Inside Ed Gein’s mind: The mental health problems he had that shaped his gruesome crimes

Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story goes far into the disturbing mind of Ed Gein, the real-life killer who inspired horror icons like Norman Bates and Leatherface. But beneath the gruesome crimes and eerie farmhouse, the true crime drama also shows what was really going on inside Ed Gein’s head, and the mental health problems that shaped his life.

So, what mental health problems did Ed Gein actually have?

via Netflix

Ed Gein was diagnosed with schizophrenia after his arrest in 1957. Doctors found that he suffered from severe delusions, hallucinations, and difficulty separating fantasy from reality. This diagnosis explains why he believed his mother was still alive after her death. It also explains why he started robbing graves to create what he called a “woman suit”, made from human skin, so he could “become” her.

In an interview with Tudum, Charlie Hunnam, who plays Gein in the Netflix series, said that understanding this diagnosis was key to portraying him accurately. “He really lived in that world,” he said. “Those manic episodes were just his reality.”

Ryan Murphy and co-creator Ian Brennan, who developed the show, said they wanted to highlight society’s failure to properly treat people with mental illness. Murphy explained that when Gein was finally institutionalised, he received care and medication that helped stabilise him. That’s something that might have changed the course of his life if it had come sooner.

He wanted to be a woman but he was not transgender

via Netflix

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The Ed Gein Story also touches on another part of Gein’s psychology, his complex feelings toward women. Murphy and Brennan made sure to clarify that while Ed believed he wanted to be a woman. But he was not transgender. Instead, he was described as gynephilic. It meant that he was so obsessively attracted to the female body that he wanted to be inside it.

They said it was important to make this distinction to avoid spreading misinformation about gender identity and violence. Brennan explained, “It was really important for us to make that distinction, for us to say, ‘Look, these are two very different things.’ And it was cool to be able to put it in the mouth of Christine Jorgensen. For him to be told that through her in his mind was a really cool moment.”

Gein spent the rest of his life in a mental institution, where he lived quietly until his death in 1984.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.