It’s clear that you have experience with a lot of these things. I grew up with a mother who was diagnosed with severe depression, and when she was medicated, she was a zombie. Factitious disorder also can happen when family members or caregivers falsely present others, such as children, as being ill, injured or impaired.Factitious disorder symptoms can range from mild (slight exaggeration of symptoms) to severe (previously called Munchausen syndrome). From cartoons to beloved children’s books heroes, some of our nearest and dearest heroes have their own set of imbalances. While, yes, this clichéd scenario may happen, it’s not nearly as common as films would have you believe and it’s not the only type of amnesia, though certainly a lot more heavily featured than anterograde amnesia – the inability to form new memories – and transient global amnesia, a sadly misunderstood condition that causes confusion and agitation in patients. While there’s no cure for this disorder, various medications and stress-reduction may thankfully offer a way to treat the symptoms.[7]. Please join the mailing list to be notified every time new content is posted. Other big issues I have with mental disorders is when, say, bipolar disorders are lumped together, rather than distinguishing between I and II — a huge difference. Many of us can attest to the fact that depression is misrepresented in media, and, again, in real life. Besides these cartoons, there are several other characters that, on proper diagnosis, will reveal their psychological disorders. Poorly portrayed mental illnesses perpetuate the stigma surrounding mental illness. Caution may be advised, but certainly also needed are understanding and proper care.[3]. Some have longer term side effects so it’s best to consult a medical professional about them unless you have first-hand knowledge about the medication. Also, someone who cuts is not suicidal as a general rule. 6. A basic understanding of biology, physics, engineering, and other subjects can help authors create more realistic stories. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is not humorous. Also in Monk they discuss his triggers at length, and his inability to function without assistance. Narcolepsy, often portrayed simply as a mysterious disorder that makes people fall asleep randomly, is another condition that’s heavily used in fiction and just as misunderstood because of it. Staying on track with mental disorders, schizophrenia may just be the most misunderstood out of any of them, both in media and in real life. The following list of books about mental illness contains fiction, graphic novels, nonfiction, memoirs, biographies, and more, all books that broaden our understanding of mental illness from first hand and second hand experiences. Many seemingly innocent cartoon characters should count their lucky stars that they live in an animated, fictional universe. Insanity, craziness, madness, a series of terms popularised by films and still frequently used today even though these terms have no real medical meaning behind them. All rights reserved. — leahb4da387df5 4. It was already on their minds. I’m not a fan mind you, but I’ve watched a few seasons and can see where they were going. Also, one of my pet peeves is saying you’re depressed because_________. Another spectrum disorder, symptoms of autism do vary from person to person, though all are categorised as some form of neurodiverse behaviour, which really just means that people with autism and other neurodiverse conditions diverge from the typical norm. This book made me realize that I was not the freak my classmates made me out to be, and that there were other kids who lived with my disorder too. Can your characters have mild OCD or OCD tendencies? WARNING: mentions of neglect, mental disorders, drugs and alcohol abuse, suicide and abuse{any type}. It makes those moments where you cannot function all the more horrible for taking your “normalcy’ away. They allow your characters to be able to function in their daily lives. It’s a rare disorder and it’s hardly mentioned anywhere so I was surprised that you even mentioned it.   Your character isn’t depressed, they’re sad or blue or down but unless they’ve been evaluated and diagnosed with depression, your character needs to not say this. There are several times where you see the character break because he has to do things a specific way and hates it. I agree with your opening statement about meds affecting personalities. The scene where a character is knocked out, traumatised, or otherwise injured and wakes up remembering nothing is not one that’s new to many of us, it’s a trope nearly as old as media itself, yet it’s really more of a plot device than something that paints an accurate picture of this very complex and multifaceted condition. My ms focuses on that so much and it makes my heart happy to read it from someone else as well. I totally agree, Laura. Factitious disorder is a serious mental disorder in which someone deceives others by appearing sick, by purposely getting sick or by self-injury. Kathleen also has a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree which is a clinical doctorate, meaning more clinical-based rather than research-based like a PhD. maybe..... some were This book is a collection of stories from a group of people so there will be specification NOTE: The art and drawings used are not mine. Hearing voices might mean your character is schizophrenic, or it might mean they are in a bipolar episode or have severe depression. A basic understanding of biology, physics, engineering, and medicine will help you create more realistic stories that satisfy discerning readers. Thank you. Here are some online resources for getting the facts about mental illness: If you liked this article, please share it on Twitter! Thank you for pointing out the places where a number of authors fall short when trying to characterize us. In case you’re wondering what a Psychiatric NP does, they’re independent nurses with a four-year degree in nursing and a two-year master’s degree in nursing along with being either a nurse practitioner or clinic… Weiland […], […] Mental Illness in Fiction: Getting it Right […], […] Mental Illness In Fiction: Getting It Right, by psychiatric N.P. Fictional Character Face Off: Who Represented Mental Health Best? Symptoms do include the one mentioned above but tiredness, trouble sleeping, remembering things, or maintaining their mood may also impact people dealing with this condition. You should check out her website and Tumblr blog or connect with her on Twitter. I put a book down when I read, in the first few pages, a teenage character describing her mother as going bipolar on her … OMG I wanted to throw the book in the rubbish bin!! Read Sample. 9 shares | 2448 views . All will contain some sort of mental or neurological disorder that should be one of the main themes of the film. While it is considered a controversial term by some, the term “high-functioning” is often used to describe people who, despite living with autism, blend into society and its typical expectations and may live and go about their days without supervision. She recommends consciously exploring anxiety and accepting it to discover what it can teach you about the beauty of life. Having depression doesn’t mean your character can’t still have fun or laugh or be social. Thank you for writing this. 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More times than not they get it wrong. National Alliance on Mental Illness: NAMI, Bipolar Disorder: What Writers Should Know, http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecdotal/how-to-create-a-convincing-fictional-therapist, Top Picks Thursday 01-22-2015 | The Author Chronicles, Writing Mental Illness: A Resource For Fiction Writers – TAwrites, Web Stats and Top Ten Posts of 2016 - Dan Koboldt, Mental Health in Writing: The Do's and Don'ts -, Parasitism in Sci-fi: It Gets Under Your Skin, Book Release and the Great Dragon Egg Hunt, Putting the Fact in Fantasy Sold to Penguin Random House. Know the difference between a hallucination and a delusion. It's unlikely that the writers who created these characters consciously decided they would give them an undiagnosed mental disorder as one of their traits. Kathleen S. Allen (3,864 views). FM is often caused by physical or psychological trauma, though it may also begin without a known cause. Mental illness is so common, and yet, most people are still so uninformed about it. Lots of great tips for accurate portrayal of mental illness. For those of us with serious depression, by not showing those points where we can laugh and function you aren’t truly showing the scope and horror of the disease. They do it because there are possibilities that their children might … What are your favourite books about life with a mental illness? I never got why everyone thought The Playboy was a good movie, it was so boring I never even finished it. This is fantastic. It made people with mental illnesses seem so one dimensional and dull (at least that’s what I thought about the characters). Some may struggle with sensory input, others with social norms, while others may have communicative problems or a whole other range of issues. See more ideas about mental health, mental, winnie the pooh drawing. This was a very informative article! 2. As a person with mental illness, I appreciate accuracy when reading a story with a mentally ill character. Like many others on this list, schizophrenia and the people living with it don’t deserve baseless fear, they deserve respect, care, and a better understanding of the condition as a whole.[4]. Leonard Shelby, Memento. When a medication chemically caps your serotonin levels that can drastically effect someone in ways that do not pass in a few days. Aditya Joshi. It explains the symptoms for each disorder, including personality disorders usually there’s set number of symptoms a patient has to have before being diagnosed with a certain disorder. Here are some ready-made tweets: Filed Under: Science in Sci-Fi, Writing Craft, Book Details Yes, that happens. It is, however, still used in the United States as a legal term for criminals who committed crimes presumably fueled by mental illness and without a conception of right or wrong or the ability to recognise their wrongdoing as the latter. Narcolepsy, in reality, is another very complex condition with a neurological cause and symptoms that may vary wildly. This disorder is rare (and some medical professionals don’t believe it exists at all) so be careful using it. […], […] Mental Illness in Fiction: Getting It Right […], Your email address will not be published. Some medications (not psychiatric ones) can cause psychosis too, also some recreational drugs. Your email address will not be published. […] discuss the emotional reverberations in a crime survivor’s psyche, Kathleen S. Allen warns to do mental illness right in fiction, Writer’s Relief has tips to help choose the perfect name for your character, and K.M. Autism nowadays is often referred to as ASD or Autism Spectrum Disorder because of this reason, and each autistic person’s mind may be very different from one another. I used to tell my patients unless you develop a rash/hives or can’t breathe (same with any medication), most side effects go away within three to five days. People with schizophrenia experience a variety of symptims, though typically hallucinations, delusions, and disordered thinking, the widely portrayed “voices in one’s head” phenomenon is sometimes a symptom of it as well, but rather than a violent mental illness that leaves people without control, people suffering from it are generally harmless and don’t pose more of a threat than anybody else. And if they are in a psychotic episode, it would be difficult, if not impossible to function in their daily lives by going to school or work or maintaining a romantic relationship or really any relationship. Of course and those are the ones we hear about in the news. Here are five popular fictional characters with mental illness: Scarlett O’Hara (Gone With The Wind) The archetypal character with Histrionic Personality Disorder. Mental illness is … Putting the Science in Fiction brings together scientists, physicians, engineers, and other experts to writers do just that. Some medical illness can also cause depression, that’s why it’s important for you, as the writer to get your facts straight. Patients with this disorder hate that they have to check things over and over, it’s not funny or cute and one of the reasons I never walked the TV show, MONK. Either way, she wasn’t herself for most of my childhood. A character who has bipolar disorder may have manic episodes or they may not. Portrayed in a very large variety of ways and always with extreme effects, screaming, wild hallucinations, unpredictable and dangerous behaviour, this again shows that mental illnesses must be understood better instead of their Hollywood treatment of being an inaccurately depicted metaphorical monster to explain away any unusual or immoral behaviours, no matter how extreme or unrealistic. Required fields are marked *. http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecdotal/how-to-create-a-convincing-fictional-therapist. If they go back to make sure their house is locked twice, or they left the stove on, it’s not OCD. Thanks for sharing your experiences. Autistic people, just as others, deserve respect, human decency, and help if necessary, not fiction-induced fear or pity.[6]. Some of these symptoms are thankfully treatable, even though the condition itself sadly isn’t there yet, and people who have serious narcoleptic symptoms are usually a lot more careful to manage them as best as possible than they are in any film you may see about this condition, even aside from the often vastly different symptoms.[2]. 5. I am a writer living with Type I Bipolar Disorder and having been hospitalized on three separate occasions, severe mania involving delusions (NOT hallucinations), ECT treatments, countless medications, talk therapy…I could go on and on. That didn’t change when he started taking meds either. But it’s a subtler disorder and I can also understand why some professionals might believe it’s not actually real. Mental Illness Fiction Books Showing 1-50 of 260 Turtles All the Way Down (Hardcover) by. Yes there are many situations where some of his smaller ticks are taken in a tongue and cheek manner, but the show doesn’t make fun of people with debilitating OCD. I have depression and anxiety disorder, but that moviews just rubbed me the wrong way. Fictional characters, on the other hand, are ideal targets for psychologists to diagnose with mental illnesses or personality defects. Your characters don’t stop hearing voices when they are in a psychotic episode overnight after taking an anti-psychotic medication. Many of the other Looney Tunes characters, too, have mental disorders. Common symptoms of the disorder are sometimes extreme daytime sleepiness, sleep paralysis, potential hallucinations, and, in some patients, cataplexy, the sudden loss of the ability to control their muscles, it may be triggered by intense emotions or reactions and it usually lasts for a few minutes, during which the person going through it is actually awake. I saw that you mentioned Dissociative Identity Disorder. Of course I’ve only touched on some brief issues I’ve seen in books, I’m sure there are others I didn’t mention. Here are 10 movie characters who accurately portray mental illness. Not the taboo subject it once was, mental illness offers rich territory to explore in books for kids and teens. Thanks for commenting! If they lived among us and were judged the way you and I are, they would be in major trouble. I have a similar post on my blog about fictional therapists: Like you, I am also a writer (see my Amazon page or my website for my books) but I’m also a mental health professional. Sep 6, 2017 - Explore Andrew Cuthbert's board "Fictional Mental Health" on Pinterest. 1. Like its name suggests, obsessive compulsions are the major symptom to speak of here, things people with OCD have an incredibly hard time resisting, or, in some cases, literally cannot, no matter how hard they try. Alongside this, a physical injury being the cause of retrograde amnesia, the one we know so well, while certainly possible, isn’t always the case and it’s usually more gradual and varying than it’s portrayed, though certainly still very serious.[1]. While, yes, it may make people fall asleep randomly during the day, it’s a lot more than that. Movies Depicting Mental Disorders by Kenadron | created - 21 Mar 2014 | updated - 1 week ago | Public A list of movies that I may use for a project in my abnormal psychology class. No one survive without help and its the small acts of kindness from others that saves lives. For how common it is, it’s weird how many people don’t understand what the depression medication actually does. My fiance’s a very down-to-earth, pragmatic guy, depression or not. The word “histrionic” refers to “theatrical” or “acting”. with input from an expert. Build-A-Bear Workshop meets Jurassic Park. These include depression, schizophrenia, and eating disorders, as well as Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, and other neurodiverse conditions. mary. Your character would not have amnesia after killing someone. This book delves into the scientific research, facts and figures behind anxiety disorders as well as Sarah's individual experience and coping strategies. 4. Symptoms involve constant seeking for approval, inappropriate seductive dressing or behaviour, and being overly dramatic and emotional, traits O’Hara has exhibited especially in Vivian Leigh’s film … Glen Quagmire from Family Guy, for instance, has the condition of Hypersexuality, while Homer Simpson from The Simpsons suffers from Intermittent Explosive Disorder. I always wonder if that is what medical professionals are trying to explain with that statement. 1. 7. 3. Eating disorders are an extremely dangerous set of mental conditions. Getting facts out there to help with the stigma of mental illness in general. Autism is something nearly everyone’s heard about but few have understood properly. life, good and bad still happens, it’s very aggravating when a book only focuses on the bad. Generally just an insulting and exaggerated umbrella term for severe mental illnesses or disorders, it’s a very frequent sight in fiction, characters who have “lost their minds” or “went insane”, but in reality, it’s nothing more than an archaic term. That’s not what bipolar is. Yes, it doesn’t mean they have OCD. Its painful to be a person with mental illnesses, and if done incorrectly in a story one can feel down right made fun of. Films often connect this to amnesia as well, and while memory and concentration problems are potential symptoms, they don’t usually align with a complete memory loss. Thank you. We’ve all heard of plenty of medical conditions, medical and mental disorders and illnesses throughout our lives, we may very well have friends or family members dealing with them, or, for a lot of us, we’ve become familiarised with them through mainstream media such as films and television. I love that you mentioned that just because you have a disease it doesn’t mean that you can’t have happy, normal days! Kathleen S. Allen is a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (actually, a Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist, similar to a NP) with five years experience as a psychiatric NP and two years experience as a psychiatric RN (registered nurse). I really appreciate this post, not only because it helps people get it right in fiction, but also because it helps people get it right in real life. However, the flip side was, well, severe depression and all that that entails. MENTAL DISORDERS OF 4 CARTOON CHARACTERS: While most of us have actually grown up watching cartoons. A NP evaluates patients, diagnoses, orders medication if needed and does education around mental health issues. He didn’t suddenly become happy-pappy and bubbly, but they did help him mellow out and look at life from a less hopeless point of view. The pandemic has been pretty exhausting for a lot of us, so this May, we wanted to host a fun, mental health-related activity you can participate in from the comfort of your couch! Many people have dealt with it, had a friend or family member deal with it, or still deals with it today, perhaps right now as they’re reading this. Maddness between the ears is not a short story, it’s a whole life . BuzzFeed Staff. Click on the big red X on the top right to close this box. They are not the same thing. Let’s go over the familiar scene in our heads, collectively, right now; a character sees something mismatched or unsatisfying, expresses their discomfort, and runs over to fix it, often chalked up to OCD and played as something humorous, even though behind it lies a very real mental disorder that’s more than repeating a habit or doing something in a very specific way. Either way, autism certainly doesn’t mean a lack of emotion or empathy that would turn people into serial killers, neither does it give people inexplicable superpower-like intelligence, though. It would be interesting to see this disorder actually properly portrayed in fiction. Nothing gets under my skin more than seeing mental illness poorly written. Kathleen S. Allen is a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (actually, a Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist, similar to a NP) with five years experience as a psychiatric NP and two years experience as a psychiatric RN (registered nurse). There is something about mental disorders that makes a movie all the more enthralling. My fiance has depression and is on medication for it. I completely agree with you in the vast majority of the article. I’ve treated patients with suicidal tendencies, attempted suicides and patients undergoing ECT (electroshock therapy and no it’s not like it was in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST), and medical illnesses that seemed like psychiatric ones but weren’t. I’d be glad to answer any questions about mental illness about your characters if you hit me up on Twitter or on my website but please no medical advice for yourself. Sometimes they won’t stop at all. The stigma is lifting, and with its absence, genuine depictions are showcased. If you're into writing, publishing, or reading fantasy & science fiction, I'm glad you're here. Fictional characters with sleep disorders‎ (1 C, 1 P) Pages in category "Fictional characters with neurological or psychological disorders" The following 61 pages are in this category, out of 61 total. He doesn’t have blackouts or anything that’s normally associated with “Split Personality” and I would agree that his “other personalities” also wouldn’t do anything extreme that he wouldn’t normally do himself. Rae is a lovable and heart-warming character and her struggles with self-esteem and mental health are … Staying on track with mental disorders, schizophrenia may just be the most misunderstood out of any of them, both in media and in real life. It can take weeks to months. Top Fictional Characters. Are there exceptions? View the privacy policy. Unfortunately, many depictions of technical subjects in literature, film, and television are pure fiction. September 11, 2014 by dankoboldt 16 Comments. A serious condition that’s often confused with Dissociative Identity Disorder, having multiple personalities, is an entirely different condition in reality and also vastly differs from the way films and television also somewhat demonise it and portray it in various horrible ways – schizophrenia driving people to commit homicide, people who just mumble to themselves and can’t function, reality is, as usual, not like that. Anti-depressant medications don’t change your personality. Science and technology have starring roles in a wide range of genres--science fiction, fantasy, thriller, mystery, and more. These characters have such glaring and long-enduring mental disorders that there’s no way they could escape years of therapy, and possible institutionalization. Checking things multiple times, the irrational belief of some concept or item being “wrong” or “bad”, intrusive thoughts, fears of contamination and illnesses, and a lot more, with these symptoms often taking up hours every single day and not a few moments of someone who doesn’t have OCD but simply prefers being tidy.[9]. So many people use these terms in derogatory ways. This article is part of the Science in Sci-fi, Fact in Fantasy blog series. If in doubt, call a medical professional and ask them before you write. You can not function all the more horrible for taking your “ normalcy ’ away past e.g we..., have mental disorders, drugs and alcohol abuse, suicide and abuse { type... He has to do things a specific way and hates it also needed are understanding and proper care. 3... World where magic is real function all the more horrible for taking your “ normalcy away... Is out ) used to be the book I used for diagnosis they relate to if they have OCD acts... 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