Psychopathy & Mental Illness in Game of Thrones | Song of Ice and Fire

Brilliant work, Gemma. Well done! And like some of the other folks on this board I think the show and the books coupled with your analysis would be a useful adjunct to any classes in the mental illness field, whether psychiatry, psychology or even just counseling. The world of Ice & Fire is indeed a dysfunctional one in many ways and is filled with dysfunctional people.

brilliant video gemma!! would love to see more of this series

This melancholy and stoic behaviour of Jon Snow reminds me of my grandfather. Grew up during the Great Depression, was a grunt in the Korean War. His platoon being lost for 2 weeks, where most of his men died with my grandfather taking shrapnel. He received 2 battle field promotions becoming master sergeant.
He was a man of few words.

Gem this was w/o a doubt ur best video yet!! Ur such a smart little brit!! Keep up the great work!!!

Hodor isn't retarded, he's been magically lobotomized.

Very good video!

BEST VIDEO ABOUT GOT. EXCELLENT & DEEP Secrets of the Citadel, love your accent also.

By the way make another video about personality types in the world of ASOIAF.

"everyone has PTSD"
is basically the conclusion here.
hardly abnormal for a medieval world, let alone one like westeros.

why did mister/miss super psychiatrist neglect to diagnose Euron, or even Baelon?

Euron from the ironislands, a place modeled and based off of viking culture, of course he was "possibly" a child molester, even though the vikings (in real life) are the only culture to have a famed hero entitled "the childlover" specifically BECAUSE he REFUSED to kill and rape children – something the other vikings found to be hilarious.

lets just smear the vikings anyway, even though the christians and the catholics are the true fucking child molesters to this very day.
i blame George R.R Martin personally for this insane bias, which is apparent in almost all regards when it comes to the "cruel, evil ironmen".
can you mention ONE instance where the ironborn were NOT being exaggeratedly cruel and/or evil and ignorant in their acts, rather than merciful/logical?
they're basically the nazis of Westeros at this point.

I think I’m a little like Lysa and Robert, bi-polar and ADHD. I’m very protective of my daughter that it’s unhealthy at times. Thank God my husband is there to straighten me out as well as lots of therapy!

GRRM gives out mental illnesses to his characters like Oprah hands out gifts to her audience: "YOU get PTSD! And YOU get PTSD! And YOU get PTSD!"

Wow… Gemma, this video is really cool! So much information on psychopathy in it.
And I particularly like your intro with the little blue-flaming bolt that gives rise to your portrait, How did you do that? 🙂

You seem to suggest that because lysa arryn drank the potion to abort littlefinger's child, that robert is not littlefinger's child. I know it is a different topic, but robert is certainly not jon arryn's child. Who else but littlefinger's?

<3

Selyse and Sweetrobin are obviously the only sane persons in Westeros.

i think you'll find caesar is pronounced more like kaisar… since that's where the germans got that title from (but only after caesar built a bridge to kick their ass!)

One of the best video's I've seen on mental illness ever. Having been a sufferer myself and in frequent contact with others for many years, this is one subject that receives far too little public awareness and your conjecturing about the possible diagnosis of GoT characters, in my opinion, is a great help in that regard.

One question that has struck me is, how will Arya cope when there are no more names on her list? The list is obviously her coping mechanism for her PTSD, in that it drives her to get up in the morning and is her focus in life.

Yeah incest aint a good thing " even " in GoT look at any European so called "royal dipshits" and there all ether mental , sick , or a yenno

Game of Thrones is not medieval. It only looks slightly medieval. They compress hundreds of years into a single era. Oh yeah my criticism of the show is at its very eurocentric. For example the people north of the wall could have easily been played by Eskimos or Native Americans from Canada. And the only two Africans on the show with reoccurring roles are both slaves.

"and Visarys is an asshole". lmao im dead

when I read the books and got to the part about how Littlefinger thought he has slept with Cat after being rejected by her earlier on and it turned out to be Lysa. Now, I don't want to get all SJW about it, but isn't that rape? Also when Cat meets him in King's Landing she says he isn't the boy she knew. Is it possible that the incident traumatised Petyr, and that's why he's ended up the way he is now? I mean his Bravosi heritage could attribute to his expert handling of coin (because as we know in this story, blood seems to pass weird skills down) and not necessarily be attributed to the ruthlessness he operates with now. If this had never have happened, would we have had a more benevolent master of coin? And how would that affect the world?

"And Viserys is an asshole." — *dies laughing* 👍

"…and Viserys is an asshole." That have me a good chuckle.

i never heard before that stannis might be an asperger autist but it makes sense. being an asperger myself i can think myself a bit into him (even tho female and male asperger symptoms are very different) in example that he is well captable to make his own desicions but seem to fall back into this behaviour of following orders of others. big bro says hold this castle, he didnt wanted that castle but he held it. a red priestess who is confident in all she says comes and says you are special and i will help you to make you and the world realize how special you are, just trust me. he does. i dont think he ever wanted to really murder his lil bro but he felt like this is how things must happen now because everyone seems to expect it. he loves his daughter but cant really show it, instead he tries to show it his own way. i personally tend to show my affection to people with gifts not always physical gifts also knowledge, help and tips and tricks. also things that fit in the asperger idea is that stannis was a child who never smiled much he obviously had severe issues expressing himself, but hes a very good tactican. asperger or not but its pretty clear that he is a man who thinks a lot and most of him is inside of him and not displayed for everyone to see. his tactics, his ideas and his emotions.

One of the most compelling aspects of asoiaf is how illnesses are depicted with their knowledge
Even physical like you pointed out with the mountain
Makes the characters seem more fragile and human trying to survive in their society, using, like all of us the potentially negative aspects to carve a niche.
Got ocd – get a job filing
Got gigantism and an addiction to morphine – become a 25 stone face breaker in service to the richest dude in the land

How much has been due to Bloodraven or the gods interference with their minds.. I wonder

I can see Stannis with Asperger's. My son has it. I see the similarities between them. It is antisocial but they are geniuses especially strategically.

With Tyroins messed up childhood, I'm surprised how well adjusted he is.

I wonder how much of a multiple personally disorder or some kind of identity disorder as well. And Please do the Targaryen one! Thanks for saying my real name too 😂 never heard Melissa instead of Rhee💖😘 Have a lovely day Gemma!

I actually see a little bit of Lysa in Sansa

I believe Varys may have some PTSD, remember that conversation with Melisandre, his deep hate for witches after his experience as a child.
But still, I agree with you, Varys it’s one of the most rational people in the series

Sansa is clearly not a case stokholm syndrom, she had feeled something like a crush for Joffrey and admiration for Cercei, but that was before they abused her. Later she was playing to still love him to survive, First she trusted Littlefinger a little, but as she got what typ of human he is, she used him, cause he was her best chance, that has nothing to do with affection. That she hated Ramsy was clear so in wiche case she had sympathy for the person who mistreated her?

Who hasnt kept drinking after vomiting? At least once? A little vomit ends the party for you wimps?

If the name of this video doesnt get attention, I don't know what would!!! Lol. Great pick,SoTC/ Gemma!

Excellent work, Gemma! Love this video!

I would take an entire college course on this topic!

Borderline Personality disorder is born out of a perception of traumatic abandonment, so I think that diagnosis for Lysa Arryn is very appropriate.

I think we oversimplify this sort of thing. If a person is depressed it may be a mental illness, or it may be a natural human reaction to tragedy. Under certain circumstances a person not being depressed could be a sign of sociopathic tendencies. We are all different and our desire to be perceived as "normal" encourages a lot of emotional dishonesty. I wonder if some people who appear terribly mentally ill simply lack the capacity or the desire to maintain the appearance of normality

This is a fascinating hypothetical question. It would seem to me that much of what we consider mental illness would be a beneficial evolutionary adaptation in this fictional world. Given the brutal, horrifying, and bleak world these characters inhabit, empathy, pity, even honor or a sense of fair play would be debilitating handicaps to success and even survival.

Marvelous work in this video with great in depth analysis!