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book, mental health, mental illness, mentally ill, schizophrenia, stigma, voices, writers, writing
I saw an article on Facebook that I had to click on. The reason I was drawn to the article is the title, Methods to our Madness. I am drawn to anything with the word madness in it. I am always curious to read what other people have to say about that topic. I wasn’t disappointed. The article was about a book recently written by Carmiel Banasky, The Suicide of Claire Bishop.
One of the characters in Banasky’s book has schizophrenia. I am both interested and put off by that fact. I am interested to see how someone without schizophrenia portrays the illness in fiction. I am put off by it, because Banasky does not have schizophrenia and I feel like there are plenty of good writers with schizophrenia that can accurately describe and portray our experience.
I guess I have to accept that authors can write about whatever they choose, especially in fiction. It does bother me though to have another character with a mental illness (especially schizophrenia) where that character’s experience is probably not at all close to what the actual illness is like for me or others. In the interview the author says she has a couple of friends who have schizophrenia and she has never read anything like their experiences. That sounds like the author’s head is in the right place, but from the description of her character, he doesn’t have symptoms that sound like the disease me, or others like me, suffer from.
In the interview it says that the character, West, makes connections and finds symbols in everything. I have to admit, that has been an experience of mine when I am psychotic, but it is not something I struggle with on a daily basis. I haven’t read the book (but I intend to) but my fear is that people will have another “character” (like Rain Man was for autism) to stereotype those of us with schizophrenia by.
When a white writer creates characters that are people of color, I think the author is under incredible pressure to create real and authentic characters or risk being called a racist, and exploiting the experience of other people. I can only hope that the same is true for people who write about mental illnesses. If they choose to write about mental illness, and do it poorly, I hope there is some kind of outrage about it. We don’t need any more stereotypes or stigma to live with.
The other thing that bothers me is that it is difficult for people with schizophrenia to break into the literary field as authors of our own stories. I fear that if writers without mental illnesses decide to define and create stories about those of us with mental illnesses, they will be creating “our stories” for us whether those stories are accurate or not. I feel like authors will be stealing our voices and we may never get the opportunity to speak for ourselves.
Lastly, this author didn’t score points with me when she referred to people who have schizophrenia as schizophrenics. You don’t call someone with any other illness by their illness. We are people first, we are not defined by that illness. Oh boy, this might be another case of just-what-we-don’t-need.
Reblogged this on perfectlyfadeddelusions.
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I’m currently working on a novel with a character who has schizophrenia (I don’t have it, so please tell me if I’m missing the mark).
He is a minor character, Henry, in historical fiction. I’ve tried to portray it as a distorted reality. Henry sees the same things as everyone else, but interprets them in a different way. He meets an older man and believes it is his father.
The other characters call it “madness” and treat Henry as if he lacks intelligence. The reality is that he is fully aware of his surroundings and able to manipulate them. He doesn’t “see things”, but the real things he sees have a different meaning for him.
Does this sound like a fair portrayal or should I be doing more research?
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I don’t know. Honestly. Schizophrenia is different in every person that has it. The thing that is way different for me than most characters author’s portray is that the symptoms of schizophrenia are not the same every day. I have periods of psychosis and periods where I am just like you or anyone else. I do not suffer from symptoms 24 hours a day. I haven’t been psychotic for several years (the worst part of schizophrenia with a totally altered reality) but I do suffer from social isolationism, lack of motivation, paranoia, and extreme anxiety. Yesterday, I got through the day with such a low level of symptoms that I could have been anyone. I had fleeting moments of paranoia, and fleeting moments of anxiety but that is a great day for me. I have been keeping this blog for eight months and you can read there is very little here that is “distorted.” I can think clearly enough to write almost every day and what I write is something many people can relate to (at least they tell me they can. lol). There are other people with schizophrenia who are psychotic every day – they move in and out of psychosis – I had this when I was younger, but many symptoms decrease with age while others get worse. Some people have hallucinations every day and hear voices every day. That isn’t my experience unless I go off my medication. I only hear voices when I am psychotic – other people learn to function around or with voices. I’m not an expert on schizophrenia. I don’t mind being portrayed as someone with a distorted reality (after all, paranoia and anxiety are distorted realities) – but they don’t distort my whole reality (only psychosis does that). For example, I can be totally anxious but still know that my parents are alive, and that my husband loves me. When I am psychotic, I may believe my husband is the enemy and my parents are no longer living. It is totally different. Does any of this make sense? You can ask me any questions you want. I’ll do my best to answer honestly.
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Thanks, your insights are extremely helpful. I’m very wary about writing this character because for one reader it could end up being the only portrayal of someone with schizophrenia that they experience. I don’t want to give them the wrong impression!
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Thanks for caring! Caring is the first step in portraying the illness accurately (in my opinion). If you need help with paranoid thoughts, or the kind of thoughts that come up during a psychotic episode, or what being in a psych ward is like or anything like that – ask away. I’ll do my best to give you an accurate and detailed portrayal. I wish you success on your novel. 🙂
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Hi there! I am a person with paranoid schizophrenia and I am writing an autobiography of my illness. The fact is, early in my psychosis, before I committed my crime, I saw symbolic meaning in things that were different from the norm. For example, I had a crush on this one man and one day he put his hand down on the table, it was in the sign of love, in sign language. I doubt he did this intentionally; however, I recognized it and thought it was a sign that he loved me.
This is called a delusion of reference…might want to check more into that…
When I was first at the institution and very psychotic, I ran into a woman that I thought was my grandmother. Only the difference was, instead of dying her hair black, she had dyed it blond and came to my state to runaway from her husband…truth is, my real grandmother had been dead for over 5 years.
So anyways, if this helps, let me know. Also let me know if you have any questions. But like she puts up above, all people with schizophrenia have different symptoms; some are the same and/or quite similar, (such as the believing you’re Jesus delusion), I went through that one briefly, but others may never have a delusion of reference.
One other thing I’d like to reiterate is that the disease has no effect on a person’s intelligence; sometimes, it may be harder to think as quickly (as in some time’s it takes me a moment to “find” the right word, when before, I didn’t really have much problems in that area).
The only one I have found is here:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml
and it concerns attention and focus, but not really the individual’s IQ.
OK- I’ll stop here. Good luck!
LaVancia
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Thanks for adding to my comments! I imagine all the comments he gets from people who actually have the illness will help his research.
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My son has autism and, even though the movie Rainman was long before his lifetime and autism is so prevalent today, I still get the “Oh, like Rainman?” comment more often than not. I hear you loud and clear.
It’s a good point you make about being called ‘schizophrenic’ as it is not a state of being nor is it something that should ever used to define someone with mental illness. Weird how that works. I have PTSD and an assortment of other issues that go along with it but never hear of my illnesses defined as a population. That said, my sons autism affects everything in his life, all the time, so he is often referred to as ‘autistic’. A friend has a daughter who is ‘epileptic’ and also suffers from depression. She will say those two things in the same sentence when talking about her girl. It’s an interesting point and food for thought. Everyone should be defined as a person and not be defined by their struggles.
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There are times when movies can help us, and times when they can hurt us. Thanks for sharing your story and experiences! 🙂
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There is a large proportion of autistic adults who insist that they are ‘autistic people’, not ‘people with autism’. The argument is two things – autism shapes a person’s identity, so it really isn’t something we ‘have’ but something we ‘are’; and also that only disabilities get singled out like that (no one expects me to call myself a person with female gender, for example).
People think that calling me a ‘person with autism’ is going to remind people that I’m a person, but I’ve met many people who use person-first language while treating me like a perpetual child who has no capacity for self-awareness or self-advocacy.
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I write a column on Drunken Boat and I occasionally interview artists who have a disability. I always ask how they choose to identify. It is different for everyone. I think if we are aware that one solution doesn’t work for every person then we will be less likely to offend someone. Do you agree?
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Unfortunately, scitzophrenics has become such an acceptable word with most of the population that people who use it do so innocently thinking it is an acceptable term. I agree though, people who write about mental illnesses need to become knowledgeable about the mental illness and not write about a sterotype mental illness.
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I used to use the word schizophrenic until it occurred to me that it puts the illness before the person. I agree, most people probably use that word out of ignorance rather than out of malice.
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I personally think so. It will take education to get people to think differently and you are doing that – educating people.
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Yes, you are right – education is key!! 🙂
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I’m glad that you are doing that!
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Thank you!!
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Ooops, major misspell. “Schizophrenics” not scitzophrenics.
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I am a schizophrenic and I have been holding down a job and keeping a blog for the past 1.5 years. I have my own voice and I even keep blues rock and roll songs on my website. Mostly my blog has been about working, selling and schixophtenia but that idea seems to be a cause for charity. I want to provide more for my family. So I’m thinking of writing something else. Think I’m destined for fame and fortune but maybe that’s just the schizophrenia talking. Check out my website.
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I will check out your website. Thanks for reading my blog post. Good luck to you!
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