By Dr. Laura Wilhelm, LauraWil Intercultural
Sonnet Daymont LMFT has years of experience treating victims of individuals with Dark Triad personalities–just the sort who often show up as serial killers, child molesters, and other incorrigible criminals on film and television screens. While we would never want to meet any of them in real life, the keep us fascinated in fiction.
Sonnet offered to share her insights with THT readers using the celebrated psychological horror films THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and SEVEN as a starting point. Her illuminating responses appear below.
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS‘ notorious character played by Anthony Hopkins, Hannibal Lecter, meets current diagnostic criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder in the United States, diagnostic criteria model known as the DSM-V-Tr. He has a lack of empathy, excessive superficial charm, deceit with manipulation, a history of trauma, poor behavioral control in terms of following societal norms, and the symptom that tends to lead to arrest for most with psychopathy, impulsive behavior. A character like Hannibal Lecter may present as an exaggeration, or stereotype of the Dark Triad.
The film SEVEN presents a similar, but different character with Antisocial Personality Disorder in the form of John Doe, played by Kevin Spacey. This character shows a different form of the same cookie cutter symptoms of lack of empathy, superficial charm, manipulativeness, unprocessed childhood trauma and impulsive behavior.
John Doe, however, exaggerates his following of social norms and feels entitled to punish those who go against his interpretation of Biblical teachings on the Seven Deadly Sins. In my opinion this film also does a great job expressing what it feels like to be in the presence of someone with the disorder. The character himself feels more annoying and attention-seeking, but that could be my own issue as I tend to view Kevin Spacey that way in the limited number of roles I’ve seen him in.
There is a new film coming out that I think does an incredible job showing the complexity of Antisocial Personality Disorder called WOMAN IN THE YARD. The film will be in theaters on March 28th, and I was asked to contribute to some of the writing development for Danielle Deadwyler’s character, Ramona and The Woman played by Owkui Okpokwasili. I wish I could say more, but since the film isn’t released yet, I don’t want to ruin it – but if you want to see a film that walks you through what it feels like to be in the presence of a female with Dark Triad traits, that would be another recommendation.
As a psychotherapist who works with crime survivors, and the relatives, spouses, and colleagues of Dark Triads doing healing work, I think all of those films do an excellent job presenting the complexity of navigating manipulation with a lack of empathy – and the abuse that often takes place when engaging with the Dark Triad personality disorders. Not all of those with Antisocial Personality Disorder are as extreme in their predatory actions, but if you’ve engaged with a true psychopath, you will be triggered by the performance of Anthony Hopkins in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. The eye contact, calm voice, manipulation, and strategic thinking feel spot on.
I treat survivors of Dark Triads, not those with the disorders themselves – but I have learned a great deal about the personality types in my personal and professional life. My new book, WHEN DANGEROUS FEELS LIKE HOME, is moving towards publication now. I write about my experience as live in personal assistant to murderer Gigi Jordan in my 20s and how that experience led me to become a psychotherapist.
If I were to treat a survivor of Hannibal Lecter, John Doe, or the character I mentioned from WOMAN IN THE YARD, I would set up the therapy in a similar way – with flexibility and personalization of their unique experiences as survivors. Antisocial Personality Disorder and other Dark Triads offer their survivors a unique set of complex challenges and memories to work through, but the pathway to healing in my experience is similar. And I would argue it can paradoxically offer their survivors moments of more wisdom and joy than they would perhaps achieve without it.
I believe post-traumatic growth is possible when survivors put the work and time into it. Resilience isn’t something we’re born with, it’s a combination of learnable skills, creativity, and intrinsic human integrity that leads us to earn it.
When I work with survivors of Psychopaths, Anti-social Personalities, Machiavellian Personalities, Sociopaths, and Narcissists, I begin with the basics of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Art Therapy based interventions, and psychoeducation on boundaries and assertiveness before bringing in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR). Usually, we finalize therapy with a focus on routines of self-care, building up healthier connections and relationships, and then an action plan towards working on building a beautiful life they want next. We focus on their post-traumatic growth, wisdom, and strength so that they can feel confident, strong, and useful.
My hope is that every single one of my clients becomes a powerhouse and conduit of healing that makes the world a better place. Not everyone gets handed the background that forces them to be a badass, but if you do, you should make the most of it.