Writing About Mental Disorders

dru can't get laid.:

I want to write Asperger's Syndrome really badly.
I've started stories, I've just never finished.
I'm really worried about writing it incorrectly and offending people.
>.<

My sister has Asperger's and my mother has become something of an expert on pretty much anything Autism related through both experience and intensive study. If you need pointers or info or anything, I wouldn't mind if you PM'ed me on here or something. I'll try to help as much as I can.

Normally I love having mental disorders in stories, because it shows how real your character could be.

^ if written or portrayed realistically and correctly of course.

I have to say I really do love writing about them (or rather characters with them and those around them dealing with it). I love doing the research for it too. That's one instance where I might love the research almost as much as the writing itself. [I've said it before, I'll reiterate, I am a complete and total psych. nerd.]

Also, this doesn't usually involve research, but another thing I often write (and I love writing) is maladjusted characters or characters that have severly warped views of the world and fucked up outlooks and things. That's not exactly a disorder [though it became one in, Charlotte, the character I described earlier], but it is abnormal psychology in its own right I believe. I love studying and analyzing their psychologies, and really getting into their heads.

Some friends and I are writing a story at the moment where the four main characters all have mental disorders. It really does help to get the characterisation as it makes them all very different. (The disorders being PTSD and OCD, Schizophrenia (or, that's the best way we can describe it), Anger issues and DID.)

In Perfection, a really old one-shot of mine it's about depression, in You Both Catch On Fire, the main character is written to have Dependant Personality Disorder, though it's never mentioned. Do I Scare You? was a one-shot that dealt with Paraphobia, which was quite hard to write. Run Away With Me, a completed story, deals a lot with Depression, I know how to write about how it feels so I tend to write about it a fair bit.

Reality was a one-shot drabble type thing that was trying to show a side of the story of Schizophrenia, from a friends point of view. Not sure how well that worked though. The Truth About Mirrors, Behind Her Mask and Listening To The Rain all touched on Depression and Anorexia very briefly and subtly, and are all one-shots.

In a story I'm working on currently, Swordfishtrombones, my main character has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I want to get it right, so I've been researching a lot. It's actually really hard.

Hello, Disorder - girl has eating disorder and is in the hospital. Based on my own eating disorders.

Broken - girl looking at herself in the mirror and seeing how she's become and how good it feels to be skinny. Based on my own eating disorders.

I Feel Like Dying, Erasing All These Memories - Schizophrenia.

Hold Me Now, I Need To Feel Relief - Dependent Personality Disorder.

I'm Paranoid, Self-Destroyed - Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Goodbye Is The Only Way Out - Avoidant Personality Disorder.

I'm working on a oneshot now where one of a pair of brothers (Tom Kaulitz) is...I'm not sure what's actually wrong with him yet. He's got an inferiority complex because of his brother (Bill) even though Bill didn't realize it at the time. Tom's had a mental breakdown and he's in an institution.

His mind blocks out certain memories, like ones of Bill before he went off the deep end; he can only remember something bad he did to Bill when he lost it. He has mood swings and just cries and cries and cries a whole lot. He's not entirely lucid - in the beginning he's on meds and says that the feeling of them kicking in is just like falling through the sky - but in another part he's very lucid. I don't really know what you'd say he has.

I'm actually kind of afraid to try anything with a specified mental disorder in fear of not getting it perfect. In a future story, I have a character who I'm implying it manic depressive / bipolar and I'm going to do so much research it's not even funny. I don't want to look like an ass if I write the character and come out and say, "Yeah, he's bipolar" and have people react like, "Wtf? Where did that come from?" It's also historical so that complicates things even further.

I love mental disorder fics if they're done right. A lot that are depression are just the character angsting a lot and a lot of eating disorder fics are just like "I'm so fat and ugly and gah." I like a little substance and differentiation.

In No Regrets, a story I'm writing with my best friend, my main character, Luna, has bipolar disorder, maniac depression, and ADHD. I know it's a little overboard, but I actially do have all of those disorders, and some slight MPD. (Multiple Personality Disorder)

I'm writing a play with a schizophrenic character.

I've been doing a lot of research. I think I'm doing well with it so far.

In Starling, pretty much all of my main characters have some sort of mental disorder whether it be full out antisocial or just trichotillamania.

Research is fun.

Luna Skyest:

In No Regrets, a story I'm writing with my best friend, my main character, Luna, has bipolar disorder, maniac depression, and ADHD. I know it's a little overboard, but I actially do have all of those disorders, and some slight MPD. (Multiple Personality Disorder)

Bipolar and manic depression is the same illness.

I love writing mental disorders. A few of my favorites are schizophrenia, cannibalism, and split personality disorder. Anorexia is briefly touched on in a future, not posted-yet chapter of Memories of a Lost Voice. Music is slightly schizophrenic with delusions, with a cousin that has a personality problem that will show up soon. I don't want to give the story away, but every chapter so far has had a reference to either Music's problems or someone else's problems. Cinderella, for example, was going through depression. Ethan suffered from narcissism. However, when that is wrapped up, I may write about a few other personality disorders.

^ Actually, the correct term for split personality is Dissociative Identity Disorder. It's been changed on the DSM IV TR. Also, cannibalism is not classified as a mental disorder, mainly because, most of the times, cannibalism is seen as a way to worship deities in certain cultures, or as an extreme method of survival.

Honestly, I've rarely seen stories that actually portray accurately disorders such as schizophrenia, clinical depression, and Bipolar Disorder. The main problem, I realized, is that authors rarely do research on the topics. Most authors use schizophrenia as a general term, when in reality, now it's considered an umbrella term for different subtypes, much like Dementia, and Autism.

On Bipolar disorder, people seem to forget that it is also an umbrella term for two major types: Bipolar I Disorder and Bipolar II Disorder, also, Cytochlymia and Bipolar Disorder NOS.

I love mental disorders.
Okay, that sounds so wrong, but they have always interested me. It's the reason why I'm considering studying psychology.
I've written several stories about mental disorders.
I have one out here, Schizophrenia. Creative title, I know.
I've got another one that will be put out sometimes soon. At least I think it goes as a mental disorder. Is amnesia a mental disorder?

sobre mi cadaver:

^ Actually, the correct term for split personality is Dissociative Identity Disorder. It's been changed on the DSM IV TR. Also, cannibalism is not classified as a mental disorder, mainly because, most of the times, cannibalism is seen as a way to worship deities in certain cultures, or as an extreme method of survival.

Honestly, I've rarely seen stories that actually portray accurately disorders such as schizophrenia, clinical depression, and Bipolar Disorder. The main problem, I realized, is that authors rarely do research on the topics. Most authors use schizophrenia as a general term, when in reality, now it's considered an umbrella term for different subtypes, much like Dementia, and Autism.

On Bipolar disorder, people seem to forget that it is also an umbrella term for two major types: Bipolar I Disorder and Bipolar II Disorder, also, Cytochlymia and Bipolar Disorder NOS.

Yeah but people don't say "I have Bipolar Disorder NOS", they say "I have bipolar disorder" or just "I'm bipolar". I think it sounds terribly false when characters with no medical training mention technical terms like that.

For some reason when I write stories about mental disorders, I like having my characters be soldiers with PTSD

The disorder itself facinates me so much. I love researching it and learning new things about it. It's just so interesting to study and write about. I constantly research the disorder to make sure I get it right, though of course I try and add my own little bit to the basics because no one's exactly the same. I don't change it too dramatically, because I'd like it to be realistic.

I know this board is kind of old but I love reading stories with mental disorders. They interest me very much. I wrote Life on the Murder Scene where Frank has schizophrenia. Gerard has something though I'm not quite sure what exactly....It was a challenge but fun.

In The Anorexic's Sidekick (http://stories.mibba.com/read/336273/The-Anorexics-Sidekick/) I wrote about - surprise, surprise! - anorexia.