The Psychology of Harry Potter

[makoeyes]

Okay we all know Voldemort and Umbridge are sociopaths, and Greyback is a pedophile, but what about the other characters?

Imo, it could not be more obvious that Harry is suffering from PTSD after GOF. All throughout OOTP, he is depressed and angrier than ever (even be called "ALLCAPS!Harry). He also has nightmares about the event. I have PTSD and Harry strongly reminds me of what I've been feeling, especially the anger. Changed my mind. The anger seems to be more due to Voldemort's emotions bleeding over.

Jo also portrays grief very accurately. Harry goes through ALL the stages of grief. First there's denial (when he thinks Sirius is gonna pop out from behind the Veil), anger (trying to kill Bellatrix, screaming at Dumbledore and breaking his stuff), bargaining (hoping Sirius will come back as a ghost), depression (the end of OOTP, between books, the beginning of HBP) and finally, acceptance (when meets up with Dumbles and actually gives a smile).

Also, let's look at how the Dursley's abuse did not give Harry PTSD. According to my pscyhology textbook, the people who do not develop PTSD when exposed to atrocities instead become resilient. Harry is incredibly strong and resilient.

I also want to discuss Voldemort's sociopathy. Voldemort is a textbook sociopath. He had his start of darkness even before he was fourteen years old (traumatizing those children in the cave); lack of remorse after having hurt, stolen or lied (he was a notorious thief at the orphanage, used his powers to cause people pain and make their pets commit suicide); he is superficially charming and glib (he expertlessly manipulates everyone as a teenager, even Dumbledore); criminal versatility (seriously, just read about him. He murdered enough people to make an army of Inferi); impatience and impulsivity and poor control over aggressive emotions (when he goes on killing sprees in DH. Instead of trying to understand why Harry's wand beat him, he instead just tried to trump it with the Elder Wand); Narcissistic traits (thinking that he's too good for his filthy Muggle father's name; thinking that only the most special of objects are worthy of being his Horcrux. Jo has confirmed that if he looked into the Mirror Of Erised, he would see himself as God); inability to see the consequences of his actions (in DH when Harry points out the flaws in his plans, he dismisses them as accidents). Possibly, he is unsatisfied with life, as Jo has confirmed that Dark Wizards can't create a Patronus.
Also, let's look at the possible WHY of him being a monster. A book I have called "The Sociopath Next Door" explains that the possible environmental factor to sociopathy is lack of love in the early months of life (not abuse, but rather "not being shown how to love."). The book specifically mentions that old fashioned orphanages may've contributed to this, because of the lack of individual, intimate care given to infants. Voldemort was raised in an old fashioned orphanage.

The more I research on psychology, the more I see that the series matches up with real life psychology. Jo has clearly done her homework. I am extremely impressed.

[Heartless Hìppíe]

Slight problem with one of your theories. In Ootp after Voldermort comes back in GoF, the anger that Harry shows is not his own anger, but yet the emotions that bleed through his connection to Voldermort. After the graveyard, Harry's connection has not only reawakened, but also doubled in strength after Voldermort sealed his fate using Harry's Blood. This is even more apparently in the scene after Harry Witnesses Arthur Weasley's attack when he commands Dumbledore to 'Look at me' and then when he finally catches his eye feels the need to attack him physically even though he's not been provoked.

[Anya the Purple]

^There is that, but he's also really angry in general. I mean, he yells at Ron and Hermione for not telling him more in their letters when they've repeatedly stated that Dumbledore ordered them not to-with perfectly good reason.

[makoeyes]

^^Yeah, I thought Voldemort's anger was only bleeding through at certain points, like after Arthur's attacked. He got less angry in the other books, but he probably just learned to handle it better.

[Heartless Hìppíe]

Apr 29, 2012 13:03:53 GMT -8 Anya the Purple said:

^There is that, but he's also really angry in general. I mean, he yells at Ron and Hermione for not telling him more in their letters when they've repeatedly stated that Dumbledore ordered them not to-with perfectly good reason.

Again, his emotional response to things that should not bother him, or should only bother him to a certain degree is completely blown over the top. He starts behaving like Voldemort, responding to situations he doesn't like with violence and hostility.

For example, look how he treats Dudley in the start of the fifth book. True, in the past he has threatened Dudley with made up magic, but only as an attempt to prevent Dudley from bullying him, but in the fifth book he actively seeks Dudley out and proceeds to torment him. He even states that the sole purpose of this is to bleed out his overwhelming anger and frustration onto someone else.

Its not the fact that Harry has become a different person, or even responding differently to these situations, it's the fact that it's -more- than what Harry would've done in the past.

[makoeyes]

I can definitely see your point, but part of PTSD is inappropriate anger, especially among male survivors. Like with me, things that I used to be able to blow off would make me furious, and I could feel myself getting worse the more I thought about it. People even told me that I wasn't acting like myself.

Well, he didn't actually seek Dudley out. He wanted Dudley to find him, but he only walked beside Dudley because they were both on the way back to the house. I understand that Harry wanted to vent his anger out on Dudley. He probably saw tormenting Dudley as a "justified" cause, as Dudley was terrifying bully, not just towards Harry for ten years, but defenseless neighborhood kids, too. I know this doesn't say much about my character, but I probably would've gotten some revenge too if I had been in Harry's place.

[Heartless Hìppíe]

I'm not saying he doesn't have PTSD, I'm saying that we -know- that that excess anger, at least in one point in time, comes from Voldemort, and we know the cause, so it make sense on a logical level that if we know the cause, and then when it first presents, every bit of excess anger, at least between those two points, should be connected.

The anger is confirmed as not being Harry's when Arthur Weasley is attacked we can see that this anger that Harry is feeling is from Voldemort from his unprovoked anger at Dumbledore while he is still semi-connected to Voldemort through his dream, where Harry wants to attack as a snake, not as himself. We also know the cause of this connection starts in the graveyard of Book four when Voldemort uses magic to magically bind Harry to Himself (after already having bonded himself to Harry), so it makes sense that every display of anger that does not fit within Harry's normal emotional range, should be caused by the connection, and not from another source.

Its entirely possible that Harry does have PSTD, but I don't think it starts in GoF, I think it actually starts at the End of OotP where he witnesses Sirius' Death. As you said in your original post, harry has become resilient to Dudley, but I think also to Voldemort as well, because he's repeatedly come up against him, he's seen the damage that voldemort does but only gets stronger. Starting with his parents, then in book one with Quarrel, then again in Book 2 and Ginny, then again he relives his parents deaths in book 3, and finally the death of Cedric in the fourth book. He stays strong under all of these events. I think it would be logical, at least within the world of fiction, that the seemingly senseless act of Sirius' death would be what would cause the most damage. I mean, Sirius just tripped, he wasn't hurt, he was winning his fight, he just tripped and fell through a curtain and should be right on the other side of it. It just doesn't make any Sense to Harry that he died. Harry is able to rationalize the deaths of every person he has witness die (or almost die in Ginny's case), because he knows the cause, and he strives to defeat that cause, it gives him purpose and it makes him stronger, but how do you rationalize death by curtain?

[makoeyes]

I'm re-reading the entire series right now, and I'm currenty on book five. I can definitey see what you mean now. Though I still think he may have PTSD, I think you're right about Voldemort's emotions bleeding through.

He has some very un-Harry-like thoughts, and not just with the inappropriate anger. There's how he's acting snobbish towards Luna, and angsting over how Dumbledore made Ron a Prefect instead of himself. That's very characteristic of Voldemort.

As for him getting PTSD at the end of OotP, I'm gonna wait until I finish reading the book to weigh in on that, since there's a lot of stuff I've forgotten. Sorry about that. But from what I remember, his feelings surrounding Sirius' death seems to me like straight up grief rather than PTSD. However, you could be right, as PTSD is different for everyone.

But to get specific to the rationalization of people's deaths, I don't think he ever really rationalized Cedric's death either. Sirius, at least, died in battle protecting Harry and his friends, so there was at least a reason for it. Cedric on the other hand was just there, like that family Voldemort killed in DH when he was looking for Gregorovitch. There was no rhyme or reason for his death, simply for him being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was completely innocent. Unlike Sirius, he wasn't fighting for a noble cause, he was just an hapless kid.

[Heartless Hìppíe]

Yes, you're right to a degree about Cedric, his death was senseless, but the cause was always because Voldemort kills those who get in his way. Voldemort is a psychopath who's only pleasure seems to come from killing while striving forward on a path to power. I think Harry might not realize this at first, but somewhere on a deeper level he acknowledges it and comes to term with it as the series goes on.

With Sirius they were on the verge of victory in their fight, and then he was just suddenly gone without a trace. Not to mention that Sirius was the one of two people that Harry himself choose to love, and acknowledged that love, since the death of his parents. It would've been like losing a parent all over again.

Also, you pointed out that Harry gets less angry after OtoP, which is true, but if you remember during the fight at the Ministry, Voldemort tries to possess Harry when he's fighting Dumbledore, when he does this he experiences great agony at the feeling of Love that Harry has for Sirius within that moment, and not only does it drive him out of Harry, but it -scares- him. So much so that after that point he no longer tries to possess Harry or use their connection to draw harry out again. He Effectively closes himself off to Harry as much as he possibly can, and after that moment Harry only experiences Voldemort's emotions when they reach a peek, or in Voldemort's case, a Killing Rage.

[makoeyes]

That's true. I guess he really doesn't have PTSD after all.

[slave4vamps]

I don't know I do tend to agree that Harry shows signs of PTSD. It's both that Voldemorts emotions are 'infecting' him and that Harry is giving in to those feelings in himself too.

[makoeyes]

Yeah on second thought he really does show signs of both.