Why Grant Ward DOESN'T meet diagnostic criteria of Antisocial Personality Disorder (aka sociopath).
I’ve heard there’s some arguable and incorrect diagnosing going on regarding Grant Ward (Agents of SHIELD). Since I profile people in my professional hours, I took a peek in DSM V and had a good laugh to say the least. Let’s take a look into DSM V criteria for antisocial personality disorder in order to correct false misconceptions. I would like to say that diagnostic process is something that should not be done lightly, unprofessionally and with bad intentions, such as painting a group of fans of some fictional character in a bad light.
The diagnostic criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder as presented in DSM V can be found here.
The essential features of a personality disorder are impairments in
personality (self and interpersonal) functioning and the presence of
pathological personality traits.
To reach a proper diagnosis you need to know where some behavior pattern comes from. All of Ward’s maladjusted or illegal behavior stems from 31 year long abuse. That disqualifies all and any of his problems as a personality disorder (which is something any diagnosing practitioner will tell you). All of his problems would probably be better described as a form of post traumatic stress and Stockholm syndrome.
Any personality disorder is an integral part of one’s personality and it can’t be changed, while we’ve seen that, when treated with care and kindness, Ward doesn’t display maladjusted personality traits (all of his behavior from Pilot up to 1.17 “Turn, turn, turn”). Furthermore, he shows desire to help people he has hurt through his actions and correct his wrongdoings without asking for any personal gain or even forgiveness.
From diagnostic criteria:
To diagnose antisocial personality
disorder, the following criteria must be met:
A. Significant impairments in personality functioning manifest by:
1. Impairments in self functioning (a or b):
a.Identity: Ego-centrism; self-esteem derived from
personal gain, power, or pleasure.
b.Self-direction: Goal-setting based on personal
gratification; absence of prosocial internal
standards associated with failure to conform to
lawful or culturally normative ethical behavior.
a. Identity: Ward doesn’t display ego centrism (in fact he puts wellbeing of others ahead of his own, in fact his significant personality trait is self sacrifice. Examples: he jumps out of the plane after Jemma Simmons without even having the parachute on properly, to inject her with a medicine he isn’t sure will work,l and therefore risks a fatak infection to hismelf; he acts as a human shield to team members on multiple occasions)
His self esteem isn’t derived from personal gain, power or pleasure. His self esteem is gained by successfully following and completing a mission, or from protecting others.
b. Self direction: Ward’s goal setting isn’t based on personal gratification, he doesn’t display absence of pro social standards (as we have seen him help various people numerous times, and, which is especially significant, when given choice, he prefers incapacitating enemies rather than taking their lives, in fact, he attempts to save a hostile in 2.02 “0-8-4” from falling off a plane, but doesn’t succeed (not by his own choice).
absence of prosocial internal
standards associated with failure to conform to
lawful or culturally normative ethical behavior.
We have already established that Ward displays acts that evidence his awareness of pro social standards. Considering that he does engage in behavior that doesn’t conform to lawful and/or ethical norms, it’s important to state the following: Grant Ward was taught and trained as a soldier (or an agent and a spy, if you want). What he does (killing) he does as a soldier/agent (both of hydra and shield). So, if you consider his actions he commits as a soldier/agent as meeting this diagnostic criteria, then you have to apply this diagnostic criteria to every soldier, agent or a service person who commits what usually would be considered unlawful/unethical behavior. Meaning, every soldier, then, would meet diagnostic criteria for APD. Which would be a rather scary notion. Also, you can’t apply these to enemy soldiers/agents but not on the side you favor. Diagnostics don’t work that way. It’s either all of them, or none.
AND
2. Impairments in interpersonal functioning (a or b):
a.Empathy: Lack of concern for feelings, needs, or
suffering of others; lack of remorse after hurting or
mistreating another.
b.Intimacy: Incapacity for mutually intimate
relationships, as exploitation is a primary means of
relating to others, including by deceit and coercion;
use of dominance or intimidation to control others.
a. empathy - Ward shows significant concern for well being of others. In fact, his loyalty to John Garrett, as misguided as it is (and important to note, shaped by 15 years of indoctrination, abuse, emotional blackmail and manipulation), is founded in concern for Garrett’s well being. Ward’s goal is to find cure for Garrett’s medical condition. We see him show considerable concern when Garrett isn’t feeling well, but we’ve also seen him show concern for other characters, most notably Skye when she was shot. We have also seen him show remorse and guilt over his bad actions, we’ve seen him also actively trying to help people he knows he had harmed. (episodes 1 and 3 of season 2)
b. intimacy - we have seen Ward at least try to form a mutually intimate relationship with Skye, as best as his current circumstances would allow him (he was an agent of opposing side. That’s a considerable roadblock). His primary means and intention was relating to her and maintaining a relationship with her. As confirmed by Ward as a character on screen, and the writing/producing team off screen, Ward’s feelings for Skye are genuine and honest. Ward is capable of maintaining intimacy, but because of his job and mission, he wasn’t able to maintain the desired relationship. While attempting to maintain it he didn’t use intimidation or coercion.
In case of his sexual relationship with May; it’s primary goal wasn’t intimacy, but sexual release, it was supposed to be a no strings attached relationship as dictated by agent May, who has, on several occasions, requested to keep said arrangement between them non personal. Agent May wasn’t coerced or tricked into sleeping with him, because she had initiated and also ended their relationship on her own terms, and in the entire duration of their relationship, she had more power and control, as stated several times by her on screen. In other words, Ward didn’t seduce her, as it’s obvious in the ending scene of 1.08. Furthermore, said sexual relationship happened only after they both went through the same kind of traumatic experience and it can be guessed that both needed comfort after said experience. Prior to that, we didn’t witness any attempts of seducing Agent May on Ward’s part.
Ward didn’t display intimidation or dominance in his relationships with Skye or Agent May. In fact, it’s specifically stated that Agent May was the dominant partner in their relationship. In “Nothing personal” we did not see Ward intimidate Skye, but we did see Skye hitting him and him not defending himself. In the season 1 finale we have seen Ward pointing a gun at Skye’s safety vest, while his intention to shoot her was arguable (it’s considerably hard to commit a direct hit while holding a weapon sideways, in addition, we have seen Ward properly using firearms on numerous occasions and displaying drastically different handling of firearms in those occasions). We did not see Ward threaten Skye with physical harm or sexual violence, as it’s often argued (“I’ll take something I want” refers to Ward’s conversation with Raina that took place in the same episode, which was clearly shown on screen. Additionally, the alleged rape threat was never even mentioned, least confirmed by producers or writers of the show.)
(We did see Skye take part in the attempt of capturing him, which ended in a physical fight between him and agent May who applied torture method on him (using a nail gun on his foot - nailing of one’s extremities is a well known torture method of Ancient Rome, used at crucifixion). So while it’s not relevant to Ward’s diagnosis, it’s interesting to note that coercion and physical force/harm are committed against Ward on regular basis, from the episode “Providence” onward. )
So far we haven’t found significant impairments in Ward’s personality functioning, neither A or B; or impairments in his interpersonal functioning (A or B). To meed the diagnostic criteria of APD, one of the criteria (A or B) has to be met in the area of personal AND interpersonal functioning. Considering that none of these criteria are met so far, the potential diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder can already be disqualified.
We can though take a look into remaining diagnostic criteria:
B. Pathological personality traits in the following domains:
1. Antagonism, characterized by:
a.Manipulativeness: Frequent use of subterfuge to
influence or control others; use of seduction,
charm, glibness, or ingratiation to achieve one„s
ends.
b.Deceitfulness: Dishonesty and fraudulence;
misrepresentation of self; embellishment or
fabrication when relating events.
c. Callousness: Lack of concern for feelings or
problems of others; lack of guilt or remorse about
the negative or harmful effects of one„s actions on
others; aggression; sadism.
d. Hostility: Persistent or frequent angry feelings;
anger or irritability in response to minor slights and
insults; mean, nasty, or vengeful behavior.
While one could argue that Ward meets points A and B among these criteria, one also should note that said behavior is displayed only in terms of his job/tasks/mission (as already mentioned and discussed above); and is not a consistent personality trait. Furthermore we have already stated that Ward displays concern for others, shows guilt and remorse, and we can further assert that he doesn’t display traits like sadism (in those several occasions where he had to commit killings, he is seen doing it in the quickest possible way. Sadism would imply torture of a victim, which is something Ward did not commit. We did however see Ward being mistreated and tortured by several characters, regardless of their motivations which are human but not justifiable (hurt by a nail gun, imprisoned in inhuman conditions, exposed to asphyxiation).
2. Disinhibition, characterized by:
a. Irresponsibility: Disregard for – and failure to
honor – financial and other obligations or
commitments; lack of respect for – and lack of
follow through on – agreements and promises.
b. Impulsivity: Acting on the spur of the moment in
response to immediate stimuli; acting on a
momentary basis without a plan or consideration
of outcomes; difficulty establishing and following
plans.
c.Risk taking: Engagement in dangerous, risky, and
potentially self-damaging activities, unnecessarily
and without regard for consequences; boredom
proneness and thoughtless initiation of activities to
counter boredom; lack of concern for one„s
limitations and denial of the reality of personal
danger
We can state that Grant Ward generally doesn’t display disinhibition, in fact his actions and behavior is on many occasions inhibited. He doesn’t display irresponsibility (which we can judge by his approach to his job which he does very responsibly, no matter for whom he works. Also, we have seen him giving the team valuable info on Hydra through season two, with no personal gain for him; so despite not getting better treatment, he still does his job - providing information - rather responsibly). Also, Grant Ward doesn’t act on impulse - he plans, prepares and carefully assess risks, in fact his specialty is risk assessment. An individual with impulsive character trait would not be able to do said job. Also, he does not engage in dangerous, risky or self damaging activities in order to provide himself with personal gratification/alleviate boredom; if he commits risky actions, it’s due to the mission at hand (example: jumping out of the plane without properly securing a parachute in order to save team mate’s life).
C. The impairments in personality functioning and the individual‟s
personality trait expression are relatively stable across time and
consistent across situations.
Ward’s bad actions are due to his abuse and the job he is tasked to do, and are not stable across situations (aka - he does not act in aggressive manner when on downtime with the team, but only in appropriate situations - fights on missions)
D. the impairments in personality functioning and individual’s trait expression are not better understood as normative for the individual’s development stage or socio - cultural environment
Ward’s impairments in functioning (lying, pretending, killing) can be completely understood in terms of his socio - cultural environment, aka his job - he is a special agent trained as a soldier and his behaviors are dictated by those roles.
E. The impairments in personality functioning and the individual‟s
personality trait expression are not solely due to the direct
physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse,
medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., severe head
trauma).
They are not, but we explained under D. that they’re due to his socio cultural environment, aka his job.
F. The individual is at least age 18 years.
Yes, and older than 18, however, considering that he doesn’t meet a single diagnostic criteria for antisocial personality disorder; this criteria is irrelevant.
Long story short, Stand With Ward does not support a person who fits the diagnostic criteria of antisocial personality disorder, aka of a sociopath.
Post Scriptum: there is a character in season 1 who does meet the diagnostic criteria of this disorder: John Garrett.
