Mental instability as in psychiatric issues from Bipolar to Schizo (can't spell it tonight so i'm making it short ) are issues that generally form over time. If you go and look up bipolar, most people aren't diagnosed until they are anywhere from 16-25...I know someone who wasn't even diagnosed until 26 and after two years of struggling with it has now lived a normal life. Now, that not to say that others can't develop it earlier since ADD and bipolar mimic each other very closely in younger children. (that's not me speaking but the DSM-IV) But issues like sociopaths can be from birth...my sister generally gets one every couple years through her second grade class! She has a little girl like that this year...so thsoe are different. What I would recommend, Leaka, is to go to your libarary or bookstore and look at a copy of the DSM-IV. It's a book used by Psychiatrists to diagnose problems...it will allow you to see the differences between illnesses and possible narrow your desired traits down...
maybe you might find some things there...and a lot of colleges, if your in school, may have a copy too... try a google search and see...I'm not sure on that one.
No. It is a massively expensive diagnostic tool. I'd try and find a large library. And whilst it's possible that there might be a genetic factor to schizophrenia, the case study which was used to "prove" that argument was done in the fifties, and was recently revealed to have been faked. And quite honestly Leaka, if you're going to write about Christianity, you're going to have to do a lot more research and learn a lot more about it, as evidenced from: The major branches in the west are catholicism, and protestantism (which is further dividied into many demonominations), whereas in the east Greek and Russian Orthodox are probably the most widespread. You aren't going to be able to escape doing this research, else your story simply won't work. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me, but I don't pretend to have a comprehensive knowledge about anything but my own denomination (Church of England, or "Anglican").
I'm misunderstanding this, right? Was this meant sarcastically or something? (I admit I haven't read all the posts and just came to the last page and saw this comment and...wow. TOTALLY incorrect. There are LOTS of people with schizophrenia who have not only formed relationships but have formed families. So I do hope it was a joke.) There's actually lots of research out there that indicates genetics have a strong role in schizophrenia, and many people who suffer from it came from great families and environments, but I'm not up to posting links that others can find if they look. Plus I'm still reeling from the comments about schizophrenics not ever being capable of relationships, never having families, etc. etc....seriously, I do hope I'm misunderstanding that. Why then are there books at Amazon available for family members of people with schizophrenia, for people who are romantically involved with people with schizophrenia? What about John Nash, who had a family? Just one of many such people...again, the links are there if one wishes to look... Sorry for derailing the thread, I'm just...stunned. My apologies if I did severely misunderstand this and it was a joke.
yes, it is online!... i've used it many times... i'm sure you can find it the same way i did-- by googling...
I was serious but I think I was thinking of psychopathic personality disorder when I was typing it (absent minded moment I suppose). I'm not a major studier of these things so I probably had that wrong too. The only thing I know about in psychology is serial killers and that's because I did big projects on Jeffery Dahmer and Joseph Megele back in senior year.
Ah, all right! Thank goodness. I was really hoping that was the case, in which case it makes much more sense. Sociopaths (people with antisocial personality disorder) can and have formed families, but it's true that their personal relationships with other people...aren't quite on the same level as those of people without the disorder. Such people aren't insane, but they lack a conscience, which greatly hampers meaningful relationships. Genetic research on the disorder is also really iffy. My apologies for going off on you, I was just bewildered.
No prob. I need to get my mental disorders straight ... as soon as I chase the ninjas away (I'm not crazy XD).