Does a Person Who Reads True Crime Novels Have a Mental Problem
Writing the Crime Scene: Mental Illness
They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me. — Nathaniel Lee
Mental illness is a recurring staple of crime fiction. Fictional homicide detectives often struggle with depression and substance abuse. Crazed killers are labelled as psychopaths or 'criminally insane.' Plot lines involving retrograde amnesia, compulsive criminal behaviour and so-called 'split personalities' are also not uncommon. But many crime novels and short stories take farthermost liberties with their depictions of mental illnesses and sometimes become things drastically wrong. These inaccuracies have a direct impact on the negative stigma surrounding the mentally ill.
As writers, we bear a responsibility to write about mental illness in our manuscripts without perpetuating stereotypes and reinforcing myths that reflect negatively on real people who endure from these afflictions. In that location are three important rules to follow whether you're describing a sociopath or giving a private investigator an odd neurosis — research, research and more inquiry. This article will assist bespeak you in the right direction and steer yous clear of mutual mistakes made when writing about mental disease.
Television is Not Research
Never use data gleaned from films or television shows equally your ground for writing characters with mental affliction. The lead character in the Monk drama series is not an accurate example of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Nor is the adversary in the recent film Dissever a expert example of dissociative identity disorder. People don't kill people with 1 personality while their other twenty-two personalities are unaware of it. This may make for exciting cinema, only the brain doesn't work that style in real life. And despite what Hollywood would take us believe, nigh real-life serial killers test at beneath average intelligence. Trust in your ain inquiry and not in pop media.
The Devil is in the Details
Before you lot start plotting your story, accept an hour to do a basic internet search on the actual symptoms and characteristics of the mental affliction yous're writing about. Some quick inquiry will help steer you clear of any obvious blunders. Once yous have the basics down, you can dive deep into the rabbit pigsty of details. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (or DSM-5) is the be-all, end-all source for information on mental illness. This 970-page tome provides apparently language standard criteria for the classification of all mental disorders. If your character is mentally unstable, his problems are described in hither somewhere.
Yous can purchase a hard copy of the text, but I adopt the electronic version considering information technology allows me to apply the search function on my laptop. And information technology's costless. Download it and take fourth dimension to actually learn about the illness you're writing about before you offset plotting.
Avert the Tired Tropes
Thinking of adding a grapheme with Tourette'south Syndrome to add some humour to your criminal offense story? Please don't. It's offensive and misleading. People with this disorder don't all swear uncontrollably. In fact, information technology's actually just a pocket-sized percentage of those diagnosed who compulsively spout foul language. A lot of what we recall we know most mental illnesses is frequently wrong.
I recently read a curt story in a workshop where a graphic symbol had a rare mental disorder that I'd never heard near. It added something wonderfully weird and memorable to the slice. Stay away from common psychiatric ailments that appear repeatedly in law-breaking fiction (amnesia, dissever personalities, etc) and consider using a unique disease instead. Doing so can add that special twist to your piece of work that will make it stand up out in the slush pile.
Imagine a story where the mother who reports a crime against her kid actually committed the offence considering she suffers from Munchausen past proxy syndrome. Or a 'werewolf' killer who has clinical lycanthropy, a rare mental disorder where people really believe that they are transforming into animals. Cutting that boring amnesiac witness out of your novel and supplant her with a grapheme with prosopagnosia. That way she tin can recollect seeing the killer, only she's 'face blind' so she can't place him when she meets him. You get the thought…
Drugs and Lingo
Do you know the deviation between a clinical psychologist, a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist? If your writing about a graphic symbol who is supposed to hold any of those 3 positions, so you should figure information technology out before y'all kickoff. Also, when writing dialogue for mental health professionals, brand certain yous've got your jargon correct. Talk to a existent-life mental health professional whenever you lot can for advice on discussion choices. Would they say someone was 'bad at remembering their babyhood', or would they say they were a 'vague and poor historian'? If yous're polite, clear about your questions and up-front about using the information in your fiction, most professionals volition accept the time to answer you. Using the correct lingo will strengthen your authority with the reader.
Does a schizophrenic suffering from hallucinations have clonazepam or clozapine? I made that mistake in a recent short story I published. They are similar in spelling, simply one is for treating panic attacks and anxiety, while the other is an anti-psychotic. A simple internet search and a couple hours of reading will make sure you know exactly what y'all're talking most when you lot mention a drug. Or, even better, side by side time you lot're picking up your prescription, tell your local pharmacist that you lot're writing a book and that you've got a couple questions about certain medications and their appropriate doses for a story you're writing. More than likely, they will either assistance you and so and there, or offering a good fourth dimension to talk nigh it. And they may even take a few proficient ideas for a drug-related story.
Decision
When it comes to mental illness in your law-breaking fiction, avoid the hackneyed ideas, proceed the real people with mental problems in the back of your mind and do your research. Go creative and try to draft something you oasis't read earlier. Now get writing!
Cavalcade by Repo Kempt
Repo Kempt has worked every bit a criminal lawyer in the Canadian Arctic for over ten years. He is the author of a book about seal hunting, a member of the Horror Writers Clan, and a guest columnist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He lives on a cricket farm with his wife, Joy and his niggling dog, Galactus. In his spare time, he looks for an agent for his latest manuscript.
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Source: https://litreactor.com/columns/writing-the-crime-scene-mental-illness
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