Psy.101 Blockbuster Project

1. Psychosis and
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Danielle Berkowitz

2. PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS

3. Psychotic disorders
A category of mental disorders in which the
disorders are marked by delusions, hallucinations,
or extreme emotional disturbances (often the
sufferer is considered to have lost touch with
reality). They include schizophrenia and
delusional disorder.

4. Symptoms of Psychosis
• Delusions- False beliefs that aren’t based
on reality.
• Hallucinations- False sensory
perceptions, both auditory (often voices)
and vision-based.
• Intense emotional disturbances

5. MEDIA

6. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
A video game about a mentally ill young woman
descending into the underworld in an attempt to
rescue her lover’s soul.

7. Media
Hellblade takes place during the
early first millennium AD, and
follows Senua, a young woman
from the tribe of northern
Scottish warriors known as Picts.
At this point in their culture, there
was no psychopathology, so she
was considered to be cursed for
her mental illness.
She is banished from the area,
and as a result isn’t present when
a Viking raid devastates the
village, murdering her lover
Dillion in the process.
Senua decides to travel into the
underworld to reclaim Dillion’s
soul, a dangerous and perilous
journey.

8. CONNECTION

9. Connection with Psychopathology
Senua is shown to have psychosis. She hears voices
throughout the game, which the player can also hear. The
voices were recorded in stereo, so the player experiences
the sensation of being surrounded by the noise.

10. Senua hallucinates two versions of
the same tree, one horrifying and one beautiful. The visuals of
the game shift, and sometimes patterns will form as a visual
representation of her delusions.

11. Validity/Connection
Senua’s psychosis worsens
after she goes through
traumas, which is often how
mental illness in reality works
as well.
Senua attributes the auditory
hallucinations to the ‘voices
of the underworld’ possessing
her soul and berating her.
This is accurate to how mental
illness was viewed before the
invention of abnormal
psychology, when the
disorders were blamed on the
supernatural.

12. Conclusion
• The developers of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
clearly left no stone unturned in their quest to
present an accurate rendition of psychotic
disorder.
• Although it takes place in a historical fantasy
world, the representation of Senua’s mental
illness is grounded in research and respect.

13. References
• Definitions from The Everything Psychology
Book and notes from lecture
• A short documentary on YouTube called
Hellblade: Senua’s Psychosis about the steps
taken by the developers to make the character
realistic.