Maybe Walter should be the one who knocks…on the door of a psychologist’s office.
In the video above from Vanity Fair, FBI profiler Candice Delong hands down a diagnosis for chemistry teacher turned meth cook turned drug kingpin Walter White that you probably saw coming — Walter White is a textbook psychopath.
Driven by an ego that can’t settle for anything less than complete control, Walter White shows his psychopathic tendencies in two main ways. First, he lies to everyone about everything, even himself. But Why? Because of the second tendency — justification. White lies and manipulates because he feels justified in doing so. The justifications differ, but his terminal diagnosis and feelings of being ripped off by former colleagues provide almost everything he needs to make even murder seem necessary.
If you’re interested, here’s an example test of psychopathy you can take based on assessments used by professionals. (Remember, this is just the basic idea, and shouldn’t be take seriously.) No matter what score you get, it doesn’t mean that you should be in the empire business…though psychopaths might make fantastic CEOs.