Schizophrenia-Related Psychotic Symptoms, Trauma, and Defense Mechanisms in Fractured

Abstract

This study examines the cinematic representation of schizophrenia-related psychotic symptoms, traumatic loss, and Freudian defense mechanisms in Brad Anderson's Fractured (2019). The analysis was developed from a qualitative descriptive study of Ray Monroe, the film's main character, using repeated viewing, dialogue and behavior analysis, and scene-based content analysis. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR) was used as an interpretive framework for symptom representation. In contrast, contemporary trauma-psychosis literature and psychodynamic scholarship were used to contextualize trauma and defense mechanisms. The study organized twenty-three focal scenes into three analytical domains. The film prominently represents persecutory delusions, visual and auditory hallucination-like experiences, and disorganized thinking. The narrative links these experiences to unresolved and acute traumatic losses, particularly the deaths of Ray's first wife, daughter, and current wife. Four defense mechanisms are repeatedly represented: repression, denial, projection, and displacement. Together, these mechanisms structure an alternative reality that protects Ray from intolerable guilt and grief while progressively separating his perception from the film's revealed reality. The study argues that Fractured is productive for psychoanalytic literary and film analysis, but its depiction should not be treated as a clinical diagnosis because duration and exclusion criteria are not established. The film also requires critical reading because its association of psychosis with violence may reinforce mental-health stigma.

Keywords:

Defense mechanisms; Fractured; Psychosis representation; Schizophrenia; Trauma