Janet Frame’s largely autobiographical Faces in the Water provides a vivid illustration of how harmful this myth can be. There is a myth that psychotic people are oblivious to what goes on around them, especially if they’re difficult to understand and communicate with. While there is no safe choice with regards to terminology, you can still consider which terminology particular characters are most likely to adopt when talking about themselves. To be clear, words like insane, maniac, nutter, etc., are also used as self-descriptors by activists – I sometimes use them myself – but I think it’s better for sane people to stay off them. People highly critical of psychiatry sometimes label themselves “psychiatry survivors” they might have traumatic experiences of coercive care and terrible medication side effects. Generally speaking, medical terms are preferred by people who are more psychiatry-positive, and “mad” and “madness ” by people who take a more critical stance.
While a negative label like “imbalance ” can be useful for representing common experiences with psychiatry, a neutral label can offer stronger wish-fulfillment and requires less care to avoid upsetting anyone.Ī trickier issue is whether to use medical terms or go with “mad” and “madness” (sometimes spelled with a capital M), like scholars do in the academic field of Mad Studies and activists in the Mad Pride movement. Made-up diagnoses like this one can be a good solution for stories set in alternate worlds or the far future. She’s given a magic spell that temporarily calms her down and helps her focus. This has both ups and downs – she’s good at thinking outside the box and coming up with swift unorthodox solutions but can be too impulsive and reckless with her magic.
#Moons of madness water reclaimer series#
In the Swedish fantasy series The Oldena Saga, * a teacher at a magic school tells student Ella that she has an “imbalance” in her soul. Second, you can invent a fictional label. A character might explicitly suffer from psychological problems with certain symptoms and receive treatment for them, even if no specific diagnosis is stated. Mythcreants has previously argued that it’s often good to explicitly state that a character has some psychiatric or neuropsychiatric condition when this is the case, but one need not use a specific diagnosis to do so. For instance, one group is called “heebs,” short for “hebephrenics.” Hebephrenia used to be its own subtype of schizophrenia, characterized by cognitive dysfunction and emotional disconnect, but schizophrenia is now considered one condition.Ī spec fic story set in the present day in our world can of course employ present-day diagnoses.
Much of the psychiatric terminology is now dated.
Dick’s novel Clans of the Alphane Moon, former psychiatric patients have formed their own cultures around their respective diagnoses on a terraformed moon. For this reason, scifi stories set in the future that use present-day diagnoses could age badly. When a disorder or neuro-atypicality gets a new name, the diagnostic criteria often change a bit as well. One diagnosis might be split into several, or several diagnoses might be subsumed under one. Unfortunately, there’s not one single correct term that writers can confidently use for madness and psychosis.įirst, diagnoses change over time. Since I’m a philosopher writing about these issues, a spec fic geek, and long-time madperson, I’m here to set you straight. This is especially true for psychosis, which is often considered more frightening and incomprehensible than conditions like depression. There’s a lot of stigma surrounding mental disorders and many misconceptions about them, so it’s not surprising that many problematic assumptions make their way into fiction.
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