1. Skaruts

    Skaruts Member

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    What mental illness could cause this...

    Discussion in 'Research' started by Skaruts, Apr 17, 2015.

    Suppose a woman yells at and assaults her husband almost on a daily basis. She's jealous and verging on paranoia, thinking he's even hiding things from her (she makes huge messes looking for whatever she thinks he's hiding).

    One day she tries to kill him out of an extreme sudden rage, but the police arrives in time and she gets arrested. Then they find out that everything she's done has, in her mind, been done by him.

    During her attacks, what she saw was him hitting her, him being jealous of her, and him trying to kill her. In her mind she was the victim all along.

    When she goes to a psychiatric hospital, her mind recursively relives those events as if they were real and still happening (except that she's no longer physically agressive - she cowers in a corner if he visits her).

    What could she be diagnosed with?
     
  2. Lancie

    Lancie Senior Member

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    Some form of paranoid schizophrenia perhaps. Some people with that particular condition have hallucinations and delusions that contradict evidence because reality becomes so muddled, but there are different kinds of the condition worth looking into.
     
  3. Hubardo

    Hubardo Contributor Contributor

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    yeah hallucinations are mainly features of schizophrenia but one misconception about people with the disease is that they're violent. studies show that the general population is, proportionally speaking, more violent than schizophrenics. that is to say, schizophrenics are less likely to attack you based on some crazy hallucination/delusion than a non schizophrenic person. that said, on some level you're feeding the stigma. i'm not the stereotype police tho, just pointing it out.

    http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/schizophrenia/index.shtml#pub4
     
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  4. Ben414

    Ben414 Contributor Contributor

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    That link doesn't say anywhere that people with schizophrenia are less violent than the general population. It actually seems to suggest that people with schizophrenia on average are more violent, just not nearly to the extent that is stereotyped. Are you referring to a different study?
     
  5. Hubardo

    Hubardo Contributor Contributor

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    It says:

    "In fact, most violent crimes are not committed by people with schizophrenia."
     
  6. Hubardo

    Hubardo Contributor Contributor

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  7. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    As a whole, schizophrenics that are dangerous make up only a small percentage. But the violent ones tend to come to our attention, distorting our view of the problem.

    There are many studies that support this conclusion.

    Getting back to the OP, paranoid schizophrenia is probably the most likely diagnosis that fits the story.
     
  8. Jack Asher

    Jack Asher Banned Contributor

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    No. Paranoid schizophrenia involves the creation of a paranoid fantasy, in which all of the hallucinations make sense. The quality and duration of the hallucinations varies from person to person, but the one thing that stands out the most is that they are subtle and irrational. It's extremely unlikely that she could hallucinate the several minutes of him hitting her, or that she would see her bruises in a . . . rational light.

    Demons inhabiting his body? Sure. Reptile overlords controlling him? Of course. A space plague taking control of his mind? Totally a thing.
    But just him hitting her? Or hitting on other women? Not very likely, and in the framework of her hallucinations almost impossible.

    I realize you have a sequence of events that you are trying to force into being a mental illness, and I'm not sure you're going to find anything. In fact it's kind of insulting.

    That aside take a look at Borderline Personality Disorder. BPD patients have a great deal of difficulty coping with social situations, and will usually internalize neutral behavior into an elaborate fantasy of violence and hatred. It's very possible for a person with Borderline to interpret his conduct as an elaborate plot to hurt her, or that his shopping for groceries was a plan to poison her.
     
  9. Hubardo

    Hubardo Contributor Contributor

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    Maybe you're right about that first part but BPD as far as I know doesn't involve hallucinations.
     
  10. Jack Asher

    Jack Asher Banned Contributor

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    No, but the Original Poser isn't going to find anything that fits perfectly into his contrived situation. I'm not sure how hallucinations are different from a skewed interpretation of reality, except that hallucinations would feature themes that are impossible in real life. That's the whole thing behind paranoid schizophrenia. Whatever they see is flat out impossible. Peoples eyes changing, suddenly having rotted flesh, or lizard skin, or black eyes.

    If your character is hallucinating everyday occurrences they aren't hallucinations, just a different way of interpreting reality. And BPD has that in spades.
     
  11. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    There are differences between delusions, (the paranoia part); and hallucinations which are typically auditory in the case of schizophrenia. Visual hallucinations will be found with a full blown psychosis. (Note, schizophrenia is also classified as a psychosis but when I say full blown psychosis I am referring to a psychotic episode where the person loses all sense of reality such as some drugs induce.)

    Symptoms of Psychosis.
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2015
  12. outsider

    outsider Contributor Contributor

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    This is one for @jazzabel. Speaking of which, does anyone know where the good doctor's got to. A thoroughly nice lady, she was.
     
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  13. Hubardo

    Hubardo Contributor Contributor

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    Naw, not true. And we'd need to know more if it were BPD. BPD is all about constant emotional dysregulation and fear of abandonment. The jealousy thing could indicate but again we'd need to know more. Well hell I guess we'd need to know more either way. Maybe she's been drugged.

    A clinician can tack on "psychotic features" to pretty much any mood/personality disorder though, so it could very well be BPD with psychotic features. But my DSM-5 is at home and I'm not 100% if that's a thing. Definitely Jazzabel would know...
     
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  14. outsider

    outsider Contributor Contributor

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    They're generally the best ones, I find.
     
  15. Lancie

    Lancie Senior Member

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    I didn't mean to the person with the condition, I meant to the people around them.
     
  16. Skaruts

    Skaruts Member

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    One thing I forgot to mention, is that the whole story I'm writing is told in one single scene, where she is reliving her skewed memories. So this makes it flexible, she might be remembering everything in skewed way while not having seen them skewed in the past.

    Can some form of denial lead to turning memories upside down? (or maybe mixed with some mental issue)

    Don't feel insulted. I'm just measuring my options, getting a feel for what makes sense. I had a schizofrenic friend who killed himself (at 19, with a shotgun), and have another who eats compulsively, though she's still managing to get by. I'm not in any way unsympathetic with such situations, but I write horror, so I need to explore them.

    And, yes, demons might be a thing. But first I need to know what could be real, because I'm quite ignorant about these things. I might not need demons if it made sense.

    EDIT: I also know a girl who went to lalaland from abusing drugs. :|
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2015
  17. Ben414

    Ben414 Contributor Contributor

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    Yes, but "most violent crimes are not committed by people with schizophrenia" is not the same as "people with schizophrenia are less violent on average than people without it." If only two percent of the population has schizophrenia, people with it could be twice as violent and they would still only encompass 4% of all violent crime.

    This is becoming a needless digression, but I just wanted to point that out. Some people try to point out discrepancies like that to weaken the argument that people with schizophrenia are not nearly as violent as is stereotypically assigned, even though there is plenty of other evidence to support the argument. We're in agreement over the principle.
     
  18. lixAxil

    lixAxil Self-Proclaimed Senator of the RPG subforum. Contributor

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    Some delirant ideas and hallucinations.
    This is Schizophrenia.

    The main characteristic of the Schizophrenia are not the hallucionations as peple think, is the fact they have an erratic behaviour (most of the time seemingly emotionless and careless) and overall the fact that they truly believe and had completely interiorized their hallucinations or delirant idea which is different than other metnal disorders in which the person have irrational ideas but it can recognize them as something crazy or irrational (Phobias, Obsesive Compulsive disorder).

    Her personality though differs from the common Schizophrenia, but that's a possibility
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2015
  19. Lance Schukies

    Lance Schukies Active Member

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    throw in narcissism, it seems to be the flavour of the month in the news, I would study all of the above and use them as a guide to make up a story, then have her say it was lsd then detox and walk out saying she fooled them as she goes to off her husband
     
  20. lixAxil

    lixAxil Self-Proclaimed Senator of the RPG subforum. Contributor

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    The characteristic of a Narcisist is a person who "devaluates others while praising itself"
    Often using suits or notorious dressing (Yeah, that can happen in a normal person, the difference is that they exaggerate on it to make themselves be noticed. Also, different is a maniac who would dress in colorful/bizarre ways), talking in a high tone, criticizing other's people's things or characteristics. They also devaluate doctors and specialists, often not taking what they say into account.
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2015
  21. Jack Asher

    Jack Asher Banned Contributor

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    @jazzabel is an MD, not a Pdoc. Her thoughts on the matter would have just as much gravitas as a nurse practitioner (maybe less) and we have one of those.

    On topic, that fear of abandonment can be seen in a regulated borderline patient. But more often they have a huge collection of behaviors masking it. Distorting her perception into a man who was trying to kill her, in order to abandon her, would be an extreme case but not unheard of.
     
  22. outsider

    outsider Contributor Contributor

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    At least we've got a graphic designer's view on it for a balanced perspective, eh?
     
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  23. lixAxil

    lixAxil Self-Proclaimed Senator of the RPG subforum. Contributor

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    Borderline behaviour could remotely work as an option. But that's a risky diagnosis. Is very easy to mistake certain pathology or personality disorder with borderline and be wrong in the process.

    This point

    One day she tries to kill him out of an extreme sudden rage, but the police arrives in time and she gets arrested. Then they find out that everything she's done has, in her mind, been done by him.

    During her attacks, what she saw was him hitting her, him being jealous of her, and him trying to kill her. In her mind she was the victim all along.


    That's not internalization of a violent act from her partner. That's an Hallucination (More likely a PseudoHallucination, which are even more frequent than the Hallucinations in Schizophrenia), this is supported by the previous delusions of "Her partner cheating on her".
    The point "In her Mind" tells that she pretty much interiorized that irrational idea without questioning it. It became a certain truth for her.
     
  24. Jack Asher

    Jack Asher Banned Contributor

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    Yeah, a bipolar graphic designer. Co-morbid with ADHD and GAD. Whose wife is schizo effective. Co-morbid with BPD and PTSD. And who has worked in the community, going to meetings, checking up on people, and getting medicated, for 10 years.

    You can read the DSM all you fucking want. I live that shit.
     
  25. lixAxil

    lixAxil Self-Proclaimed Senator of the RPG subforum. Contributor

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    Bipolar sounds like hell imo.

    Regarding your wife, with BPD you're saying Borderline or Bipolar? I assume the first due to the PTSD
     

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