Writing psychotic characters
On this blog we mostly talk about the SZ-spectrum experience, but every now and then I think it is important for us to talk about how non-psychotic people interact with us and what we would like, ideally, from those interactions. A lot of people want to write psychotic characters–something I’m all for–but struggle to write us in a way that is realistic, compassionate, and a good representation. Here are some guidelines to follow–whether psychotic or not–about writing us:
1. All psychotic experiences are different.
This may seem obvious, since all human experiences are different, but I often see tropes repeated when it comes to psychotic characters that are not necessarily indicative of psychotic experiences or are shorthand for “this character is psychotic (and I didn’t do my research).
For example, I see a lot of psychotic characters written with delusions of persecution (”they’re coming to get me”!) and delusions of reference. These delusions are common, but they’re not always identical. Additionally, sometimes such delusions can have basis in reality or traumatic origins. For example, I am extremely paranoid about antisemitism. It’s something I think about a lot. Growing up in France, there is very much a real basis for my paranoia. However, the degree to which I fret about this has been described as delusional by some of my mental health professionals. Similarly, if someone had an experience where at school people talked about them behind their back all the time, this might have fomented in them delusions of reference.
Finally, some of the delusions you hear about a lot–”I’m a demon, other people are demons, etc. other supernatural stuff”–do exist for some people but they’re not necessarily indicative of individual psychotic experiences. My advice: Read things written by psychotic people. This can be books, blogposts, TED talks, interviews, poetry, etc. This will give you an idea of the variety of psychotic experiences and some insight into how we experience psychosis.
2. You can write psychotic villains, but write them with compassion.
Honestly, we’d prefer if you not write us as villains, but at this point I’m frankly so used to psychotic (or implicitly psychotic) villains that I pretty much start rooting for the baddies from the word go.
However, psychosis should not be the cause/source of their villainy.
As an example, in series two of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD there was a character named Sunil Bakshi who was one of the villains and said, in dialogue, to have BPD (borderline personality disorder). This information, however, was not used to explain his villainy, rather, it was used as a background to show how he might have been exploited by other villains. Bakshi’s BPD was never shown to be an inherently bad part of him. Rather, it showed how the other, NT villains might have used it against him.
It’s important to remember that more psychotic people are the victims or crimes than perpetrators and many, many criminals are NT. My advice: Consider the ways in which psychosis effects people and how that might result in positive traits instead of negative ones. For example, many people with BPD are extremely sensitive to their friends’ feelings and care deeply about them. Many people with Schizophrenia are highly intelligent and skilled in maths and languages.
3. Psychosis has multiple symptoms, not just ones convenient for the plot.
Since being diagnosed as Schizoaffective I’ve come to discover that there are actually a great deal of symptoms of psychosis, not simply the ones we see on television. Hallucinations and delusions are part of it, yes, but they are certainly not all of it.
Psychotic people necessarily perceive and interact with the world differently than NT and non-psychotic people do. We experience language differently than non-psychotic people do. Sometimes this manifests in severely disorganised speech–aka Word Salad–sometimes this manifests in odd phrasing.
In the Vampire Academy novels by Richelle Mead the character of Adrian Ivashkov will have times when he waxes bizarrely poetic and will discuss nothing but a strange subject and with odd word choice and a kind of odd perspective. This, I find, is very accurate to my experience. Sometimes my phrasing is incomprehensible and I tend to lock down on specific subjects and discuss them thoroughly.
Psychotic symptoms can occur even outside of a psychotic episode. My strange phrasing is pretty constant in my life, as is my different approach. We are programmed differently and that is a necessary part of our experience as humans. My advice: Research the different symptoms of psychosis and choose which symptoms your character experiences. Research these symptoms and know that there are varying levels of severity.
4. Our lives are not tragedy and should not be written as such.
Often I see even the most compassionate authors make this mistake–writing psychosis as if it’s the worst thing that could possibly happen to someone and as death or a death sentence.
Psychosis is not death. Our lives may be difficult and may have different challenges than those in other people’s lives, but they are lives worth living and valuable as much as any person. Psychosis is not a death sentence. It is a different way of experiencing the world.
Know that this isn’t romanticising psychosis–this is realistic. Romanticising psychosis is writing it in a fetishistic way or as something without problems or as something that is only problems. Like every other life experience, psychosis is nuanced and that nuance includes highs and lows, good and bad. My advice: Consider the nuanced experiences you’ve had in your life, and remember that psychotic lives are equally nuanced. Know about the challenges we face, but don’t imagine that are lives are nowt but tragedy.
5. For many people, psychosis is not a consistent state of being.
Some psychotic people are in a state of psychosis nigh constantly, but this is not true for all psychotic people. For me, psychotic episodes could last from a few hours to a month. For some people psychotic episodes last a couple of months. During these episodes, there are varying levels of lucidity. I had a long psychotic episode last summer (that I think lasted about a month) during which sometimes I was hyper aware of how odd I was being and other times it was as if I did not even exist. Some of my memory of that period of time is spotty, but the memories I do have are odd ones.
If you’re writing a psychotic character, remember that there are periods of time when that character is not experiencing a psychotic episode. My advice: Consider what psychotic symptoms might be present outside of a psychotic episode and what psychotic symptoms would be present during and episode. Ask the advice of people living with psychosis as to how their experiences differ during and outside of episodes.
6. Medication is a different experience that requires research.
If you are writing a psychotic person who is medicated, this means you will also need to research what kind of medication they are on and what kind of side effects they might be experiencing. This also might involving, if the story takes place in the United States, what medications their insurance would require them to take or try first before getting on something more desirable.
Writing a psychotic character who is on medication means a different representation of the psychotic experience, but one no less valid. For me, medication has effectively stopped me experiencing psychotic episodes, however, I do still experience some psychotic symptoms. Additionally, if I miss medication, or if I fail a medication, that’s also a specific experience. Missing meds doesn’t necessarily mean immediately falling into a psychotic episode, but for me it did mean some strange behaviour. My advice: Research what kind of meds your character will be on and what that means for them. Read things written by psychotic people on medication.
7. Therapy is nothing like it’s shown on television/in the cinema.
If you’ve ever been to therapy you probably know this, but if not let me just tell you that some of the stuff I’ve seen on television of it has been frankly bizarre. When I was going to therapy, I rarely heard from my therapist “and how does that make you feel”… sure they would try and suss out my emotions and stuff, but it’s not the cliched image you see on television. It’s usually more of a conversation. Also, my therapist and I would work on specific things–like my conversation skills, communication problems, setting boundaries, self-care, challenging delusions, grounding techniques, trust issues, recovery… etc. It was never just “how was your week”? or something. It was always deeper than that.
Now, meeting with a psychiatrist is different. You usually just tell the psychiatrist what problems you’ve been having, your symptoms, etc. and they help make sure you’re on a good dose of whatever you’re on or if you need any supplemental meds. These meetings are usually shorter. My advice: Research into what therapy is like. Don’t look to media portrayals because they are very unrealistic and frankly somewhat ableist.
8. We’re not “crazy” or “psycho”.
When I talk about romanticising mental illness this is what I’m talking about. Writing a realistic or even positive portrait of mental illness is not romanticising it. It’s just not being unnecessarily negative. Most portrayals I would say of mental illness in the media are fetishistic, unrealistic, and romanticised.
I know many people on the SZ-spectrum look up to her, and I can understand that and there is nothing wrong with that, but personally I find Harley Quinn an infuriating character. I feel like her “crazy” (especially in this new film) is supposed to be sexy. Same with Jared Leto’s interpretation of the Joker as someone whose “crazy” essentially means “countre-culture”. Psychosis is not sexy. Psychosis is not political.
I also see a lot of people saying that people that vote a certain way or believe certain things must be “crazy” or “psychotic”. This is not true. Psychotic people come with all different sorts of political opinions and beliefs. Being religious is not “psychotic”. Being liberal or conservative is not “crazy”. And psychotic people who are religious, liberal, or conservative are just as valid and their views are just as valid as those of NT people.
DON’T write a “crazy” character for comic relief. DON’T write a “crazy” character to be sexy. DON’T write a “crazy” character to be some sort of learning experience for your non-psychotic characters. We are people. We are not props to be used by the plot. My advice: If your character falls into any of the above descriptions, carefully evaluate what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Remember that your readership will not all be NT. We exist.
9. All aspects of our lives are effected by our psychosis, on some level or another.
We’ve discussed this previously on this blog, but psychosis does effect different aspects of life. It effects diet. It effects religious views. It effects physical health. It effects sexuality. –All of these things are valid, but they are not the experienced the same way as they are for people who are NT.
For example, many people who are Schizophrenic avoid drugs and alcohol because for some of us it can exacerbate our symptoms. Many people on the SZ-spectrum have a complicated relationship with their sexuality. Many people on the SZ-spectrum may hold different religious views than what might be considered “normal”. Our experiences are valid ones, and they are different ones. Even walking around in public, my experience walking around is different than that of a NT person. My experience travelling is different. I have to make decisions considering the impact it could have on my mental health. My friendships and familial relationships are effected by my psychosis. It doesn’t mean that I don’t love these people the same if not more than an NT person does. Many psychotic people have to deal with frequent socially-acceptable conversations about eugenics and sectioning, where we have to confront the reality that some people who like to have us forcibly sterilised. Even within the mentally ill community, such as there is one, we have to deal with people of different diagnoses saying things like “I’m depressed I’m not crazy!” My advice: Consider how simply the knowledge that you are different from many people in the world effects you. Consider how it effects us in our interactions with the world.
10. We are full human beings with multiple aspects to our identity.
Psychosis may be a big part of our lives and our experiences, but we have many other experiences and many other aspects of our identities. For example, my religious background, nationality, ethnicity, skills, gender identity, sexuality, and interests are all huge aspects of what makes up me as a person. If someone asked me to describe myself I would probably say “French, Actor, Jewish” before I would even think of Schizoaffective. I speak multiple languages. I do web design. I write fanfiction. I’m active in social justice circles. I like trying new makeup. I love exercising. I’m starting to read more. I love dogs. I like learning new languages. I love to travel. I love tea… these are all important aspects of what makes me me. SZ may effect them, but it is not my sole defining characteristic. My advice: Make a list of character traits that your character possesses. List SZ or psychosis at the bottom. It’s there. It’s important. But it’s not the only thing that’s important in their life. A black schizophrenic character has a very different life than a white schizophrenic character.
I hope that this helps! If you’ve anything to add to this, feel free to do so. Feel free to also hit me up if you’ve any questions!
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