The Psychology of a Guilty Conscious: Descending into Madness in “Shutter Island” Dennis Odhiambo College

A guilty conscious can be a crippling ordeal to the mind especially if the basis of the guilt cannot be undone or corrected. When the mind is in emotional distress it will grasp on any construct that makes it feel better. In Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island this dynamic is explored through the protagonist Andrew Laeddis (Leonardo DiCaprio) who suffers from delusional disorder following the death of his wife and children. Due to his disorder he believes to be U.S. Marshall Edward “Teddy” Daniels set out to find an escaped patient of the psychiatric asylum on Shutter Island. Teddy has spun a conspiracy theory around the goings-on at the asylum and aims to expose it. As the plot unfolds he also finds out he is in fact a patient at the asylum who became delusional after his mentally unstable wife Dolores (Michelle Williams) drowned and murdered their children. Subsequently killed his wife in a fit of rage. Henceforth the guilt of not seeking medical care for his mentally ailing wife, killing her and also his trauma from serving in war causes him to create a different reality as a defense mechanism. The unconscious coping strategy aim to eliminate the anxiety that arises from painful and disturbing memories or culpabilities. Thus...