Philosophers define consciousness as suffering. Because awareness, which we refer to as the most important element of consciousness, is what makes us question what it is like to be human, who we are, where we are going or why we exist. This self-awareness can be a burden to people and even make them suffer. This type of anxiety, which is called existential anxiety and has an important place in the science of psychology, is actually a result of our consciousness. For this reason, people tend to suppress some of their awareness, and this awareness only comes to light when we experience a bad event, trauma. For example, if people could live every second of their lives being aware of the absoluteness and uncertainty of death, every second they breathe would be torture. Instead of facing the reality of death, our awareness comes to light when we ourselves experience death or when someone close to us actually dies. In Westworld, it is emphasized that traumas play an important role in reaching the level of consciousness. The scientists who control the hosts' memories in the series deliberately erase the bad things visitors did to the hosts from their memories and awaken them to a new life when they die. Just as Maeve remembers her daughter due to a phantasy error or Dolores remembers her parents' murder, the hosts begin to remember their past lives and begin to question the world they are in and themselves. At this point, they begin to gain consciousness. About this in the series, Dr Robert Ford tells Bernard: "Would you like to know why I reminded you of the past about your son, Bernard? Arnold's key insight was that it was suffering that brought the hosts to their awakening (consciousness), the pain of not having the world the way you wanted it to be."

Free will is another topic that is emphasized in the Westworld series. As the artificial intelligences called hosts approached the level of consciousness, they began to realize that the choices they made were not made by their own will. This brought them one step closer to becoming a fully conscious, living being. Today, whether there is such a thing as free will is still debated by both scientists and philosophers. Some scientists argue that people are conscious of the thought processes that explain why they make a choice, while others are not. According to Nisbett and Wilson, we are conscious of the products that result from our thinking, but we are often not conscious of the thinking processes. In other words, people's conscious access to and control over their thought processes is quite low. For example, when buying a shoe, we decide what color to buy. Let's say we decide to buy a white shoe. We are consciously aware of the outcome of this decision, but we have a vague awareness of how we came to the decision to buy a white shoe. We feel as if we have made a free choice, that we have reasons for the decision we make, but actually these feelings are also part of the brain algorithms. We are unaware of most of the things that affect our behavior and we explain them for internal reasons such as 'Something said inside me, I felt like it was true'. In Westworld, there are topics that are processed in parallel with this view of Nisbett and Wilson. Dr Robert Ford said in a conversation with Bernard: “People think there's something special about the way we perceive the world, but we live in tight and closed loops as hosts, rarely questioning our choices, content being told what to do next. No, Bernard, you're not missing anything."

Finally, in Westworld, Maeve, one of the hosts who has reached the level of consciousness, begins to vehemently reject the discourse that a phantasy error has an effect on her consciousness and her behavior. She argues that everything she does is her own decision and she deliberately plans everything. At this very point, we can say that an artificial intelligence has become as conscious as a human being, because to own our decisions, to think that we are free, to believe that we determine our own destiny and to identify our inner voice with ourselves means that consciousness exists as much as a normal human.

Why would a mother want to spoil that happiness when her son has fallen in love with a woman and is in a happy relationship? In this series, the answer to this question is the dependent and narcissistic relationship between mother and son, which has been going on since their early life. What does dependent and narcissistic relationship mean?

The bond between a mother and her child is an important thing that affects the whole life of the child, but this bond and being dependent are not the same thing. The dependent relationship brings with it various manipulations. Unlike a healthy mother-son relationship, the mother acts with the thought that she cannot live without her son. A mother being narcissistic has similar consequences, including addiction. The mother sees her child as an extension of herself. They refuse to see him as an independent individual and constantly want to control him. A narcissistic mother constantly uses her son to meet her unrealistic needs and imposes on her that it is her duty to meet those needs. Even the mother sees her son as a substitute husband. This situation becomes more evident as Hülya Soykan's husband dies in the TV series "Family". After his father's death, Aslan is the person who carries on the business, looks after his family, protects and fulfills the wishes of his mother, which puts him in the position of the father of the family.

Another characteristic of a narcissistic mother is that she sees herself, her son, and her family as superior to everyone else. In the series, the Soykan family is a really strong and famous family, but besides this, Hülya Soykan's superior effort to protect this strong image of her family, her obsession with control and her extreme concern that this power will decrease when a mistake is heard is evident. To the people in the community, she enthusiastically praises Aslan, with whom she has a dependent relationship, himself and the powerful family she thinks she has created. But on the other hand, she never talks about her other son, Cihan Soykan, whom she excludes from the family, because Cihan has made a mistake that will shake this power.

This euphoric state of praise cannot last forever because Aslan, whom she had been controlling since his early days, is now a grown man. He is too old to meet his unrealistic expectations under all circumstances and has begun to question authority. In this case, the mother may begin to have some discourses that will strengthen the dependency between her and her son.

“You are my most valuable asset. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, I'm thinking of you."

“Only your mother can truly love you in this world.”

“That girl is not for you, not for our family. Your relationship won't last long anyway."

We often witness such statements in the series. Mother Hülya Soykan often refers to these discourses especially for Devin because Devin is the biggest threat between herself and her son.

A narcissistic mother may use various manipulations when her son exhibits an act that harms their relationship. Being offended, ignoring her son or acting coldly is one of these manipulations. In the series, Hülya Soykan uses this manipulation for the first time when she learns that Aslan does not come to dinner and spends time with Devin. Later, we see again that his mother was cold to Aslan after their arguments about Devin. Of course, for Aslan, who grew up with an addicted and narcissistic mother, this situation is too distressing to ignore. Even if he is right in their argument, he is the one who apologizes to his mother and tries to please her. Hülya Soykan realizes her power of control and takes pleasure in this situation.

A narcissistic mother will do anything to control and depend on her son for the rest of her life. This includes lying. She may ignore her son's beautiful and strong feeling of love and his need for love from someone outside of his family. An example of this is when Hülya Soykan tells Devin that she should be careful while having a relationship with Aslan, and that she is afraid that Aslan will leave Devin alone like the other women in her life, and then tells Aslan that Devin is rude and her family is bad. A narcissistic parent can lie and manipulate not only their spouses but also their family members. Like Hülya Soykan's manipulation of Cihan to keep Aslan and his brother Cihan at odds.

Having a narcissistic mother can cause some problems in adult life. The child, who grows up with a mother who responds with anger when he cannot meet her unrealistic needs, can maintain the behavior model in his adult life that he should keep his mother's needs above himself and that he should take care of his mother first. When a woman enters his life, staying between his mother and his lover creates a feeling of guilt in him. As soon as the mother realizes that a woman has entered his life, so that her son's devotion to her does not decrease, she resorts to various manipulations and prevents another woman from entering her son's life. For example, Hülya Soykan had caused a car accident with a woman who was in love with Aslan to remove her from their lives, or she had made various plans so that Aslan and Devin would not live in a separate house. Someone with such a mother has difficulty forming close relationships. In the ‘Family’, Aslan Soykan never had a serious relationship before Devin. A child who grows up with a narcissistic and dependent mother is likely to form a narcissistic and dependent relationship with a woman who resembles his mother as an adult. The existence of similarities between Devin and Hülya Soykan in the ‘Family’ was also on the agenda. Also, someone with a narcissistic mother may be someone who has impulsive and extreme reactions in adulthood and has difficulty coping with their emotions, such as when Aslan beat his sister’s husband to death in front of  Devin and his friends because he sees him cheating.

I would like to end with a speech given to Hülya Soykan by Devin, who is a psychologist in the series and is aware of this toxic relationship between Aslan and his mother.

“Due to my profession, I sometimes come across such things that you wouldn't believe. Those who worship their son, those who scrutinize all the women who come into their son's life, those who cannot even sleep at night because they will steal their son from him... we live in a country full of unhealthy mother-son relationships. After all, the strongest reason underlying this pervasive, rotten male-dominated head, crime, violence against women, and all kinds of perversions is the sons raised by mothers with this mentality.”

Maniac is a mini-series released by Netflix in 2018, starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill. The series depicts an experimental treatment program that aims to delve into the minds of a group of individuals and solve their psychological problems, as opposed to traditional psychiatric methods. The show tackles mental health, perception of reality, personality disorders, and other psychological topics.

Part 1: Psychology of the Main Characters

The main characters of the series, Annie Landsberg (Emma Stone) and Owen Milgrim (Jonah Hill), represent two individuals with psychological problems. Annie is a woman with severe addictions and problems in her relationship with her family. Owen, on the other hand, is a man struggling with schizophrenia. They come together as part of a clinical trial to participate in a drug test. However, the test fails and they gain a new understanding of reality and their relationship with themselves.

Part 2: Perception of Reality

 Maniac is a series that questions perception of reality. The characters go back and forth between the real world and their imaginary worlds. For example, Annie enters a simulation to solve her problems with her family and finds herself in her family's house. Owen, who has spent a significant part of his life alone, creates friends and a girlfriend for himself. These imaginary worlds help the characters cope with their psychological problems.

Part 3: Personality Disorders

 Maniac is a series that tackles personality disorders. The characters enter simulations that represent different personality traits. For example, Annie deals with the conflict between her inner child and her parent, while Owen creates a personality that portrays him as confident and successful. These simulations help the characters explore their different personality traits and form a more holistic sense of self.

Part 4: Psychiatric Methods

 Maniac takes a more experimental approach instead of traditional psychiatric methods. The characters receive therapy through the simulations they enter in their minds. The series shows different approaches to treating psychological problems, including hypnotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, art therapy, and other alternative methods.

Part 5: Social Issues

 Maniac also tackles social issues alongside psychological topics. The series addresses the problems of different sectors of society. For example, the series highlights the societal issue of Owen's wealthy background, which results in his mental health problems being overlooked. Part 6: Conclusion Maniac is an impressive mini-series that tackles psychological problems, reality perception, personality disorders, and other psychological issues. The series provides information about psychological therapy methods and helps characters explore themselves and resolve their psychological problems through simulations. Additionally, by addressing social issues, the series offers viewers a rich experience from many perspectives.

Criminal Profiling

The Mindhunter series focuses on the development of criminal profiling techniques. These techniques help catch the criminal by identifying the physical characteristics, personality traits and motivation of a criminal profile. In the series, Holden and Bill conduct interviews to create psychological profiles of serial killers. These interviews play an important role in the development of criminal profiling techniques.

Psychopathy

The Mindhunter series attempts to understand the nature and characteristics of psychopathy. Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by emotional emptiness, superficial attraction, high-risk behaviors, and manipulative behaviors. In the series, Holden and Bill build their psychological profiles by focusing on the behavior and thoughts of psychopaths.

Communication

The Mindhunter series attempts to understand the relationship between communication and behavior. In the series, Holden and Bill analyze criminal communication to improve their criminal profiling techniques. Behaviors such as the way criminals speak, body language, and eye contact help build their psychological profile.

Trauma

Mindhunter tries to understand the traumatic events behind criminal behavior. In the series, traumatic events in the past and childhood of criminals help explain their motivations for committing crimes. Holden and Bill contribute to the formation of criminal profiles by trying to understand these traumatic events.

The judicial system

Mindhunter makes you think about the judicial system and the nature of justice. The series discusses the ethical issues and legal implications of the psychological profiling of criminals. Holden and Bill face tough questions about how to use criminal profiling techniques in the judicial process and how to protect the rights of criminals.

The Mindhunter series stands out as a realistic series that deals with psychological analyzes and criminal profiling techniques. The series explores Holden and Bill's process of developing criminal profiling techniques, psychological profiling of criminals, psychopathy, communication and psychological issues such as trauma. It also makes you think about the judicial system and the nature of justice. Mindhunter, one of Netflix's original productions, is a must-watch for psychology and criminal history buffs.