Power of the Unknown

The film, K-Pax, depicts a man who is not your typical delusional.   He claims that he is an extra-terrestrial named Prot from a planet called K-Pax.   He exerts such power of conviction through his extraordinary knowledge in astrophysics that it almost has his own psychiatrist second-guessing.   On top of that, he is imbued with wisdom and shows great compassion towards others.   While Prot’s case may be unlike any other, a variety of diagnoses can be made.   He could possibly suffer from schizophrenia, severe posttraumatic stress disorder, or dissociative identity disorder.   The method of treatment used in the film is through anti-psychotic drugs, therapy sessions, and hypnosis.   In the end, this is not enough to save Prot from falling into a state of catatonic immobility in the end and other possible interventions could have been employed to prevent that.   There are many legal and ethical issues that arise but I feel that it is more so purposely put into the story to give it a more dramatic effect.   It is a film, after all.
From start to finish, the film is open to interpretation.   It alludes to the idea that Prot might actually be an alien from another planet who is taking form in a human’s body.   However, from a pure psychological point of view, there are a few probable diagnoses for Prot.   Schizophrenia is a disorder that might seem fitting in this situation.   Paranoid schizophrenia would be the subtype of the disorder that I would categorize Prot in.   The key feature to this specific subtype is the presence of prominent delusions.   In Prot’s case, they are quite grandiose.   He strongly believed he was an alien life form from another planet.   The DSM-IV-TR requires that these symptoms to last for at least six months and it is later explained that these delusions have been occurring for a long time.   His speech is not disorganized and the flat affect is not really portrayed which are other criterions of paranoid schizophrenia (Kring, et al.).   At the conclusion...