Sisyphus’ Sigma: A Look into Mental Illness

by Wiam Najjar, May 19, 2021

48 48

Warning: This article contains minor spoilers for Sisyphus: The Myth!

From the moment Sigma stepped on the set of Sisyphus: The Myth, many of us must have wondered what was wrong with the man. His actions were so extreme and inexcusable that he was portrayed as the ultimate villain, then a flashback to his early childhood and youth made the viewer step back and rethink. Was Sigma all that evil? Was he inexplicably vicious? Or would a closer look at his personality and life help us understand the man he had become?

So I decided to pursue the latter question to find out what was wrong with Sigma.

Sigma fits into more than one category. His behaviour, actions, and words classify him under Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) and Avoidant Personality Disorder. He is also a typical case of abused and neglected children who develop mental illness as adults. His obsession with Han Tae Sul is not only out of jealousy but also because of his fear of abandonment. His childhood, upbringing, and life in general formed his extreme hate for humanity, his misanthropy.

Through a closer look into the symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), Sigma is clearly a classic example of the disorder. He embodies all the traits of the illness. Sigma acts impetuously and without reflecting on the consequences of his actions. His behaviour is dangerous and even illegal. Unpleasant, irascible and violent, he is not loved or accepted by people around him or society in general. He is so self-involved that he does not care about hurting others, which leaves him guilt-free. Boredom results in more dangerous activities. “Survival of the Fittest” is his motto. He is an opportunist who stops at nothing to achieve his goals (1).

Accordingly, Sigma is troubled with Antisocial Personality Disorder and he is driven by his selfish desires to commit crimes and hurt others. ASPD is not Sigma’s only issue. Sigma was maltreated as a child. His father abused Sigma and his mother, he was also neglected by both parents. The tormented child had no solace in his peers, either, which is why he became so obsessed with the first and only person who treated him like a human being. According to Freud, “In itself, the obsession is something wished for, a kind of consolation,” (2) the exact case of Sigma.

Sigma’s early life caused his low self-esteem and feelings of incompetence. Those feelings, when serious and lifelong, can be indications of Avoidant Personality Disorder, a disorder that is centered around the difficulty or impossibility of individuals to keep up with social norms and ordinary human interactions (3). This illness, in addition to abuse as a child and a complete rejection from others, gave rise to a misanthropist with severe mental illness.

Having analyzed Sigma and tried to understand his background and behaviour, some questions are left unanswered. Is Sigma a victim? Are his actions justified since he suffered tremendously in life? Who is to be blamed for Sigma’s actions? And finally, to what extent are we Sigma?