Shutter Island (2010) is a movie with the genre of psychological thriller, containing themes of trauma and mental illness, with Teddy Daniels as its main character. Teddy Daniels shows signs of psychological distress due to his traumatic experiences in the past. In the movie, Teddy's trauma seems to emerge due to his experience of witnessing death as a soldier in World War II and the loss of his family. 

Teddy’s trauma is rooted in three major traumatic events in his life. The first cause is his participation in World War II, where Teddy was a former U.S. Army veteran involved in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. The violence and cruelty that he witnessed and experienced, including the execution of the German soldier, left a deep scar of guilt and self-loathing. 

His second traumatic event is the death of his wife, Dolores, who suffers from a severe mental illness. Teddy developed a deep guilt and regret over not seeking help for her deteriorating mental state, as it resulted in Dolores drowning their three children, and Teddy is forced to kill her. Lastly, the traumatic event that affected his mental state is the loss of his children, who were murdered and drowned by his unstable wife. The shock and intense grief from discovering their bodies pushes him to the brink of a psychological collapse, leading to memory suppression, denial, and other mental illnesses. 

Teddy employs defense mechanisms such as repression, denial, projection, and displacement to cope with the unbearable pain and guilt associated with his traumatic experiences. These mechanisms distort his perception of reality and contribute to his erratic behavior.  His trauma also manifests in his dreams, revealing repressed guilt and a fragmented psyche. He creates a fictional identity as a U.S. Marshal, a coping mechanism to conceal his trauma and escape reality.

His memory repression leads to his newly created identity as Andrew Laeddis and the repression of the distressing memories regarding the deaths of his wife and children. Teddy also experiences denial as the effect of his trauma, where he refuses to accept reality or facts that happened in his life. He denies having children and claims that his wife died in a fire. This is his way to shield himself from the unbearable pain of loss. 

Projection also happened to Teddy as he attributes his unacceptable feelings or thoughts to someone else. He projected his guilt onto another figure, such as inventing a new identity of “Laeddis” to be the cause of his wife’s death. By shifting the blame, he avoids bearing his responsibility and guilt.

Lastly, he experienced displacement by channeling his anger and frustration into his investigation, obsessively focusing on uncovering conspiracies at Ashecliffe Hospital. This allows him to avoid dealing with the true source of his distress–his trauma. 

Teddy Daniel’s story in Shutter Island shows the ability of the human mind to defend itself against overwhelming trauma. He unconsciously made a reality that protects him from his guilt and grief through repression, denial, projection, and displacement as a coping mechanism. Even though his ways of coping serve as a way to preserve his mental state, they eventually trap him in a cycle of delusion and suffering. 

References:

Cubukcu, Feryal. “EFFECTS of TRAUMA in SHUTTER ISLAND 1.” LITERATURES CONTEMPORÀNIES (Anu.Filol.Lit.Contemp, 2012.)

Dewi, Alfina, and Endang Rahayu. “DEFENSE MECHANISM on the MAIN CHARACTER of SHUTTER ISLAND (2010) as PSYCHOANALYSIS STUDY,” January 29, 2025.