Darth Vader Had Borderline Personality Disorder

Looking for a way to explain borderline personality disorder to schools, family members, your own troubled kid? Screen some Star Wars movies.

That's the conclusion of a group of French psychiatrists, who journeyed to an American Psychiatric Association meeting far, far away in San Diego, California, to present their findings about the psyche of one of the great cinema villains, Darth Vader. Their analysis indicates that Anakin Skywalker, the unstable young man who became Vader in Star Wars' Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, presents a textbook case of BPD.

In making their diagnosis, according to a WebMD report, the team pointed to Anakin's "problems with controlling anger and impulsivity, temporary stress-related paranoia, 'frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment (when trying to save his wife at all costs), and a pattern of unstable and intense personal relationships,' including his relationships with his Jedi masters." Oh, yeah, and the way he took on a whole new name and identity.

Should you be worried that your borderline child will one day become the personification of evil in the galaxy, or start talking like James Earl Jones? Probably not. Should you be worried that psychiatrists are spending their time pinning mental-health disorders on movie characters? Yeah, maybe so.