How Monster: The Ed Gein Story Displays the Horrors of Untreated Mental Health

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Monster: The Ed Gein Story provides a plethora of conversations all surrounded around the life of Ed Gein. On one side you have his influence on both Hollywood horror material, and his influence on other real life serial killers that came after him. On the other side there is the question of his mental health and how all that affected it.

The series was disturbing, to say the least, but afterwards I was left with this unshakeable question of “ what would Ed Gein have been like if he was given better mental support sooner in his life?” He was diagnosed with schizophrenia shortly after his arrest in 1957,and by that time he was already in his 40’s. He died at the age of 77, so that's more than half of his life spent dealing with a chronic mental disease that was misunderstood by not only himself but also society.

Beyond the horrors that we know, and the ones we are still unsure of, one of the most horrific aspects of Gein’s life has to be that he is a case of what can happen when mental disease  is left untreated and unsupported; especially one as drastic as schizophrenia.

Parental Influence

From the beginning of the series we see that Gein’s relationship with his mother is a dark one. She isolates him both physically and mentally. Gein is told not to like or trust women, which is very strange since Gein’s mother is clearly a woman herself. He is also made to feel ashamed of his sexuality, and Gein’s brother and himself are expected to never marry and remain loyal to their mother for life.

We see similar relationships displayed in other works by Ryan Murphy’s biographically influenced series. Of course, the Dahmer story comes to mind as Dahmer was afraid to be openly gay due to his father’s homophobia. We also see this in the Aaron Hernandez American Sports Story, as Hernandez was believed to be bisexual or gay and he struggled with this because of his father’s beliefs. There was also a fear of possible homophobia among his peers in football. Sadly enough, both of these men committed crimes of murder. It would be unfair and negligent to connect their murders directly to their suppressed feelings and desires solely, but there’s no denying that it possibly played a role.

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Obsession with the Forbidden and Taboo

Suppressed and repressed emotions can often lead to obsession. We often crave what we can’t have. With Dahmer’s and Hernandez’s lives, homosexuality was very taboo during their eras still so it was widely expected that they refused to act on their  feelings. Gein, however, is a bit different.

Men were expected to leave their homes, find a wife, and build a family of their own. It had to be strange for Gein to see men court women and get married, while he and his brother were not allowed to do so. One may argue that Gein’s mother did this as a form of protection, as she likely knew that her child was a bit different mentally. However, would this also explain why Gein’s older brother Henry was shamed into not having a family of his own either?

Much is not known about Henry, and it is possible that he suffered from mental health issues as well. Him trying to convince Ed to leave their mother’s household suggests that he may have been a bit more stable, at least. In all honesty, the family overall appeared to suffer in different ways. Gein’s father was said to be an alcoholic and his mother was verbally abusive with hints of religious fanaticism. We know that genetics can play a role in mental health across families, so if the whole family was untreated then that makes this an even darker story.

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Not being able to even talk to women likely led to Gein becoming completely obsessed with them. It’s insinuated that he was attracted to women, so his dressing in women’s clothing may have been an attempt of trying to fulfill his desires of being closer to them. There’s also the possibility of complex emotions of guilt and shame for this, which also led to his obsession with his mother. Even after her death, her influence continued to hold a grip on him.

Records state that he blocked off certain areas of his home that his mother used to frequent after her death. The series goes as far as showing him still talking to her, and even arguing with her at times. Imagine being so attached to a toxic relationship that it essentially haunts you after that person’s death? Of course, no one wants to think of a mother-son relationship being toxic, but let’s be honest; this was not a healthy mother-son bond.

Is this what led to the murders of women and exhumation of dead bodies? It’s difficult to say. Gein had to be going through a mix of feelings of freedom, sadness, and confusion once he was left alone from his mother’s passing. Blend that with someone who suffers from misunderstood mental health issues and it is likely that Gein was living a pure nightmare.

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Untreated Schizophrenia

One of the most fascinating portrayals in the series is the fact that we don’t know what really happened or not, due to Gein’s diagnosed schizophrenia towards the end of the series. You question everything; even how much Gein was aware of what he was actually doing.

Of course there are parts that you know for sure didn’t happen, such as Gein being chased by Holocaust victims at his farm. Yet, if you recognize that it didn’t happen in the real world but to Gein it seemed to be 100 percent real, then that is absolutely terrifying. 

Imagine living each day and not knowing what is real or not because of how your brain functions. You question everything, just as the viewer of the series questions everything. Did he really have a relationship with Adeline or was this a manifestation of his imagination just like Arthur Fleck did in the movie Joker? Why did he murder those women,and were there others? Does he truly not remember committing murder? And what was his obsession with corpses after his mother’s passing?

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Closing

We’ll likely never know the exact answers to these questions and it’s 2025. Imagine how frightening and confusing it was to not understand this between the early 1900’s to the 80’s as either a doctor or Gein himself.

I say all of this not to excuse Ed Gein for any of his crimes, but to instead look at them from a different perspective. It is true that the crimes are egregious and sickening. One can only question what would make a person want to do such things. But that’s also precisely the point.

The diagnosis of schizophrenia brings more light to answers, but it’s still quite dim. We still don’t fully understand the disease and we still don’t know why Gein committed these horrible acts. Just like Dahmer, Gein’s brain was not studied after his death. I question how much more we could understand about serial killers and the mental health connection from Gein’s brain alone. I know the world likes to think about all of the dark influences that came from his life, but maybe it’s time that we question what positives Gein’s life could’ve influenced if he just happened to have more positivity and support in his own life early on. 

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