#now I can finally stop fighting with stinking psychiatry online

[apple-grass-and-smiles]

Prodigal Son Appreciation Week, Day Two: Favorite Female Character

Hi, everyone! So, my favorite female character in PSon is Dani, but I’ll be showing her lots of love throughout the rest of the week, so I wanted to spread the love out a bit. I honestly have adored just about every female character on this show, but I really wanted to dive into Ainsley a bit and this was a good excuse.

What I have today for you is an exercise in walking through the possible personality disorders a psychiatrist/psychologist might consider for Ainsley, which are called differentials. What comes with this meta is an entire novel’s-worth of disclaimers but basically, 1) I’m not a psychologist or psychiatrist; I’m a kid who is one class short of a psychology degree. 2) Personality disorders are not my main area of expertise, but I have tried to do some research for this, and to the best of my knowledge everything I share here is up-to-date with current research and psychology standards. 3) I personally don’t know if I think Ainsley could have a personality disorder (PD), but the show implies she does, especially in 2x11, so I’m running with it and trying to choose which one I think fits best. 4) This is FOR FUN! I am looking at a fictional character, who we definitely haven’t seen enough of to diagnose with just about anything, nevermind a PD, and guessing what disorder would fit best with her. I’m happy to discuss this topic further with people (especially since I know quite a few Prodigal Son fans are also psych students), just please don’t take any of this very seriously.

With that out of the way, let's get to the fun stuff. I’ll be looking at three possible PDs: antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), histrionic personality disorder (HPD), and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). All of the diagnostic criteria I am using comes from the DSM-V, which is the diagnostic manual we use to see if a person meets all of the requirements for a disorder.

Antisocial Personality Disorder-

ASPD gets thrown around A LOT in the crime shows, Prodigal Son, and fandom discussions. If someone is said to be a psychopath or sociopath, like Martin often is, in a fictional story, generally the implication is that they also have ASPD. (I say generally because those are both common terms now and also the differences/meanings of those terms are...messy.) It is also the diagnosis we usually slap onto a person when we mean ‘they did crimes because they’re crazy/unfeeling and that’s their motivation’, which is not really accurate. While I would not be surprised if the show claimed Ainsley has ASPD because of its pop culture connotations, I mostly am considering it here because there are some indicators of Martin having it and PDs, like lots of mental illnesses and disorders, do frequently have at least a small genetic component.

However, I can pretty quickly throw ASPD out of the running. One of the requirements for ASPD is there being “evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15 years.” Conduct disorder is a diagnosis we give to people under 18 when they show consistent disregard for rules and other people. Some people with conduct disorder then go on to develop ASPD. (You cannot diagnose someone with ASPD if they are under the age of 18, hence why conduct disorder exists. For example, Issac from 1x06 couldn’t be diagnosed with ASPD, but he could, and likely would from what we’ve seen, be given a conduct disorder diagnosis.) Now to have a conduct disorder diagnosis, you have to be shown to have committed at least three examples of “aggression to people and animals, destruction of property, deceitfulness or theft, and/or serious violations of rules”. While it is possible Ainsley has a secret deviant past where she violated rules/broke the law that she kept hidden from everyone so well that her mother was willing to call her the perfect child in 1x01 and Malcolm is clearly shocked when she steps out of line as an adult, I don’t think that’s the case. There are other reasons I lean towards throwing out ASPD as a strong contender (I had to stretch to make her fit all the criteria, we don’t see a clear pattern of the criteria happening repeatedly, I think there are other diagnoses and situations/stressors that better explain her behavior...), this is the easiest one to break down in a Tumblr post that I’m trying to keep shorter than a dissertation. There are definitely elements of particular types of ASPD that we see in Ainsley, namely the traits tied to the limited prosocial/callous and unemotional tag sometimes given with an ASPD diagnosis, but you can also see those characteristics in other disorders. (Those traits can also appear in someone with zero disorders, but that’s not an option based on the fact that this post requires us to walk away with some sort of diagnosis because I make the rules and I said so.)

Histrionic Personality Disorder-

This isn’t a very well-known PD in comparison to a lot of the others, but the DSM-V introduces it very well, so I’m just going to include a quote. “Individuals with histrionic personality disorder are uncomfortable or feel unappreciated when they are not the center of attention. Often lively and dramatic, they tend to draw attention to themselves and may initially charm new acquaintances by their enthusiasm, apparent openness, or flirtatiousness…. They commandeer the role of “the life of the party.” If they are not the center of attention, they may do something dramatic (e.g., make up stories, create a scene) to draw the focus of attention to themselves.” A shorter summary: HPD is “a pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts.”

So, how does this fit with Ainsley? A fair amount of the HPD criteria fit Ainsley very well. She is incredibly charming and enthusiastic and a reporting job seems to imply that she’s comfortable being the center of attention. (Though I would argue that reporting for her is more about finding something she is inherently good at as opposed to getting attention, which I’ll talk about in the next section.) Other criteria she fits include using her appearance to draw attention to herself, being theatrical, and, depending on your opinion, being suggestible. To be diagnosed with HPD, Ainsley would need to fit with five of the eight criteria, which you can maybe meet depending on what you think is actually happening in her head. (For example, does she actual believe what Martin is saying about her or is she just going along with it.) However, I think it’s really important to look at what’s at the core of HPD, which is “excessive emotionality and attention seeking”. 2x11 throws that 'excessive emotionality' requirement right out the window with the conversation Ainsley has with Martin about not feeling enough and needing to fake emotions sometimes. Prior to that conversation, I could have seen HPD being a solid contender, but those comments make it seem like HPD isn’t a great fit anymore since she doesn't even meet one of the two main descriptors of the diagnosis.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder-

I first looked into NPD specifically because I was trying to figure out what exactly Martin may have been diagnosed with and one of the few things the writers consistently refer to him as is a narcissist. Granted, a lot of people get called that term who don’t have NPD, but Martin fits it pretty well. Additionally, PDs do tend to be at least a little tied to genetics, which is why I checked it out for Ainsley. (Ironically, when editing this, I noticed that NPD is one of the only PDs that the DSM-V does not mention a genetic component for, though more recent research does seem to indicate some heritability.) NPD is characterized by grandiosity (or “being excessively grand or ambitious” according to Oxford’s definition), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, all three of which I think we can say Ainsley has demonstrated at least a couple of times throughout the show. If I had to give Ainsley a PD diagnosis, NPD is the one I think fits best.

To be diagnosed with NPD, you need to have five of the nine criteria. Lack of empathy is one of those, which Ainsley and Martin seem to believe applies to Ainsley, while Malcolm would likely disagree. Others include using people for their own needs (filming Jin’s surgery and the pig’s blood prank), being envious of other people (we’ve pretty solidly established that she’s jealous of the attention Malcolm got as a kid), and being preoccupied with success and brilliance (Ainsley clearly cares a lot about being good at her job, which is part of why she is so competitive with Malcolm). Ainsley herself admits to being especially ambitious multiple times, which I feel is more in line with a NPD diagnosis than any other PD. The biggest weakness of NPD is that Ainsley seems to have very, very good control of it, if it is something she actually has. About half of the NPD criteria are ones that include the person thinking they are better than others. Ainsley definitely wants to be the best, but not really to put other people down as much as to earn her place in the world (a thought which is at odds with other NPD criteria). However, I promised some sort of diagnosis from this and I think NPD, if the show were to insist on giving Ainsley a personality disorder, would be the best fit as it incorporates her ambition, implied difficulties with empathy, and manipulative side into one diagnosis and is not clearly disproven by canon.

TL;DR: If you have to give Ainsley a personality disorder diagnosis, NPD is the way to go. She doesn't seem to have the conduct disorder history needed for ASPD, nor does she have the excessive emotionality inherent to HPD. However, she is characterized by NPD's ambition, need to one-up people, and willingness to use others to achieve that goal. Of all the personality disorders, narcissistic personality disorder fits Ainsley best.