This is Episode 13: Avengers: Infinity War.
Topics of Discussion
In a 2018 article written by Mary Ingram, Thanos is described as a “Sociopath with a heart.”
The article imagines a therapy session and intervention with Thanos.
“By the time this client told me this about his past, I had already diagnosed him with both Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD). The first is characterized by grandiosity, preoccupations with limitless power, beliefs in his own special purpose that no one else understands, entitlement, exploitation of others, lack of empathy, and arrogance. “Megalomaniac” fits well here. The second is characterized by repeated law-breaking, aggressiveness, and lack of remorse.”
Initial diagnosis would be schizophrenia for his appeared delusional conceptions.
Intervention:
Talking about the killing his daughter –
“So I wonder if your internal unrest stems first from the confusion and unfamiliarity of truly loving someone, and second from how that love (and its loss, at your own hand no less) deters from the triumph of realizing your dream. Does that fit?”
Reply:
“Love…” he said, voice dripping with indignation. “You’re saying that’s what’s bothering me, what tears my soul and keeps me from sleeping? Love has always been irrelevant,” he paused. “Though, it was apparently useful for gaining the Soul Stone.” His huge shoulders sagged. “My heart broke when I lost her, my little one, my fighter. But, in that moment, I thought it would be worth it, a worthy exchange, one she would have willingly died for if she truly understood me, if she could truly see the paradise I saw, the paradise I was creating.”
His narcissism was kicking up again here. I decided to go with it, connect with as much love as was there, but also wrap in his self-admiration.
“Long ago you had seen, in this struggling little girl on a dying planet, the fighter, the determination, the defiance in the face of the enemy. You had seen yourself in her. And you raised her to be your little one, even a little you. She became a part of you.” His eyes widened with these statements, some truth clicking into place for him.
“You thought, after killing her, after destroying a living, breathing, beautiful piece of yourself, that it would be worth it.” I paused, then asked softly, “Was it worth it?”
Outcome:
I still don’t know if what Thanos felt was love, which requires something fundamentally antithetical to someone with APD: empathy. Did he mourn out of guilt for ending the life of a person he loved and cared for, a person whose happiness and wellbeing he valued? Or did he only feel regret because he projected onto her an image of himself, and his narcissistic pride could not fathom why he might intentionally harm anything that was his? Is empathy, the ability to deeply understand and feel another’s emotions, really any different from seeing ourselves in another person?
Premise of Discussion
What might be psychologically wrong with Thanos? As a confusing and perplexingly complex character, how does it feel to try and imagine diagnosing him. Does it hold up?
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