#thingsairafound

[scriptshrink]

Critique of a Certain Cracked Article, Part 2 - The Ugly

Before we get started, I want to say something.  I am very, very snarky in these posts.  This is because Cracked is a very popular website and they promoted this article ostensibly to demolish myths about mental illness in the media.  They did a great job on some of them.  If they had stopped there, I would have been pretty happy.

They did not stop there.

The majority of the things they say are not only inaccurate, but downright wrong.  They promote new myths about mental illness instead of actually addressing and countering existing ones.

Alright, we’ve seen the good, now it’s time for the ugly.  These are the ones that while not totally and completely wrong, there are too many inaccuracies to be considered “Good”. 

From @thingsairafound​:

I've never seen the film, so I may not be fully qualified to comment. However, it is a common misconception that autistic people are unfeeling, disconnected from others, lack empathy, when in fact the opposite is true. Most of us are overly empathetic and sensitive, and avoid social interactions for other reasons (constant rejection or a feeling of being overwhelmed by others' thoughts and feelings). So if a character is portrayed as being a calculated killer because he's autistic, then that's totally messed up.

However, that's not to say that it's impossible for an autistic person to be a psychopath. Every single autistic person is totally different, so there are plenty of crazy assholes in the mix. Assuming the film *doesn't* try to claim that this guy is crazy *because* he's autistic, the thing to be horrified about here isn't so much the suggestion that such a person could exist as it is that in one of the few portrayals of an autistic character in a film, they chose such a negative one, when society's attitudes towards autistic people are already so negative overall.

In case you couldn’t tell, @thingsairafound​ is a much nicer person than me :).  I was on the fence about this one being in the Good or the Ugly posts, so it’s kinda inbetween.

This critique comes from @thingsairafound​:

Yes, the odds of any one person being a savant aren't super high, but that film is based on a real-life actual autistic savant, Kim Peek. He exists and the actor spent a lot of time with him to prepare for the role, so he's even fairly realistically portrayed.

I suspect the point the author was making is that not all autistic people are savants, which is true. Most are not. But a surprisingly high percentage are (estimated about 10% - that's not "incredibly rare", that's one in ten people). Of course, they don't actually define what a savant is here. It generally just means "better than would be expected of the average person" at one or more things. The thing that's actually rare are prodigious savants who are so good at something that their skill would be superhuman even if they weren't otherwise impaired. There aren't too many of these people in the world. My favorite is Daniel Tammet, who can learn a new language in a week and  is able to do incredibly complex mathematical computations almost instantly in his head.

They say about half of savants are autistic and half are the result of things like seizures, brain injuries, etc. So if you're autistic, the odds are fairly good you'll be a savant. If not, the odds are extremely low, unless you hurt your brain somehow. 

Shrink’s taking the helm now.  Buckle in, Shrinky-dinks.  I get fucking MAD in this post.

First.  Why the fuck is Law and Order SVU up there?  They don’t ‘profile’ criminals.  It’s a normal cop procedural show.  They investigate crimes - any profiling they do is incidental.

Yes, profiling has its inaccuracies. However, saying that it’s “nothing more than cold reading” is laughable.

And you know what?  Criminal profiling is a really fucking new practice.  It’s only been around since the 1970′s.  You know what dominated the first 40-ish years of psychology?

Freud.

That doesn’t mean that the entire school of psychology as a whole is worthless. Psychology has evolved and become more accurate over the years, and criminal profiling will do the same.

This particular thing is correct in that psychologists would not classify Norman Bates as a psychopath.

“Psychopath” is not a term used by modern psychologists. It’s dated, unscientific, and inaccurate.

IT IS NOT A FUCKING PERSONALITY DISORDER.

The term you’re looking for is “antisocial personality disorder”.

Okay, yes, movies tend to overemphasize a sudden ‘breakthrough’ from the character’s past that suddenly cures their mental illness.

But what the fuck?  Are you serious?  REVISITING PAINFUL MEMORIES JUSTIFIES AND RATIONALIZES A PERSON’S ANGER, PAIN, AND RESENTMENT, MAKING IT WORSE?!?!??!

Are.  Are you serious.  What.  This is a fucking insult to everyone with PTSD. You can’t treat PTSD without addressing the trauma in some way.

Tell me, are the feelings of someone who is traumatized by the abusive actions of another person something that needs to be “justified”, in your eyes?  Or are they whiny babies who need to move on from their mental illness?

Also, why the fuck are you citing YOUR OWN PODCAST, Cracked?  Are you too afraid someone will actually fact check you?

Uh. Seizures?  THAT’S NOT A THING.

And that last sentence.  What in the actual hell?????

Also, why the fuck is the source from Prezi?  WIKIPEDIA WOULD BE A BETTER SOURCE THAN PREZI.  At least there is SOME kind of peer review process and there’s a chance that an expert could have looked over it.

First, no one says “shock therapy”.  And ECT stands for Electroconvulsive THERAPY, not treatment. Also, there’s no hyphen in the name.

Seriously, did the author even bother googling “ECT”?  THE CORRECT NAME AND SPELLING ARE LITERALLY THE FIRST RESULT.

While ECT is by far less severe and nowhere near as brutal as the movies depict it, it is not without its risks.  For some people, the aftereffects (especially memory loss) are far from mild.  

Also, why wouldn’t you mention that ECT takes place when the person is UNCONSCIOUS?  They literally don’t feel a damn thing while it’s happening. I think that would be worth mentioning, but then again, I write about clinical psychology, not badly-researched “comedy” listicles.

First off, wow.  This is really, really insulting.  Way to completely ignore the fact that people with schizophrenia are more likely to be victims of violence than be violent themselves.  You brought this up in one of the “Good” things!  Is your memory really that short?

Also, what the fuck is with your source for this?  It’s a website where you ask people to refer you to treatment centers.  It’s not a reliable source of information.

There is a grain of truth in this that part of schizophrenia involves “disorganized” symptoms.  But saying that all schizophrenics “definitely wouldn’t be able to stay focused on a week-long murder plot” is like saying that all of your writers are too lazy to perform a simple google search when writing their articles.  I’m sure it’s true for some people, but you can’t say it’s true for ALL of them.

Stay tuned for part 3, where somehow, I get even angrier.

[scriptsocialwork]

In your recent big post on abuse, it says it is always intentional, calculated. Isn't is possible for it to be unintentional? I have a character who grew up in a violently abusive household and due to being hearing impaired never learned normal communications skills or entered the "hearing" world. In his "deaf" school, his teachers and friends also abused him, and he knows nothing else. Isn't it possible for him to abuse his partner without understanding he's doing something wrong? Thanks!

It wouldn’t necessarily be unintentional. If your character grew up in an abusive environment and never knew anything else then it is possible that the abusive behavior became a learned behavior or that it’s been normalized, so that to the character the abuse, whether he is receiving the abuse or causing the abuse, is normal. 

[scriptshrink]

YAAAAAAYYYY!!!! I'm beyond excited for this blog! I have a character who is nonverbal partially by choice, partially due to physical issues. My question is, if you have a client that has a different language than yours, do you just refer them to someone who can speak their language, like ASL? Do you get an interpreter? What if the point of the therapy was trying to get them to speak eventually but they obviously can't at first? Thank you! *happy squealing*

Check out some awesome answers by my contributors, who talk about their experiences with being nonverbal in therapy, and my answer, after the jump! :D

@electriccenturies

In my experience, it would depend on a lot ofthings, like their age, if they speak ASL, and the discretion of thepsychologist. I was never given an option about this, my parents just went inwith me and told the person how they imagined I was doing. However, that’s withme being 4-19 years old, and not starting therapy when I was older. I triedwriting once when I was 18, but that was my idea and not received all that wellfor being “too slow”. Really, I just relied on my parents a lot, which was anawful system.

@thingsairafound provides a perspective from someone with autism:

If an autistic person isnon-verbal, they probably can’t sign, either. I’m fluent in sign language, butwhen I go nonverbal I can only do the most rudimentary signs. If someone is alifelong nonverbal autistic, they usually have other ways of communicating.Usually they can read and write, so they might use a tablet, computer, ortext-to-speech device. They might have a system of picture cards they use tocommunicate. If they have severe communication problems to the point where theycan’t function independently, they will have a caretaker or assistant who willbe with them and help with basic communication. However…

“Therapy” where people try to force autistic people to speak isbasically abuse. They aren’t refusing to speak, it’s not that they don’t knowhow, it’s that they can’t. The reasons are very complicated, but when verbalcommunication isn’t possible, there’s nothing they can do, and punishing themfor that is simple abuse. Also, most people don’t realize this, but manyautistic people who can communicate fine under normal circumstances can gononverbal when stressed or overloaded (like me). This can be even more complicated,because people expect them to be able to speak, and assume they are refusingto. I’ve had a lot of serious communication problems when people thought I wasrefusing to answer a question but literally couldn’t talk. It was normallysolved with the help of a tablet where I could slowly type things like “nowords communication no broken” until I got my point across, but there arecommonly problems where autistic people, for example, are approached by the police,go nonverbal, and have big problems because they can’t answer questions.

 @tarajean621

Okay, there is a lot going on with this one.

First of all, a character who is nonverbalpartially by choice, partially due to physical issues.  So, there are twocauses here.  I* am going to hazard to guess that Kim** will first betreated for the physical issues.  That would take place in some sort ofmedical environment.   

Kim might have vocal nodules.  She wouldsee an ear nose and throat specialist who would evaluate her.  She mayrequire surgery and weeks of vocal rest.

She might have aphasia due to a traumatic braininjury.  Kim would see a speech-language pathologist in this case, whowould use any number of methods to treat her.

You mentioned ASL, but you did not mentionD/deafness or being Hard-of-Hearing.  (Full disclosure: I am not D/deaf orHard-of-Hearing.)   Learning ASL as a coping strategy is one thing. Being D/deaf or Hard of Hearing is another.  Speech therapy amongthe D/deaf and HoH community is widely contested, and a personal choice not a“must.”  Look up “audism” for more information.

If Kim is D/deaf or Hard-of-Hearing and fluentin ASL, then she should be referred ideally to a D/deaf or HoH therapist withinthe D/deaf Community who is aware of and sensitive to D/deaf Culture. Beware of storylines about “overcoming” D/deafness or other disability,as these are harmful to the aforementioned communities.

Let’s assume, though, that the physical side ofKim’s issues has been addressed.  How does one counsel a person who isnonverbal?  

I was selectively mute for 5 years as a child. It is important to remember that 90% of communication is nonverbal. So, even though I didn’t speak in therapy, that doesn’t mean that I wasnot communicating.  There might be a lot of yes or no questions in thebeginning, which Kim could answer with a nod or shake of the head.  Shemight also communicate via a white board and marker, through texting, Post-Itnotes, pointing at pictures.  

If Kim’s mutism is based in trauma, then as Imentioned in a previous ask, the mutism is a symptom of the trauma.  Shewould need a trauma therapist who could help her work through and address thetrauma.  

*still not a doctor

**random character name

Shrink’s answer:

Ideally, a character would be seen by a therapist fluent in their language.  That doesn’t always happen, and sometimes an interpreter is brought in. However, that’s a really difficult situation, as the therapist would have to find an interpreter that the character is comfortable with - it adds another person to the equation of therapy.

One thing to note - in my own personal opinion (that is not shared by all therapists), therapy shouldn’t be about the therapist’s agenda.  It should be about the client’s.  So if a client is nonverbal, and does not wish to change that, I would try to help them come up with strategies to work around it.

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Since I got a job as a magazine editor, I find I have less and less energy for writing my own stuff. I can't believe I still haven't finished the 2nd draft of last year's NaNo novel. Now it's nearly time for the next one, and I can't decide if I should try to write another novel, or wait until this one is really done. I have trouble finishing things, but I can't use this novel for NaNo again because the word count will be lower... Do you have any advice? Thank you!

I'm in somewhat the same boat (except I stupidly decided to move to a different country without a job, haaaaaa), and I ultimately decided to use NaNoWriMo to launch a new novel, even though I have two/three (!!) I'm in the process of editing.

My decision point was this: I got more done during NaNo last year than I ever had before, and while my activity lagged afterwards, I was still able to finish more than I ever thought I would. At the end of the month, I'll have more work done than I would before.

Honestly, I'd personally say do it - you take a break from your current project, and once you're done with NaNo you'll go back to it with fresh ideas. It is also incredibly motivating to get back into your own writing, especially when you're in a slump. Do what you need to to handle your own work, but I do hope you can try NaNo, because I think it is so helpful. Good luck!

(You can also use it as a deadline for your editing as well - fuck the number count, this month is about getting shit done!)

[fixyourwritinghabits]

I know you've posted before about why it's better not to write accents, but what about grammar? My novel takes place in the Czech Republic and a few of the characters don't speak English well. Other characters are native speakers. I actually live in Prague teaching English, so I can accurately write their mistakes when they speak (dropped articles, etc.), but should I? Or is there a better way to get across their poor grasp of English?

High-five fellow English as a Foreign Language teacher!

That's fine in my opinion, just take care to be sure you're doing it accurately (and since you live in the region, that shouldn't be difficult). As an English teacher, you'll probably notice the mistakes non-native English speakers make aren't the mistakes writers tend to think they make, because they're largely influenced by the native language (this happens a lot with Chinese learners - they directly translate, and it doesn't always work). You don't want to overdo it, because it can be irritating to read, but you probably already know the most common mistakes they make. There's nothing wrong with representing that in your book!