Mental Health Celebrity Case Paper: Wile E.

Coyote

Bri Leith

Seton Hill University

April 29, 2020

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The famous Looney Tunes character duo, Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner, have

been paired together since the 1950s and have caught the attention of people across the country.

This duo has some issues as seen in their show and this essay breaks down the story and

explanation of Wile E. Coyote’s history and struggle. Wile E. Coyote was born on September 17,

1949, and adopted by his two fathers, Chuck Jones Wild and Micheal Maltese, when he was

three years old. His fathers changed his name from Kelsey Coyote, his given name, to Wile E.

Coyote in 1951. Chuck Jones Wild and Micheal Maltese raised Wile E. Coyote in the desert and

gave him a great home filled with love and memories. According to his fathers, Wile has limited

communication skills and only makes sounds when he is tired with yawning and panting, or in

pain with howling, screaming, and crying. Wile E. Coyote was a teenager when he moved out of

his father’s house and started his own life. Wile has had limited contact with his father since he

moved and had no other known family. Wile does not get into detail about his departure from his

fathers but later may be attributed to his Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)

and his lack of communication throughout his life to his Unspecified Communication Disorder

(UCD) (Looney Tunes Fandom).

Wile’s new home is another part of the desert with sunny and partly cloudy weather, a

bright sky, and some bushes. This part of the desert also has gravity-defying rocks that add an

interesting dynamic to his environment. The only other creature in Wile’s home is a bird, his

famous other-half, The Road Runner. The Road Runner is Wile’s prey who he hunts down and

attempts to capture for food and continuously fails (Looney Tunes Fandom and Burden et al.,

2014). This ongoing cycle of trying to catch The Road Runner has brought many struggles to
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Wile’s life and has led clinicians to diagnose him with Unspecified Communication Disorder

(UCD) and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD).

The following explanations are provided to further explain Wile’s diagnoses of UCD and

OCPD. UCD is when an individual has symptoms of a communication disorder but does not

meet all of the criteria and whose symptoms cause distress or impairment (Gray, 2016). Wile E.

Coyote has limited communication as previously stated, only communicates when he is tired or

in pain. Wile has no communication with his family and struggles to catch The Road Runner but

never seeks help or assistants from anybody else in Looney Tunes. Wile has limitations that have

an impact on his necessity for food and relationships with other characters. These limitations

though don’t meet the criteria for any other communication disorder listed in the text (Gary,

2016).

The other diagnosis for Wile is OCPD which is a personality disorder where a person

does not have obsessions or compulsions like someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

(OCD). Individuals who live with OCPD have a personality that is focused around themselves

being perfect. They have the tendencies of having rigid routines, being headstrong, and

preoccupied with doing things their way. To meet the criteria for OCPD you must have four of

the eight characteristics. Wile E. Coyote meets the following criteria: preoccupied with details

and order, excessively devoted to work and productivity, difficulty working with others, and

shows stubbornness (Gary, 2016). Ever since Wile moved out of his fathers’ home he has been

attempting to capture The Road Runner but is unsuccessful. Wile is persistent and

single-minded; he wants to establish control over The Road Runner but he seems to fail every

time. Wile gets frustrated and will be angry with himself for failing and then tries again. Along
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with Wile’s stubbornness to catch The Road Runner, he has dedicated his entire teenage and

adult life to trying, without seeing friends or family. He doesn’t seem to have any interest in

relationships or wanting help from others showing his reclusive behavior. He is determined to

catch The Road Runner his way and by himself. His strong will and inability to stop setting traps

to catch The Road Runner has put him into a constant loop of trying to control and failing. Wile’s

traps and gizmos are complex and intricate at times which shows his intelligence and since he

works alone he makes sure each part of the trap is perfect and goes over each step every time

hoping it won’t fail him. Each trap takes him a while and since he wants no help, even longer.

Wile’s perfectionist and repetitive manners can also be linked to another disorder OCD

but this disorder has different criteria that Wile does not meet such as “repetitive behaviors that

are aimed at preventing or reducing distress or preventing some dreaded event or situation;

however they are not connected realistically,” “need to prevent contamination,” need for things

to be even, and “strict order or symmetry fueled by superstitions” (Gray, 2016). Wile has

repetitive behaviors and the desire for it to work but they are centered around being perfect and

not superstitions or unrealistic ideas. Wile’s motive is hunger and needs for food which is a

realistic trait since he is a coyote. Wile also does not meet the criteria for another Cluster C

personality disorder because he is not focused on relationships with others, therefore, he

wouldn’t care what they think of him; he only cares about how he views himself. Also, he is not

scared of taking risks as he often fails and harms himself but then tries again. Wile E. Coyote is

also extremely independent and sees no need for help from other people so he does not meet the

criteria for Dependent Personality Disorder.

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Wile E. Coyote’s treatment plan for his OCDP and UCD is Cognitive Based Therapy

(CBT). CBT is a form of therapy with three sections: biopsychosocial framework, ecological

perspective, and strengths perspective. The biopsychosocial framework is focused on

biogenetics, psychological effects, and environmental factors. Wile, alongside his therapist, will

be able to outline those three parts and then go into detail of each one and see how each one is a

factor in his diagnosis. The ecological perspective of CBT focuses on Wile’s interactions in his

environment and what else he could do instead of what he has been doing. The third section of

CBT is the strengths perspective which is the focus on Wile’s strengths and what he has

accomplished or beneficial things he has already done to better his problem. Wile has already

tried to catch The Road Runner using his intelligence and confidence in improving himself. Wile

E. Coyote with the help of an amazing therapist could have significant improvements using the

CBT treatment plan (Gary, 2016).

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Resources:

Burden, G., Hess, H., Adcox, R., Marten, L. B., Ebbage, R., Harreld, M. L., . . . Gooney Gal.

(2014, February 12). Do "Looney" Cartoon Characters Show Signs of Mental Illness?

Retrieved April 25, 2020, from

https://lifeasahuman.com/2010/humor/do-looney-cartoon-characters-show-signs-of-ment

al-illness/

Gray, S. W. (2016). Psychopathology (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Looney Tunes Fandom: Wile E. Coyote. Retrieved April 25, 2020, from

https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Wile_E._Coyote