Clinical Diagnosis and Rationale for the Diagnosis
Randle McMurphy is the protagonist in the movie “One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest”. Although he does not overtly show any mental disorder, he seems to be suffering from narcissistic personality disorder (Zaentz & Forma, 1975). Randle McMurphy suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorders (in Axis 1), which, as he manifests, is proven by several symptoms. The patient employs humiliation and shame to win over others, exploits the situation to gratify himself and becomes jealous easily. He is also confident, arrogant and contemptuous, living in unrealistic fantasies, beauty, power, intelligence and romance, and appearing less emotional (American Psychiatric Association, 2014).
In this regard, from the first time McMurphy enters the ward, he can be seen humiliating and shaming his arch-opponent, Ratched, by criticizing her and inciting other patients against her. When he realizes that all patients fear her, he quickly exploits the situation to distinguish himself from the rest of the group as a leader in order to make them 'think for themselves' and not remain conformists. Being jealous, he makes the whole story evolve at the centre of jealousness between him and Ratched. For grandiosity and extreme fantasy, he steals the bus of the hospital and plans a trip for every patient to go fishing. When he was a prisoner of war, it is said that he led others in breakout from Chinese detention camps. Although the permission to watch the television is denied, he switches it himself. Moreover, he turns a hospital word into a beer party with women to endeavor his sexual desires. McMurphy is always confident with what he does; while undergoing therapy with others he never cries at all. For arrogance and contemptuousness, immediately he enters the ward, he starts swearing, making off- color sexual remarks in his opposition to nurse Ratched (Zaentz & Forma, 1975).
References
American Psychiatric Association. (Ed). (2000).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders. 4th ed. Arlington: American Psychiatric Association.
Zaentz, S. & Douglas, M. (Producers), Forman, M. (Director). (1975).One Flew Over the
Cuckoo's Nest [Motion picture].United States: United Artists.
