other people in general, as they do not care about society or it’s rules.
it rather is a feeling aimed towards select individuals:
This is confirmed by the switch from 13 to 12 of his bobbypins in the two panels (but the tarot behind that is something to explain another time). From here on out, during :re, Juuzou is only developing further towards a more moral way. The violent and antisocial tendency remains, but he is now able to feel some kind of remorse for a select few. This select few is now extend to his squad, although they remain aware of what is really going on:
The psychopath – Tooru Mutsuki
At the other side of the debate, the psychopath stands. Despite of being unable to feel empathy or form emotional bonds, they often have a very disarming or even charming personality. At the same time, this makes them even more frightening.
A psychopath is perfectly capable of mimicing emotions and displaying them in a way that would appear normal to others. With this ability, they are capable of blending into society and even maintain strong relationships.
When it comes down to committing a crime, Tooru has got it all figured out. What especially marks a psychopath’s work, is the meticulous detail to it. The way Tooru killed Torso also displays careful planning and fearsome detailing:
Psychopathy often originates from a physiological disorder to the brain, causing fundamental changes to the brain’s regulation of impulse control and emotions. Because of that, a psychopath is unable to reflect upon his actions and even dissociate from them, no matter how terrible they are. This is especially the case for Tooru as he has completely forgotten about them until now.
Sociopath or psychopath?
Now here’s the catch: Tooru did get abused as child as well, which is actually very typical for a sociopath.
This might have been the intial reason to murder his family, rather than some sort of brain malfunction. Yet this also shows the duality in between sociopathy and psychopathy, as the line in between is blurred. It also happens the other way around: Juuzou also plans ahead for his actions, which is something a psychopath would do.
This is once more showcasing one of the main themes through out the series; things aren’t as simple as they seem. I think it is really nice to see how these two develop in completely different way although they are somewhat similiar in the first place. If you have any more ideas about this, do not hestitate to add something to this 🙂
I really appreciate this post, because it focuses on two characters that I really love and, to be more specific, I love them especally when they are together. I feel like Suzuya and Mutsuki have been created in a specular way, in which shadows and lights alternate their influence,
blurring boundaries
and complicating already difficult situations.
Let’s begin from this:Suzuya was abused just like Mutsuki, but he developed towards Big Madam a completely different disposition than the one mutsuki harbored against his father(and family in general, as we can guess?).
Suzuya suffered a kind of Stockholm syndrome which prompted him to think he have to love Big Madam, despite her daily tortures; indeed, one could also say that, during the period of slavery,
Juuzou learned to love the pain itself. His body and mind adapted to that twisted environment in the direction of accepting it and survive. Big Madam, for her part, adopted ambiguous attitudes, dosing raw violence and sweetness in order to intensify the psychological dependency of his human pet (it could also be argued that she, in the end, felt a little of affection for Juuzou, but we don’t have to deal with this matter now.)
As for Tooru, adaptation and submission to the violent parent were only a facade. Tooru never really yielded to the abuses: the fierce and savage sparkle in his eyes, the same that would enrage Torso years later, was already a clear sign of the boy’s temperament during his family days, a temperament that his frustrated father could not bear.
At this point, it’s easy to draw a dividing line, although really slim:Juuzou would’ve never rebelled against bigMadamand would’ve never killed her of his own free will. When forced to chase her, he claims that he doesn’t retain any grudge against her and that he’s simply doing his job. Tooru, instead, hated the monster(s) in his house and did nothing but dream of running away. Tooru lied through his teeth every time he flattered his father, but he couldn’t help it because, at that time, he was only a child and he didn’t have any other weapon to protect himself against further beatings and sexual brutalities (however, we’ve seen the use of this same “technique” also with Torso).
Tooru
spent the first twelve years of his life feeling completely helpless,
forced to swallow rivers of contempt and frustration without being able
to do anything to change his so miserable condition of life. At a certain point, some barriers in his psyche collapsed (which is why I find quite appropriate the definition of psychopathy as a “suffering of the psyche” for Tooru’s mental state,
although not completely) and he was no longer able to control the violent
instincts, developed during the repeated abuses, that previously were locked and had no way out. Now It
seems clear that Tooru’s triggers
are all the particularly stressful situations, such as: acclimating into the Academy (change of
environment, new people to meet, gain acceptance etc …), facing the imminent danger during the auction (in that circumstance, he had already been attacked and
was left completely alone in a hostile environment) and no doubt
having to suffer, once again, abuses and violence from a man. Torso’s action were definetly the last step
towards the abyss of psychological breakdown in which Tooru is now isolated.
That being said, we can draw a further dividing line: whileTooru’s reactions are strongly influenced by the external environment, Suzuya constantly lives in his own reality and he’s not much affected by the consequences of interacting with other people, except in certain specific cases.
Suzuya
is almost the “perfect model” of a sociopath, since he can’t
functionally interact with normal context because of the special setting, based
on cruelty, his mind had received when he was a child. For
him there are no clear distinctions between “right and wrong”, let
alone social conventions to be subjected to. He reacts
mechanically when he feels threatened or when he perceives
hostility from someone, then his emotions are extremely elementary and
based on the moment, almost like those of animals. This
particular condition, as it may seem desperate, actually makes Suzuya a
subject more “manageable” than Tooru, because as we have seen,
prolonged contact with people genuinely interested in his welfare is
gradually changing his thought patterns, leading him to understand things that his “wild-self” could never achieve alone.
A subject like Tooru, instead, is much more tricky. The particular which I find myself more at odds with, when it comes to define Tooru as a “canonical” psychopath, is the total lack of empathy. Psychopaths, just like lots of people have already pointed out, can not in any way (or at least they can, but very slightly) perceive emotions and understand those of others – in fact, this condition is often caused by biochemical changes in the brain, occured in various ways (drug abuse, schizofrenia, incidents, coma, loss of oxigen, genetic disorders etc..). However, since they are forced to adapt to social contexts and “regular” life routines everyday, this people tend to set up masks that make them more acceptable and, in many cases, even enjoyable. Here seems to lie the main watershed between Suzuya – who is not in the least interested in his appearance in society – and manipulative psychopaths, frequently marked by a distinct chameleonic attitude.
Tooru’s massacres are undoubtedly characterized by rituals typically found in psychopathic tendencies, but he can not be portrayed in the generic conventions of psychopathy because he is an highly empathetic person. His sensibility and susceptibility to external influences are real, not artifacts processed by a cold and impenetrable mind. Accorfing to this assumption, I think the character
closest to the popular imaginary of the psychopath is Furuta Nimura, above anyone else. Although Tooru’s profile seems scarred by the same main elements, Furuta encloses and completely represents the sense of unease transmitted by those individuals who seem to have no qualms or remorse for their actions. All of his behaviors are perfectly calculated, his moves are methodical and studied in detail. His colleagues recognize him more often as a subject a bit ‘quirky but reliable and they always believe in his “tears” (remember the scene during the raid against the Tsukiyama family: Furuta kills an inconvenient witness in cold blood and beats himself up to throw off the other ccg members). However, I’m not making an analysis about Furuta, please don’t mind these last lines too much…
In order to find a definition that approaches better and more widely Tooru’s mental state, we must actually forget the classic distinctions between sociopathy and psychopathy, extending our spectrum of research to a class of more heterogeneous disorders, the DID = Dissociative Identity Disorders:
“ Dissociative identity disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder (MPD), is a mental disorder on the dissociative spectrum characterized by the appearance of at least two distinct and relatively enduring identities or dissociated personality
states that alternately show in a person’s behavior, accompanied by
memory impairment for important information not explained by ordinary
forgetfulness.
Other symptoms include loss referring to time, sense of self
and consciousness and dissociative amnesia. Dissociative disorders have been attributed to disruptions in memory caused bytraumaand other forms of stress:
The majority of patients with DID report childhood sexual and/or physical abuse. Identities may be unaware of each other and compartmentalize knowledge and memories, resulting in chaotic personal lives. Individuals with DID may be reluctant to discuss symptoms due to associations with abuse, shame, and fear.
Some terms have been proposed regarding dissociation: psychiatrist
Ellert Nijenhuis and colleagues suggest a distinction between
personalities responsible for day-to-day functioning (associated with
blunted physiological responses, referred to as the “apparently normal part of the personality” or ANP) and those emerging in survival situations (involving fight-or-flight responses, vivid traumatic memories and strong, painful emotions, the “emotional part of the personality” or EP). “
I find very amusing that a manga can push so many people to become interested in serious and delicate issues like these. I hope my meta managed to capture your interest, but I want to specify that it has no claim to be a professional analysis on the discussed topics (at least not yet XD), so take it as a light reading…
Relatable FE Quote or Something 