#this is why you don’t give an autistic psych student free access to a DSM-5 in their free time /j

[hero-nerd]

Here’s that Batman project I was working on a while ago that I told y’all

Just part one but this alone has taken months lmao

Part two will be about ocd for this same character

Anyway enjoy

Introduction

In Batman stories, characters are given all types of diagnoses. Some are explicitly stated within these stories, some are implied, and some are theorized by fans. I have always wondered how accurate these diagnoses are. This project will use criteria from the DSM-5 to examine specific interpretations of Batman characters and determine how accurate a given diagnosis is for them. Each section will specify the source material being used.

Harvey Dent

Harvey Dent was one of Bruce Wayne’s best friends back in the day. He was a district attorney, and a good one at that, as he was about to be the one to bring the Penguin down in court. During this case, however, Dent was sprayed in the face with acid by someone working for the Penguin. This scarred Dent’s face, and is said to have caused him to lose his mind. After this he becomes a villain in Gotham going by the name of Two Face, referring both to his scarred face and his dual personalities. This section looks at the interpretation of Harvey Dent from season one of Batman the Audio Adventures which can be found on HBO Max, Spotify, and YouTube. It is recommended to listen to this podcast before reading, but all scenes used throughout this section are listed along with their timestamps.

Timestamps

Episode One

Yin and Yang Scene 11:40-23:50

Episode Two

Ghosts of Gotham Scene 3:56- 8:13

Episode Three

Voicemail Scene 10:11-11:19

Batman's Investigation Scene 25:40-26:55

Episode Four

Doubleday Street Scene 4:25-8:30

Episode Five

Horse Racing Scene: 20:55-26:52

Episode Six

Pier Two Scene 29:09-37:08

Episode Seven

Dinner Scene 17:35-26:00

Episode Eight

Penguin and Two Face Team-Up Scene 14:53-21:45

Episode Nine

Announcement of Merger Scene 21:26-22:45

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Diagnostic Criteria

Disruption of identity characterized by two or more distinct personality states, which may be described in some cultures as an experience of possession. The disruption in identity involves marked discontinuity in sense of self and sense of agency, accompanied by related alterations in affect, behavior, consciousness, memory, perception, cognition, and or sensory-motor functioning. These signs and symptoms may be observed by others or reported by the individual.

Recurrent gaps in the recall of everyday events, important personal information, and/or traumatic events that are inconsistent with ordinary forgetting.

The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

The disturbance is not a normal part of a broadly accepted cultural or religious practice.

The symptoms are not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance or another medical condition.

Analysis of Diagnostic Criteria

In Dent’s introduction in the podcast during the Yin and Yang scene, he can be heard arguing with another voice that we learn is Two Face. Two Face refers to Dent with the nickname “College Boy”, implying a gap between the two of them. At the timestamp 13:02 the narrator specifically says that these two are the same person but with two voices, letting listeners who may not be familiar with the story of Harvey Dent know that these two personalities are within the same body. The narrator also refers to this as a “double occupancy” in Dent’s head, and likens them to Jekyll and Hyde. This scene shows that Dent does not have possessive type DID, as there is no “possession” of either Dent or Two Face taking over with one or the other having full control of the body. Instead, they fit the description of non possessive type DID, which details the experience of having two or more simultaneous thought streams, which is shown by the way Dent and Two Face talk between themselves as two separate consciousnesses.

The Yin and Yang scene also shows an explicit example of the distinct split between these two personalities. At the time stamp 20:11, Batman says that he needs to have a word with Dent alone. Two Face laughs at this, saying that there is no privacy between him and Dent, but then Batman recites a Latin phrase students learn in law school. Dent understands the meaning immediately, and Two Face does not understand it at all. Two Face becomes agitated, asking what it means. This shows us that while Two Face appears to have all the knowledge and memories that Dent has from the time he was formed due to the lack of amnesia (as detailed in criteria B), he does not have access to any knowledge or memories from before that time, showing that he is separate from Dent.

There are two interesting instances that show off the difference in word choice and thought process between Dent and Two Face. In the Yin and Yang scene at 14:10, Dent and Two Face both finish a sentence with their own saying. Two Face says that he has two words for the captive, and Dent jumps in saying “yes, neat and tidy”. Two Face corrects him by saying “tooth and nail”. Then again in the Horse Racing scene at 23:55, Dent is talking about how people in Gotham respond to trespassers. Two Face interrupts and says “a double barrel bloodbath, free of charge”. Dent replies with “I was gonna say inhospitality, but he’s not wrong”. This shows their distinct patterns of thinking, as well as providing an instance where Dent refers to Two Face as a separate entity from himself.

Until episode 6, there is no obvious distinction between Dent and Two Face’s sensory-motor functioning. The Pier Two scene shows Dent and Two Face going through a significantly distressing event. In this scene they are trying to save Pier Two from a bomb, and in doing so they fall into the water and begin to drown. Batman has arrived at this point, but is unable to help because he is diffusing the bomb. At 34:29, Batman is calling down to Harvey, telling him to swim. He says “you know how to swim”. Dent replies with “yes I do, but he doesn’t”. The scene then goes on to describe Dent and Two Face struggling for control while trying to keep afloat, showing the split in sensory-motor function between the two of them.

In the Penguin and Two Face Team-Up scene at 16:45, Penguin tells Dent “That’s blowfish toxin, old boys!” When talking about them teaming up at 21:00, Penguin says the team up will be “Just you, and you, and me.” This shows that the split between Dent and Two Face is distinct enough that even others on the outside see it and refer to them as such. During the Announcement of Merger scene at 21:55, Dent says that Penguin’s criminal organization will be “uniting with the august firm of Dent and Dent”, another indication of the distinctiveness of Dent’s two personalities.

Throughout all of this podcast, Dent and Two Face are referred to as separate and distinct personalities by other characters, the omniscient narrator, and Dent and Two Face themselves.

In all of the podcast, there is not an instance where Dent has any significant gap in recall of events or information inconsistent with ordinary forgetting. However, due to the nature of this podcast only showing select moments of Dent's life and our inability to gather information outside of those shown scenes, it cannot be stated with certainty that this has never happened. For the sake of this project, using what is given in the media, it will be assumed that Dent does not meet this criterion.

Due to the fact that Dent does not meet criterion B, that does not factor into any clinically significant distress or impairment that Dent might have. Instead, one must turn their attention to criterion A, the presence of Two Face, Dent’s second personality.

When it comes to the occupational aspect, there is evidence against clinically significant impairment. In the Horse Racing Scene, Dent tries to hurt the Penguin’s business and does so by destroying the Penguin’s private box at the horse races using an obscure law to protect him from legal consequences and closing the Iceberg Casino using another obscure law. While explaining what he has done, Dent talks about several legal strategies he used to pull this off. Dent then details to the Penguin how if the Penguin keeps coming after him, Dent will use the law to do more than merely inconvenience him. At 25:47 Two Face says “You know, if we was really crazy, we could bring down the entire Gotham underworld in the court of law.You want to try us? Give us a reason to burn it all down.” Then Dent says “Then give us thirty minutes with publicly available records, and we can pull together a legal strategy that will squeeze your precious criminal organization until it’s pulp, and juiced, and served on crushed ice to the federal government”. This shows that Dent still has the ability to do the work from his occupation, and do it well. So well, in fact, that in the Penguin and Two Face Team-Up Scene Penguin devises a plan to get Dent working with him. During the enactment of this plan, Penguin says to Dent that “somewhere in there is an absolutely brilliant legal mind”. It is clear that Dent has not been impaired in his occupational skills, even though he is now using those skills for crime.

Dent’s social functioning, however, has been impaired by the presence of Two Face.

This can be shown in the Voicemail Scene. Bruce Wayne leaves Dent a short but powerful voicemail during which he tells Dent that while he may not know what Dent is going through, he will always be there to help, and that he really wants to help Dent. The most telling part of this voicemail comes at the timestamp 10:57 when Wayne says “I don’t know if you get these messages, but I’m going to keep leaving them anyway”. This shows that the friendship between Wayne and Dent has fallen apart since Dent’s accident that led to the formation of his second personality. Dent’s inability to maintain that friendship is indicative of significant impairment in social functioning.

There are several indications that the presence of Two Face is not part of a broadly accepted cultural or religious practice. This is shown in the way other people talk about Dent and Two Face. In Batman’s investigation Scene, Alfred Pennyworth and Batman are discussing Dent, and the fact that the Penguin is “inflaming Harvey’s breakdown”. When Batman begins speculating on why the Penguin would be doing that, Pennyworth says at the timestamp 26:48 “If I may, sir, does a man like Oswald Cobblepot need a reason to torment the mentally ill?” Similar remarks are made by some of Dent’s fellow members of the Gotham underworld. In the Horse Racing Scene, Dent and Two Face are switching off sentences and talking together as they talk to the Penguin. At the time stamp 21:40, Penguin says “Spare me the doubletalk Harvey, I don’t speak mental patient”. This shows from two different perspectives that the presence of Two Face is not a broadly accepted cultural or religious practice.

Over the course of the podcast, Dent is shown under the influence of a substance once. This is in the Penguin and Two Face Teamup Scene when the Penguin poisons Dent using blowfish toxin. Dent’s behaviors regarding the presence of Two Face do not change when he is under that influence, instead remaining consistent to how he presents while not under the influence. This consistency of Dent’s traits show that it is not the effects of a substance or other condition causing his symptoms.

Final Thoughts

While Harvey Dent meets the majority of the criteria for Dissociative Identity Disorder, he does not meet all of it. It is very evident that Harvey has a distinct separate personality, but without the recurrent gaps in his memory it can not be confidently said that he has dissociative identity disorder, and that his symptoms are not better explained by another disorder.