Psychiatrist reveals Ed Gein’s mental diagnosis would be very different today, 67 years on

Monster: The Ed Gein Story delves heavily into the serial killer’s mental health after committing his heinous crimes, but a psychiatrist has claimed his diagnosis would be very different 67 years later.

The killer was given a mental examination after his arrest in 1957 and diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was then declared unfit for trial and sent to a mental asylum, where he lived the rest of his life.

However, forensic psychiatrist Professor Paul E. Mullen has claimed he wouldn’t actually qualify for any mental conditions at all in today’s world, due to advances in technology and medical testing.

Speaking to Reach Screen Time, he said: “Gein was diagnosed at the time with a schizophrenic illness, based on broad and outdated criteria. By modern standards, he would not meet criteria for schizophrenia or any psychotic disorder.”

Credit: Netflix

“Contemporary reports describe him as shy, self-absorbed, and socially isolated, but with no evidence of persecutory delusions,” he continued.

The expert claimed Gein’s hallucinations of his mother were likely to be a symptom of grief rather than schizophrenia.

“He heard his mother’s voice after her death, a common experience in bereavement rather than a symptom of psychosis. His mother had a profound and enduring influence, instilling a fear of the sinful outside world and particularly of women,” he explained.

“His devotion persisted after her death, motivating his attempts to contact her spirit. Gein claimed much of his grave robbing and possibly his murders were tied to this obsession.”

The psychiatrist added: “This relationship shaped both his psychological development and the extreme nature of his crimes.”

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Gein’s official medical evaluation from 1957 was published in a book called The Ed Gein File by John Borowski, which described his behaviour as “morbid (and) ghoulish … with exhumation of several bodies and the fashioning of masks from the heads”.

He scored 106 on a verbal IQ test and 89 on a performance IQ test, bringing his average IQ to 99. The average IQ is around 100. Doctors said in the report: “There are indications that subject is better than average intelligence, but here again is shown inefficient functioning.”

They concluded that he should be diagnosed as a “schizophrenic reaction of the chronic undifferentiated type” and said this had been going on for “an undetermined number of years”. This means he met the criteria for schizophrenia, but didn’t fit into one of the four usual subtypes.

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Featured image by: Netflix