A long time ago in the imagination of George Lucas far, far away, a promising young Sith Lord overcame adversity and a handicap to take the galaxy by storm in a big, big way. He probably had no idea as he pulled the first few laboured breaths through his new breathing mask and respirator that he would go on to great things; not the least of which was to become the iconic anti-hero in Lucas' Star Wars science fiction adventure movies.

As a personal emissary to the Emperor, this ambitious and talented young man was a symbol of tyranny throughout the Core Worlds and beyond. He headed the Imperial Navy, led the hunt for the Rebel Alliance, oversaw the construction of the second Death Star and was personally responsible for killing scores of Jedi during the great Jedi purge of the Clone Wars.

Anakin Skywalker was a legendary male Human Jedi Knight in the waning days of the Jedi Order, and was famed as the Chosen One of Jedi legend. During his training, he was slowly swayed to the dark side of the Force by his many emotions and, most influentially, by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. He eventually took on the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith, thus becoming Darth Vader shortly before the formation of the Galactic Empire. 

Before becoming Vader, Skywalker served as a General (originally Commander) in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. As Vader, he was appointed to the role of Military Executor of Palpatine's New Order, and gained infamy as one of the galaxy's greatest mass murderers. He also headed the Great Jedi Purge - a hunt for the remaining Jedi after Order 66.

So what went wrong? What led Vader to defect to the dark side? According to a psychiatric report, Anakin Skywalker, the Star Wars character who became Darth Vader, had borderline personality disorder. The news comes not from a galaxy far, far away, but from San Diego, when the American Psychiatric Association (APA) held its 160th annual meeting in May 2007.

Experts from the psychiatric department at France's University Hospital of Toulouse told the APA's annual meeting that Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader could "clearly" be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

Borderline personality disorder is a serious mental illness marked by instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior, according to background information on the Web site of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The French psychiatrists - who included Laurent Schmitt, M.D. - based their diagnosis on original Star Wars film scripts.

Schmitt's team describes Skywalker's symptoms, including problems with controlling anger and impulsivity, temporary stress-related paranoia, "frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment (when trying to save his wife at all costs), and a pattern of unstable and intense personal relationships," including his relationships with his Jedi masters.

Changing his name and turning into "Darth Vader" is a red flag of Skywalker's disturbed identity, note Schmitt and colleagues. The researchers aren't suggesting that real people with borderline personality disorder are Darth Vaders-in-the-making. Skywalker's symptoms are an extreme, fictional case.

Borderline personality disorder can be treated through psychotherapy and with medication. But that wasn't part of Skywalker's script; which is perhaps just as well. After all, if it wasn't for Darth Vader, there probably wouldn't have been any star wars, and what a boring movie Star Wars would have been without the star wars!