20 Things You Somehow Missed In Shutter Island
3. Teddy's "Outstanding Defense Mechanisms"
Early on in the film, Teddy meets with Dr. Cawley and his assistant, Dr. Jeremiah Naehring (Max von Sydow).
After Teddy refuses an alcoholic drink, Naehring notes the incidence of alcoholism in the police force, to which Teddy retorts that psychiatry is a profession "overrun with boozers and drunks."
Naehring then laughs and retorts that Teddy has "outstanding defense mechanisms," a comment he repeats about a minute later as we catch a glimpse of Teddy's traumatic experiences in World War II.
There's of course a wider meaning to this, though, given that the entire point of the movie is that the doctors are attempting to break Teddy out of his delusion, which requires battling his substantial psychological defense mechanisms.
Naehring's comment was truer and more loaded with hidden meaning than anyone realised at the time.