" The mental illness "falls short of legal insanity." A defendant given the verdict guilty but mentally ill would be sent to either a jail to receive treatment, or a mental hospital until the person could return to jail to complete his sentence (Atkinson et al. 632-633).
Bigger Thomas could be found guilty but mentally ill. Bigger's illness is that of an antisocial personality, once referred to as psychopathic personality. People with antisocial personality disorder "perform actions most would find unacceptable, such as stealing from friends and family. They also tend to be irresponsible, impulsive and deceitful." The clinical description states "individuals.tend to have long histories of violating the rights of others.aggressive.take what they want, indifferent to the concerns of other people." These people often lie and cheat and may be unable to tell the difference and "show no remorse or concern" over any of their actions, as devastating as they may be. 83% of people with antisocial personality disorder also suffer from some form of substance abuse. Stress, anxiety, and aggression all play a role in the bringing about of an antisocial personality (Barlow and Durand 384-385).
Stress is defined as a "state that occurs when people a)are faced with events they perceive as endangering their physical or psychological well-being, and b)are unsure of their ability to deal with these events" (Atkinson et al. 555). Bigger has stress from his mother and his sister at the start of the novel. Bigger's mother continuously has comments for him such as "sometimes I wonder why I birthed you," "we wouldn't have to live in this garbage dump if you ad any manhood in you," "he's just crazy.just plain dumb black crazy" (Wright 8). Also Bigger's sister is always arguing with him about petty issues and feigning fright of him so her mother sides with her (Wright 8). Bigger's mother always takes Vera's side in a situation with Bigger.
