Just watched Free Solo. Very interesting movie.
I’m going to do my armchair psychologist act.
Two data points:
1. Based on his own description of his activity, he seems to be driven by shame, which is to say a need to pursue perfection, to feel like he and his life have value.
2. His amygdala is clinically hypoactive.
Hypothesis: he has used chronic and intense fear to diminish the activity of his amygdala–he has forced it into a sort of accommodation or adaptation–which has had the cascading side effect of managing his sense of shame, probably stemming from primal attachment wounds.
To be clear, I admire the guy. Outstanding grit and focus. But I could not help but wonder, as many around him did, if he was not destined to go the John Bachar route over some time horizon.