# Mental illness...



## Mumford (Nov 15, 2012)

Hello, I'm intending on creating a character for a novel I'm writing who has a history of mental illness along the lines of schizohprenia, bipolarity etc. Aside from considerable social anxiety and panic attacks I've had very little first hand experience with anything like this, and there's only so much Wikipedia can tell you. 

I was just wondering if anybody on here suffers from mental illness themselves, and if so, what sort of things affect your everyday life? What do you do to cope etc? If not, does anybody have any family members or friends that suffer? I just need as much anecdotal information I can get, really. Any contributions would be greatly appreciated, thank you.


----------



## shadowwalker (Nov 15, 2012)

I've suffered with clinical depression for most of my life. Depression is, of course, the other side of the coin with bipolar. Depending on the severity of the episode (which can last from a few days to many months), I've run the gamut from just being tired and anxious most of the time to not even having enough energy to get out of bed. If you want, I can PM you with more info.


----------



## Jon M (Nov 15, 2012)

.


----------



## Mumford (Nov 15, 2012)

Thank you very much for replying, I have PMed you both.


----------



## Nickleby (Nov 15, 2012)

Writing about the mentally ill can be simple, but it's usually wrong. As with most topics.

First thing is to remember, not what mental illness is, but what it does. The victim perceives the world in a way different from the ostensibly sane people around him. A schizoid, for instance, hears voices that those around him don't. A real voice may get lost in the confusion. Since schizophrenia often appears in the victim's 20s, there's a tendency at first to ask other people about the voices, to get independent confirmation, because he already has a firm grasp of reality.

 Then the voices become more insistent, while the real people around him become less distinct. He may try to ignore the hallucinations at first, but they wear him down. He experiences bursts of creativity. He becomes distracted by things going on in his head. He starts talking back to the voices, because they are now his primary reality, while our world has faded into the background. He neglects his medication, assuming he has managed to seek out medical help at all. Otherwise he will medicate himself with increasingly powerful drugs. Real people become characters in the shadow play of his life.

 Eventually, he breaks with reality completely. He may withdraw into himself, or he may live out his life in a fantasy world. Typically, he commits suicide, kills someone else, or becomes severely ill by ignoring symptoms of a disease for which we would seek treatment.

Caveat: I don't have schizophrenia myself, but I have dealt with people who do.


----------



## Morkonan (Nov 17, 2012)

I've worked in psychiatric hospitals, directly dealing with patients and formulating care treatment plans. If I can be of any assistance, I'd be glad to help in that regard. I also have a degree in psychology, though I don't use it professionally. I have also been treated for depression, but don't really care anymore, so I just ignore it. 

*Required Disclaimer - None of my responses can be taken as medical advice. I am not a physician specializing in the care of mentally ill patients nor an expert in the subject. I have a legally required ethical duty to inform you of that. (My intimate knowledge in the field is somewhat outdated, but should still be accurate enough for your purposes. )


----------



## GonneLights (Nov 19, 2012)

I suffered from schizophrenia from the age of 13. I also have anxiety disorder. Both of my lovers have bipolar disorder, one of them has anxiety and both are suicidal. Most of my family on my fathers side are schizophrenic, too. You can PM me, also.


----------



## words (Nov 20, 2012)

If you can get to watch it there was a very good series about bipolarity done by Stephen Fry on one of the UK channels - possibly still available on the internet players. In criticism of it, I would say that Stephen is making it "nicer" than it really is, in order to make it more pleasant viewing.

My sister is bipolar and it is a nightmare. It really is not a nice condition, and hard to describe to those who have not experienced it either personally or as a helper. All sorts of self destructive behaviour patterns occur as a consequence, which can be disturbing to anyone witnessing them, the sufferer can turn against those trying their best to help. Thattends to mean that sufferers are at least partly reclusive during the down periods, avoiding all social contact,  and find it hard to even focus on a few of the bare necessities of life even. 

I find it hard to believe that anyone could "pull off" a story with realism without close contact with a sufferer, and worse than that, there are no easy answers, and a story that really pictured the condition would not make an appealing reading to a third party. 

So - my suggestion is pick something less dark to write about!

There is only one positive at all - which is the brief "up phases" can be very creative periods for the sufferer, but the rest is not somewhere anyone would voluntarily want to be... or to "experience" when looking for escape in reading. I suspect the better and more accurately the condition was portrayed, the less anyone would want to finish reading a story based on it.

Sorry to be negative, but that is the nasty reality of it.


----------



## Bloggsworth (Nov 20, 2012)

The other thing to remember is that all sufferers suffer in their own way, a bit like Tolstoy's opening to Anna Karenina "_Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way_." The other thing to avoid is mixing symptoms to suit the plot; I have seen both films and television programmes mix the symptoms of say OCD and Bipolar in order to suit the plot; or having voices in the head attached to the wrong disorder. Decide which disorder you want for your protagonist and take advice from someone fully conversant with that particular manifestation.


----------



## Bdor (Nov 23, 2012)

It's good ol' ADHD for me. Not exactly mind-destroying, but it's caused a ton of problems. I still have trouble focusi-- woah, a butterfly!

Joking aside, I cope with it by placing reminders everywhere I can look. My wall is pretty much where sticky notes go to die. There are so many that say "No, Bdor! Don't cuddle with the cat! No matter how fluffy he is, no matter how cute he is, you must not cuddle! It's a trap! He'll break your heart!"


----------



## cheezyb10 (Nov 25, 2012)

Try to picture what they are thinking. Imagine there was something wrong with your brain, and it just doesn't work to it's full 10%. How would you think about stuff?


----------



## JackBrooks (Dec 19, 2012)

You might find some interesting articles at http://www.psychiatrictimes.com

I signed up to that site because my partner was showing what turned out to be the early signs of schizophrenia.

It started with very short spells of confusion. I didn't really notice these at the time. It was only when I looked back at the whole situation that odd things clicked into place.

She changed a lot in a few years. She became paranoid. She thought she was part of a small number of people who understood the "Truth".

The "Truth" varied. Sometimes she believed in wild internet conspiracies, other times she would embrace alternative therapy and claim that modern medicine would harm her further. Even when that started happening I wasn't that concerned. I just thought she was reading the Daily Mail too much. It turned out to be co morbid Daily Mail Readership.

Then she started to have very noticeable bouts of delusion. That’s when it became obvious. She would just start talking to me as though I had the same understanding of the world as she did. I can tell you, that is a scary experience.

She would say things like, 'So what are we going to do about this?' Then we'd have a really confused conversation that ended when I realized that she thought I had come out as gay and was romantically involved with a friend.

Other times it would be, 'I can't believe we're going to do this,' and it would turn out that she thought she was pregnant and she would talk as though we had agreed to start a family and I knew all about it.

The subject varied but the situation was the same each time. Reality had changed for her and she assumed I could see it too.

Those periods got longer and more incoherent. They also became more frequent. She became obsessed with death, thought she could see and speak to dead relatives, and so she started reading the bible. She didn't tell me at the time but later she made reference to a voice she heard during these bouts.

Eventually she decided that the voice in her head was God. I managed to get her to go to a professional mental health care place once, but she never went back. Instead she joined a cult. I suppose it is a more attractive proposition to be embraced as a receiver of God's word than to be handed a schizophrenia diagnosis.

It took about seven years from the first really noticeable hallucinatory bout to the day she left, and by the time she decided to move out there was almost nothing left of the person I knew.

I know that all sounds grim but you did ask about schizophrenia.

I agree with bloggsworth about mixing symptoms. Society in general is becoming much more aware of mental illness and these days if you mix and match for the sake of plot I think quite a lot of people would notice.

Schizophrenia is probably an interesting one from the point of view of writing a story. The thing that always surprised me about it was how from the sufferers point of view, a world where relatives have come back from the dead and God is personally telling you how to live your life can seem quite normal.

Probably worth reading up on, I think there is quite a lot of variety in the schizophrenia spectrum.


----------



## Dannabis (Jan 11, 2013)

I think the conditions you mentioned will be quite common around this forum. I have suffered a degree of anxiety since I was 17 and am now developing what may be the onset of schizophrenia. I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.


----------



## ktee (Jan 22, 2013)

My uncle has schizophrenia and is functional. I also know people afflicted with Bipolar. My uncle, having had it for many years, has reached a point where he can hold a part time job and be involved with community groups. 

His day-to-day experiences are:

- two imagined people who can sometimes be seen by him but he is medicated to a point where he can tune them out, but sometimes they remain visible or he hears voices, mainly during times of stress. 
- feeling things strongly. Anger, confusion, even happiness are stronger for him. Look up "emotional dysregulation". 
- feeling alienated from the world, either because of over analysing people leading to judgement of other's trivialities, or feeling different because he doesn't have the same emotional reactions as other people. 
- bouts of anxiety in social situations
- difficulty dealing with stress: things seem larger than life and avoidance can occur
- difficulty being around others who are mentally ill people, especially overly emotional and attention seeking people. BUT you can also go the other way; seeking out other people with the same or similar conditions for validation. This can (not all the time) be very dangerous and can lead to obsession with the disorder and not making progress to get better because you can become the disorder rather than a person dealing with the disorder. 

Depending on how old the character is, and when they started using mental health services, there may be issues in their past that will still effect them like an incorrect diagnosis, meds that didn't work or time in psychiatric institutions. My uncle is in his early 60s now and was forcefully committed when he was in his early 20s. He was forced to undergo electro shock therapy. He was also misdiagnosed for many, many years and used marijuana in his 20s to deal with his condition - this made him worse. 

You will need to speak to someone who is a functional schizophrenic to find out what meds they're on and ask about side effects. These side effects will be key to day-to-day life. 



There are two types of bipolar so you will need to decide what mix of the two the character has. Type 1 is the one typically seen in movies and TV shows where actions are impulsive as are the emotional highs when the person is up. Type 2 has to do with emotional ups and downs. Type 2 is also similar to aspects of Borderline Disorder (BPD). Search for symptoms of BPD and you will get examples of thought processes and reactions that you will be able to apply to your character. 

Bipolar and BPD people will most likely be medicated as well. You will need to get examples of meds and associated side effects. 

With Bipolar, some key traits that would effect day-to-day life are:

- difficulty with relationships - swinging between needing someone desperately and then not being able to stand them
- swings of emotions; going from happy to angry very quickly
- difficulty concentrating
- possibly getting a bit obsessive over things for a while then not caring at all and moving on to other things. 
- possible eating disorders as a way to get control in a seemingly chaotic situation. Note: the descriptions of eating disorders is expanding to include more than anorexia and bulimia. Emotional eating when done to excess is now included - I saw this with my friends as a coping mechanism. This also results in body image issues.  

I knew one lady in her 50s who developed Bipolar in her 40s because of a traumatic event. But a lot of the time these illnesses develop earlier in life. The current belief is that these illnesses are both a nature and nurture thing. Your character will probably need to have a back story that caused enough trauma to bring out the illnesses. It is also very likely that a few people in their family have mental illnesses as well, especially one or both parents. 

There may also be self-medication tendencies such as the overuse of alcohol, codeine or illegal drugs. People with anxiety can be given stop-gap meds such as valium-based drugs that are very addictive and people need more and more pills to get the same effect the longer they use them. People can go to more than one GP and get prescriptions for these types of meds. Smoking is common

Many people with these illnesses have depression as well. They will probably be on anti-depressants and these will have their own side effects. 


If the character is functional, an important part of their lives will be seeing good psychiatrist (and maybe a psychologist as well), taking meds regularly, regular exercise and involvement in society/community whether through work, leisure, or community service. Other treatments can be mindfulness excercises (you can google that) and yoga.


----------



## Lewdog (Jan 22, 2013)

I can tell you a lot about this stuff, I don't really want to get into how or why.  Let's just say I have Morkonan tied up in my basement.


----------



## ktee (Jan 23, 2013)

I just heard a discussion about schizofrenia on the radio. Part of it is about the role of vitamin D, but there is also some interesting general statistics

You can listen here: Schizophrenia - Encounter - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)


----------

