In this Serial Killer/Horror story I’m writing, the serial killer Luther Barlow was beaten by his alcoholic father, Doyle Barlow, regularly for no reason at all. At the age of 13 years old, Luther was placed into a foster home, and his father put in jail. During the time Luther was in this foster home, he became very fond and protective of his foster mother Abbie Harper. Abbie was that loveable mother he never had since Luther’s mother died from complications while giving birth to him. One day this 17-year-old kid, Daniel Abbot was brought into the home that would only be staying for 6 months. His parents were part of a motorcycle gang, and went they went prison some crimes they committed blah blah blah. One evening Luther overheard Daniel’s lewd conversation with the other kids in the room towards Abbie and this infuriated him. Around 3 am after everyone was asleep, Luther climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom where he began to unscrew the handle out of the toilet plunger, then he went back into the bedroom and he stood over Daniel as he slept. Luther began to hit Daniel across the face with the wooden plunger handle repeatedly before Mr. Harper was able to subdue Luther. After this incident, Luther was taken to a psychiatrist and was later Diagnosed with Schizophrenia, Borderline Personality Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder and began medication for the mental illness. My question is, if this would have happened in real life, would the state allow Luther to be allowed back into a foster home, or would he be placed into like a psychiatric hospital? I want luther to be allowed back into the foster .
How old was he when the incident occurred? If he was younger than 15, he cannot have a diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder. They do not allow that diagnosis for anyone under 15. Also if he has mulitple personality disorders, they wouldn't call it Borderline and Antisocial. They have a name for mixed personality disorders. I'll ask my husband (doing a doctorate in clinical psychology.) I'll update my response when I get the name for that. People with schizophrenia are not usually violent -- also, which kind of schizophrenia does he have? There are a few different kinds and they all manifest very differently from one another. No, he would not be allowed back into the foster home with a diagnosis like that. (He probably wouldn't go to a psychiatric hospital, but rather to a residential treatment center at first. If he continued to harm others there, he would then be institutionalized.) If you want him back in the home, he should be given no diagnosis at this time and the incident should be explained to the state as temporary violent episode brought on by his extreme attachment to the foster mother. A formal diagnosis could come later if he continues to have trouble. My response is based off many years of my husband working in residential treatment and as a social worker. Just so you know I'm not pulling this stuff outta nowhere
It looks Luther is exactly 15 years old when this incident took place. It looks like I would know all this since my father (rip) was diagnosed with Bipolar, Schizophrenia and Borderline at a young age, and was in and out of the hospital from the time I was born until his death. I know it was at one time called BPD, but I don't think they refer to it as BPD anymore and they have an entirely different name for it. I have a placeholder in the section after Luther attacks Daniel until I can figure this out, but I’m certain that I want Luther to come back to the home with Abbie, since Abbie will play a BIG part in the story.
I don't think the psychology matches up all that well. You seem to be describing two different people. When your character hears the horrible things that upset him you describe rage. A schizophrenic would have an episode then and there. It'd be disorganized and violent, so the bashing the head in sounds about right. They'd likely not be lucid and may not even remember afterwards. They may completely lose touch with reality and believe that they are taking revenge on their father. This person would probably end up in an institution but might be released because they can be helped. They usually feel remorse as soon as the episode is over. Waiting for the victim to go to bed is way too controlled and sounds more like the behavior of a psychopath. They would have the patience and calculating nature to wait and be fully in control the whole time. This makes the disorganized violence less likely, it'd more likely be a more sadistic attack. This type of person would likely never be released because they aren't even capable of remorse. The act of unscrewing the handle and standing over the victim is not the behavior of someone in a schizophrenic episode, that sounds like cold blooded premeditated murder. See if you can make the behavior more consistent. Ask yourself, during the entire murder sequence, is Luther in control of himself?
All children fall in to the "antisocial" category. Humans are born homicidal fiends. There is a reason why most violent crime is perpetrated by young males. As for the person in question, he would end up in prison if he is black; elected USA president if white.
The general rule to institutionalization is "harm to yourself, or harm to others"; this assuming the person didn't plead insanity as a defense for a violent crime.
Just a comment on the attack: A toilet plunger handle is pretty light and short, if you're swinging it it's not going to do a lot of damage. It'll hurt, yes, but the main reason to use something associated with the toilet is the humiliation. To hurt the victim, use something heavier, to scar them, leave the plunger cup on, and possibly soiled.
Well, it could do serious hurt if it's broken and handled like a pick. Additionally, you could give him the Antisocial Personality Disorder if the doctor has some incompetency (I don't know how important that diagnosis is to your story). I've seen that in a psychologist who was also a greedy, corrupt A-HOLE and couldn't correctly spell half of his terms. Anyway... It's easy to get him back into a foster home. Paper or transfer mix-up. Dumb administrator. Patient with coincidentally same name moved in place. (sorry for the late ideas - just noticed the date posted)
