Disorganized Schizophrenia in Cronenberg's Spider (2002)

Introduction: Spider as a Portrait of Schizophrenia

Wedding, Boyd, and Niemiec (2005) write about David Cronenberg's film Spider (2002) that "This dark and dreary film maps out the psychological terrain of a man with schizophrenia" (p. 109). They continue: "This is also a good depiction of childhood schizophrenia as we see the young boy distort reality, express paranoia that his father and his father's mistress killed his mother, and the boy's complete isolation from social contact" (Wedding, Boyd, & Niemiec, 2005, p. 109). This assessment of the character Dennis Cleg — or "Spider," played by Ralph Fiennes — seems accurate. The portrait of Spider clearly replicates many of the symptoms common in schizophrenia. This essay identifies the symptoms that lead to this conclusion and discusses the film's main character using a cognitive approach to schizophrenia. It examines how a cognitive approach would analyze and explain Spider's mental illness, and what kinds of therapeutic interventions it would recommend.

DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic Criteria and Spider's Symptoms

The DSM-IV-TR defines schizophrenia as "a disorder that lasts for at least 6 months and includes at least 1 month of active-phase symptoms (i.e., two [or more] of the following: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior, negative symptoms)" (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, p. 298). It understands delusions as "erroneous beliefs that usually involve a misinterpretation of perceptions or experiences" (APA, 2000, p. 299). When hallucinations occur, they are usually auditory (hearing voices) but can be visual. Disorganized thinking refers to any range of incoherence that impairs communication. Disorganized behavior encompasses things like silliness, unpredictable agitation, inability to perform daily tasks, dishevelment or unusual dressing, and inappropriate sexual behavior. Further, there are negative symptoms such as affective flattening, alogia (brief empty replies or silence), and avolition — the inability to initiate and persist in activities due to lack of interest (anhedonia). Additional associated symptoms may include abnormal psychomotor actions (rocking, pacing, or immobility), anxiety and phobias, depersonalization, and suicidal tendencies. All these symptoms create social dysfunction and detachment.

Spider's character displays strong evidence of schizophrenia when measured against these diagnostic criteria. He shuffles slowly and awkwardly, distracted by objects on the ground, and often appears expressionless or afraid. His dialogue is sparse, disorganized, and mumbling — throughout the film it is difficult to understand anything he says. He is characteristically unclean and unkempt, and wears four shirts at once. Even his smoking is diagnostically significant: according to the DSM-IV-TR, 80–90% of schizophrenics are nicotine dependent (APA, 2000, p. 304). Spider is virtually dependent on others for the basic needs of life. He is emotionally flat except when he breaks out unpredictably in anger, as when he tears up a puzzle. Much of his time is spent writing things comprehensible only to himself in a small notebook; when shot in close-up, the writing is illegible, almost a foreign language.

Several symbolic images reinforce his schizophrenia — webs and shattered windows recur throughout the film. Although there are no auditory hallucinations, he demonstrates paranoia by refusing to let the caretaker touch him or his suitcase, and by imagining her (in hallucinations) as a prostitute. He eventually tries to kill her with a hammer because he believes she is a different person. There are also signs of catatonia, such as lying still in the fetal position in the bathtub or sitting motionless on a bench for hours. Among the recognized subtypes, Spider fits best into the Disorganized Type of schizophrenia, with elements of both the paranoid and catatonic types.

Delusion and Hallucination in Spider's Reconstructed Past

Equally important as these overt symptoms is the fact that Spider's mind is fraught with delusion and hallucination. It is not until the end of the film that the audience realizes most of his recreation of his own childhood is fiction. He imagines that his father had an affair with a prostitute and killed his mother with a spade when she discovered it, after which the prostitute moved in as a surrogate mother. As the older Spider watches the recreated scene, the young Spider shouts "Murderer!" and is chased away with a belt.

Several details suggest this view is delusional. The father, Bill (played by Gabriel Byrne), is shown explaining a different version of events to the child — one in which the mother is not dead. He tells the boy, "I don't know where you get your ideas from; you're by yourself too much, you need some mates." The audience senses the boy is deluded, and the father cannot understand the source of his anger. The most compelling evidence comes near the end of the film. After the boy has rigged a twine device to pull the gas stove on, the prostitute dies from gas inhalation — but when the father drags her out into the street, it is his real mother, and the father cries, "You did your mum in." Significantly, the older Spider is not present to witness this scene; it is not a hallucinatory flashback but the actual past. Spider's belief that his father killed his mother is false.

It is equally significant that his "memories" are not memories at all — they are hallucinations. This is evident because they include situations Spider could not have experienced as a child, such as the scene at the prostitute's house. The young Spider could not have been there or known what happened. When he is in a bar, for instance, he is not remembering seeing his parents; he is hallucinating them. This places him firmly within the diagnostic category of schizophrenia.

Conclusion: Prognosis and the Limits of Cognitive Therapy

However, the general trend is toward pessimistic outcomes for schizophrenics, with or without pharmaceuticals. Beck et al. (2009) state, "The available evidence warrants the conclusion that a significant proportion of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia achieve poor outcomes" (p. 21). These scholars are more optimistic when cognitive therapy is combined with behavioral skills training and some form of medication. A more positive appraisal of recovery prospects for schizophrenics could be imagined than the bleak ending Cronenberg provides in Spider — but only marginally so.