All the passions of the irascible arise from and end in the passions of the concupiscible appetite. For example, anger arises from sadness and, after exacting revenge, ends in joy. St. Thomas Aquinas Richard III is an intense exploration of the psychology of post-traumatic stress disorder and this exploration centers on the mind of Richard. Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which serious physical harm occurred or was threatened. PTSD is characterized by the following central symptoms: feelings of detachment or distance from others, efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that might be associated with the trauma, recurring dreams about the event, and feeling that time is running out and there is no future. Richard exhibits all the core symptoms of PTSD, further amplified by his distrust of his dysfunctional family. Consequently, he becomes psychologically obsessed with the war and is unable to reintegrate into civilian life. Distorted both physically and psychologically; Richard sets out on a path of self-destruction by killing everyone around him. In Shakespeare's Richard III, Richard is psychologically deformed by the war and then rejected by society for his deformity. Feelings of detachment or distance from others are just one of the many symptoms of PTSD that Richard exhibits. Richard feels isolated because he is unable to identify with anyone else and only knows war. He never loved and was never loved. Richard's mother, the Duchess of York, told her own son that he was the devil: "You came to earth to make the earth my hell." A heavy burden with... middle of paper... daily basics. Richard suffered from a severe case of PTSD, made worse by his psychological paranoia about the people around him. During Richard's life in the 1400s, he had been constantly exposed to death from a very young age due to the Wars of the Roses. The death of his family members had most likely left a void and a feeling of insecurity in Richard's psyche. Richard had filled this void by taking on the role of a villain and continued his conquest of power. He is then rejected by society because he is psychologically distorted by the war. With this in mind, the audience can conclude that despite his deformities, Richard was able to rise to the highest level of power. Rather than wallowing like a wild boar in defeat and accepting society's oppression of the abnormal. Work Cited Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. The Norton Shakespeare. New York: WW Norton & Co., 2012.