Psychology Paper Example: Charles Manson

Charles Manson, an American cult leader, who led the Manson family, had Schizophrenia and a plethora of other disorders. These illnesses correlated with his manipulative ways. Manson was persuasive and could convince almost anyone. The chemical imbalance in his brain made it so that he did not think before doing it. While he understood his actions, he showed no remorse or empathy. Leading to the uprooted lives, he destroyed in the process. 

This disease is usually to be believed that the person has two different personalities when actually is means (…how individuals with schizophrenia experience the world: the world can be one way in their mind and another way in what is going on around them (Piotrowski, et.al). Most people without knowledge of the illness may think it is simply correlated with genetics. “..unrelated causes--the genes you inherit, but also whether your mother fell ill during her pregnancy, whether you got beaten up as a child or were stressed as an adolescent, even how much sun your skin has seen” (Luhrmann). When looking back at the life of Manson,  genetics, environment, and childhood traumas play a role in his diagnosis.” According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the "psychotic symptoms" include a break with reality, altered perceptions, hallucinations, delusions, or evidence of thought disorder or movement disorder”(Piotrowski, et.al). Treatment for the disease can vary from antipsychotic medication to therapy. While a lot of the medication can cause bad side effects and addiction. Treatment can just help the patient be able to make the best living experiences.

Manson was born to a sixteen-year-old prostitute and alcoholic who neglected him. “By 13, he was sent to the Indiana Boys School for burglary, where he was raped and brutalized. By 1951 he was doing hard time for robbery. Paroled in 1954, he wed Rosalie Willis…” (Heyman, et.al). By being behind bars for so long, he had become institutionalized. Manson was now in a world where LSD and hippie culture was trendy. This was essentially a feeding ground for those whom he could get to follow him. “On August 9, 1969, Manson instructed four of his most loyal followers to commit murder”(Sever). He spent his remaining years in prison until November 2017 due to death by natural causes.

Manson’s Schizophrenia and other personal traits affect those around them by leading them to do whatever he wanted. . “Psychopaths are egotistical and narcissistic, which will become a note of absolute importance when examining Manson’s motives for his murders” (Altman 2015). Manson obsessed over the Beatles White album and truly believed that the song “Helter Skelter” embodied the start of a race war and he and his family would rise up when the war was won. "To a lot of people, this was completely non-understandable evil, as if the Devil himself had leaked through a crack in the Earth," says Robert Thompson” (Gillis). He brought everyone down with him in the end. 

The 1960s was a new era for Americans with this new way of thinking for young adults and this really embraced Manson’s Psychopathic traits. He could have used his skills to do good in the world but instead, his greed for fame and recognization poisoned him and everyone around him. Manson described himself as a “child of God and a Child of the devil”. His impact on society and those of the 60s will be remembered forever.

Works Cited 

Altman, Robin., 2015. Sympathy for the Devil: Charles Manson's Exploitation of California's 1960s Counter-Culture. Bachelor of the Arts in History with honors. University of Colorado, Boulder.

“Charles Manson - Death, Murders & Family - Biography.” Biography (Bio.), 15 March 2018, https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/charles-manson. Accessed 30 March 2022.

 Gillis, Charlie. “The Devil Inside.” Maclean’s, vol. 125, no. 16, Apr. 2012, pp. 30–33. EBSCOhost,https://search-ebscohost-com.waynecc.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=74602263&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Heyman, J. d., et al. “Charles Manson 1934-2017 Death of a Madman.” People, vol. 88, no. 24, Dec. 2017, pp. 68–72. EBSCOhost,  https://search-ebscohost-com.waynecc.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=126508486&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Luhrmann, Tanya Marie. “Beyond the Brain: In the 1990s, Scientists Declared That Schizophrenia and Other Psychiatric Illnesses Were Pure Brain Disorders That Would Eventually Yield to Drugs. Now They Are Recognizing That Social Factors Are among the Causes, and Must Be Part of the Cure.” The Wilson Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 3, June 2012. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-com.waynecc.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsglr.A306356563&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Piotrowski, Nancy A. ..Ph. D., and Leslie V. ..Ph. D. Tischauser. “Schizophrenia.” Magill’s Medical Guide (Online Edition), 2022. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-com.waynecc.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=86196265&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Sever, Brion. “Charles Manson.” Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, 2022. EBSCOhost,https://search-ebscohost-com.waynecc.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=89406800&site=eds-live&scope=site.