The Psychology of Jason Todd, as told by a professor of Psychology
So, I recently purchased a book called Batman and Psychology. It’s exactly what it sounds like, a book written by Travis Langley (professor of psychology at Henderson State University) that examines the characters of the beloved Batman franchise to try to explain the psychological conditions of each character.
One of the chapters was on Jason Todd, and I thought it was interesting, so I decided to share the psychological disorders that Langley theorizes about.
“When Batman first meets the boy, Jason shows behaviors associated with conduct disorder, a repetitive, persistent pattern of violating societal norms and the rights of others, but of no more than moderate severity. On the one hand, Jason chooses his lifestyle of fending for himself rather than becoming a ward of the state, while on the other hand, he is not out to hurt anyone. Severe conduct disorder would involve acts of cruelty or inflicting considerable harm- behavior more heinous than truancy, running away, or stealing to get by.”
“At first, Jason readily adapts to his new role as Batman’s partner and Bruce Wayne’s son and no longer shows ant disruptive behavior disorder, but over the next year he becomes ‘very moody, resentful, reckless,’ with ‘a dangerously high level of aggressive energy to work off’ and Batman worries that Jason’s attitude ‘is about to get him killed.’ Batman tells Alfred he ‘may have started Jason as Robin before he had a chance to come to grips with his parents’ deaths.’ Bouts of crying over his parents’ photo yet refusing to talk about it, together with his moodiness, may indicate that Jason has developed post-traumatic stress disorder.”
“Anger and aggression may be the tools he’s using to repel depression or feelings of guilt over having replaced his parents with his adoptive dad. The overall pattern of negativistic, hostile, and defiant behavior fits oppositional defiant behavior- like conduct disorder, one of the disruptive behavior disorders- and this stubborn, disobedient pattern gets him killed.”
“Technically, the grown Jason fits the criteria for antisocial personality disorder through his aggressiveness, deceitfulness, repeated unlawful behavior, and lack of remorse, although we have to evaluate these in the context of the world in which he lives. Superheroes, like spies and undercover police, use aggression and deceit as trick of trade… judging him by the standards of normal society [however] even comparing him to other superheroes, he still seems fairly antisocial.”
“..Jason redefines himself to be like others: at different points in his life, he replaces Dick Grayson as Robin, assumes the Joker’s old Red Hood identity, dons the Nightwing costume and name, traipses the Multiverse in the costume of Earth-51 Batman’s late partner Red Robin, and tries to win the right to wear his Batman’s cowl when people think Bruce is dead. After Dick.. becomes Batman with.. Damian as Robin, Jason transforms his Red Hood outfit into a more traditional superhero costume and gets his own sidekick, a girl called Scarlet. Later, as Bruce resumes his place as Gotham’s one and only Batman, Jason follows and distorts another chapter from Bruce’s life when he leads the Outlaws, the anti-hero equivalent of the Outsiders superteam Batman sometimes leads… Jason’s repeated efforts to recast himself to fit other people’s molds shows some similarities to borderline personality disorder, a condition involving a vague, poorly formed identity. While Jason may be too consistent in his acts, manner, and moods to fit that particular disorder well, spending much of his youth brain-damaged and comatose has made him miss out on critical personality development.”
“…Jason’s defining moments, the events we always think of in connection with him, are of a boy stealing tires from the Batmobile and a clown, the same clown who shot the commissioner’s daughter, later beating the boy to death with a crowbar. Just as readers cannot leave these moments behind, Jason, with no powerful redefining moments, also surely never will.”
Friendly reminder that Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiance Disorder and Anti-Social Personality Disorder are primarily diagnoses used to pathologise criminal behaviour in marginalised people (especially POC, BPOC and poor people).
Recent research into Borderline Personality Disorder (within the last 12 months) has also more or less confirmed that BPD is a response to trauma.
Also note that Batman and Psychology was released in 2012, and psychology is one of the fastest evolving sciences.
I’d suggest that it’s also worth noting that Dr Travis Langley has made a career out of pathologising crime and analysing pop culture figures (especially superheroes) through a psychological lens. He makes a lot of money off doing this, and especially made money off the shock-value of Batman and Psychology because it was timed alongside the release of The Dark Knight Rises.
Not to be overly cynical, but there are plenty of psychologists out there who are kinda full of shit. (I’ve studied psych in the past and am currently pursuing further studies, though I’d rather not disclose too much about my professional life on my tumblr blog.) Like many other scientific and/or medical disciplines, psychology is often biased against certain groups.
Particularly when it comes to areas such as personality disorders and conduct-related disorders, there is a lot of stigma to dispel even amongst professionals, and the science is ever-changing. Unfortunately this means a doctor of psychology’s understanding can quickly become outdated.
There is also a tendency within the clinical mental health field (psychology, psychiatry, in-patient mental health facilities, etc.) to disregard the lived experiences of mentally ill people in favour of following research that is potentially outdated, funded by shady sources, or has methodological issues.
I’d suggest that this type of pop culture psychology and armchair psychology is quite dangerous to people with mental health issues (speaking from lived experience and what I’ve been told by others with lived experience of mental illness). It serves very little purpose other than as an outlet for society’s morbid fascination with mental health and trauma, and the way that relates to either criminality or exceptionalism. By which I mean: it either romanticises or demonises mental health, sometimes both at once.
Very little of what’s been quoted in this post justifies speculating about a diagnosis, let alone suggesting one. Frankly, it makes me a little bit angry as someone who has perosnal friends who’ve been diagnosed with every disorder mentioned here.
There are legitimate arguments to be made about Jason and BPD or PTSD (although even then I think his symptoms are closer to that of c-PTSD), but I think that ultimately this is a fictional character who cannot be used as an example of what a mental illness looks like.
Sure, DC could use Jason and other characters as an opportunity to explore mental health in a positive light, but to do that justice the writers would have to have lived experience of the mental illness they’re writing about. Which, coincidentally, is why I think there are fanfictions that deal with DC characters’ mental health in a meaningful way. But I think until DC are deliberately writing Jason or anyone else as a character with a mental illness, we shouldn’t be armchair-diagnosing them. And even then, knowing DC writers they’ll probably do a shitty job of portraying that mental illness fairly.
Tl;dr – Based on this post, Langley sounds like he’s full of shit and if he wants to examine popular culture through a psychological lens he should be critiquing portrayals of mentally ill people instead of projecting mental illness onto characters that act in an “anti-social” way (because the concept of being anti-social is outdated and inherently problematic AF)
P.S. This critique is directed at Langley, his books, the profession of psychology and society’s general misconceptions about mental health, it’s not an attack on OP or a demand for discourse discussion with OP. Just my thoughts
