Henry's Diagnosis of Conduct Disorder
Throughout the movie “The Good Son” there are many examples of Henry’s mental illness. Because of his aggression towards animals and people, the destruction of property, deceitfulness, and serious rule violations, Henry is diagnosed with Conduct Disorder (CD) (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 12/10/09). Throughout the movie Henry demonstrates all of these characteristics. He shattered windows on an old warehouse by throwing rocks. Henry also shot and killed a dog and showed no remorse in doing so. These actions are unjustifiable to the mind of a normal person, but they are completely normal to Henry. The first example of Henry’s (CD) is the attempts on his sister’s life. Henry attempted to kill his younger sister three times. The first attempt was when Henry, Mark and her were all playing hide and seek. Henry made it seem as if he was going to kill her. However Mark got in the room in time to stop Henry’s attempt. The second attempt, and perhaps most damaging, was when he took her ice skating and he threw her towards the thin ice. As she fell through, Henry made it seem as if he was going to save her by putting his hand out. This event also shows Henry’s amazing skill of treachery, which is also a characteristic of (CD). After Henrys plan at the ice pond was thwarted, he then tried to smother her when she was recuperating in the hospital. This plan was also stopped because Henrys mother was in the hospital and unexpectedly woke up. When his mother asked him why he was there he lied and said he was there to see how his “little sister” was. Once again lying and deceiving his mother (. In addition to the characteristic of (CD) above he also displayed more disturbing characteristics. Henry created a life size doll named Mr. Highway, and threw it off a bridge onto a highway, causing a giant car accident. With each car that crashed or spun out of control, Henry got more satisfaction out of it. His behavior was extremely disturbing to most