Anonymous asked:

How do psychologists get a copy of the DSM-5? Could a character get one if they got their bachelor degree in psychology?

Nah, you can buy it off Amazon if you want. The caveats being that:

It can be pretty expensive if you want a new one (normal list price is $160 USD, but you can get it for much, much less because of the internet).
You have to wade through almost 1,000 pages to find what you’re looking for.
It is filled to the brim with psychobabble that can be really, really hard to understand. Like, to the point that it requires a lot of study to really understand.

Let me show you what I mean. Here’s an example of the exact DSM-5 criteria for a diagnosis that I flipped to at random - Schizotypal Personality Disorder:

“A. A pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with and reduced capacity for close relationships, as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. Ideas of reference (excluding delusions of reference)2. Odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is inconsistent with subcultural norms (e.g., superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or “sixth sense”; in children and adolescents, bizarre fantasies or preoccupations).3. Unusual perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions4. Odd thinking and speech (e.g., vague, circumstantial, metaphorical, overelaborate, or stereotyped).5. Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation.6. Inappropriate or constricted affect.7. Behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar.8. Lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives.9. Excessive social anxiety that does not diminish with familiarity and tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative judgement about self.

B. Does not occur exclusively during the course of schziophrenia, a bipolar disorder or depressive disorder with psychotic features, another psychotic disorder, or autism spectrum disorder.

(If you’re curious what that actually means in plain English, click here)

So yeah. There’s no barrier to actually owning a DSM-5 other than having a credit card. It’s understanding it and knowing what the fuck all those words actually mean that’s the tough part.

The DSM-5 is only one of the myriad expensive textbooks I have to have in grad school. Support me on patreon if you like my posts!

#Anonymous #asks #dsm #dsm 5 #this is not psychological or medical advice #this is writing advice #schizotypal personality disorder #schizotypal #criteria #get a dsm anon #how do i therapy #therapists #therapy #diagnosis

scriptshrink reblogged

scriptshrink

Schizotypal Personality Disorder - Demystifying the DSM-V

See general requirements here first.

The character needs to have problems with being social – they’re uncomfortable with and have a limited ability to form close relationships. They also need to experience some psychotic-like symptoms and act eccentrically.

The character needs 5 or more:

Ideas of reference – the character believes that coincidental events have a specific and special meaning to the character personally. Not as strong as delusions of reference.
Odd beliefs / magical thinking – believing things that aren’t considered normal by the character’s culture, and influence the character’s behavior – e.g. exceedingly superstitious, believing in ESP / telepathy, strange fantasies
Feeling, seeing, hearing, etc, unusual things – not quite on the level of hallucinations
Odd thinking / speech – not quite on the level of disorganized speech
The character is suspicious and paranoid
The character has a smaller range of emotions, or displays inappropriate emotions (laughing at a funeral of a loved one, etc.)
The character’s behavior or appearance is strange, odd, or eccentric
They don’t have close relationships (aside from immediate family)

They have extreme social anxiety that doesn’t go away when the character gets to know others. Note – this is based more on fears and paranoia about others rather than being worried about being criticized.

This can’t occur only during the course of: schizophrenia, bipolar/depressive episode with psychotic features, other psychotic disorders, or autism spectrum disorder.

chemicalkin

I’m sorry I try not to start shit but I have to.

Writing advice for a character and giving them a cold static list from the DSM isn’t helping. The DSM is a guide for professionals. What does STPD mean for the day to day of a character isn’t in there. What kinds of paranoia aren’t covered. What do the close relationships they have look like?

And even then the DSM doesn’t show the whole picture. For instance, I have dated people and had long term relationships. I have autism and stpd. (Both professionally diagnosed! The caveat about autism has to do with the social stuff.) I have also rarely experienced full hallucinations. These things aren’t rare amongst other STPD experiences I’ve read about either.

The best thing you can do to find out about a diagnosis is look to the people it affects and what their lives are like and see if it matches your vision for your character. There’s a lot of context missing from the DSM, and that context is important.

scriptshrink

If you check my blog, I regularly post people’s personal experiences with mental illness (here’s a link to the tag!). I’ve received and posted over 40 submissions (some of which are still in the queue). If you’re up to it, I’d love to post your submission about what your experience is actually like, too!

This post is just one part of a series that seeks to make DSM-5 diagnoses more understandable and accessible to people. Its intended purpose is to help writers make sure the characters they’re writing actually fulfill the criteria of the diagnosis they hope to give their character.

I know the DSM-5 is not the be-all-end-all of clinical psychology. I’ll be the first in line to admit that it’s very, very flawed. But it’s what we’ve currently got, and there’s no way to talk about mental illness without it.

#reblog #chemicalkin #dsm #rebuttal #schizotypal personality disorder #schizotypal #demystifying #demystifying the dsm 5 #demystifying the DSM 5

scriptshrink

Schizotypal Personality Disorder - Demystifying the DSM-V

See general requirements here first.

The character needs 5 or more:

Ideas of reference – the character believes that coincidental events have a specific and special meaning to the character personally. Not as strong as delusions of reference.
Odd beliefs / magical thinking – believing things that aren’t considered normal by the character’s culture, and influence the character’s behavior – e.g. exceedingly superstitious, believing in ESP / telepathy, strange fantasies
Feeling, seeing, hearing, etc, unusual things – not quite on the level of hallucinations
Odd thinking / speech – not quite on the level of disorganized speech
The character is suspicious and paranoid
The character has a smaller range of emotions, or displays inappropriate emotions (laughing at a funeral of a loved one, etc.)
The character’s behavior or appearance is strange, odd, or eccentric
They don’t have close relationships (aside from immediate family)
They have extreme social anxiety that doesn’t go away when the character gets to know others. Note – this is based more on fears and paranoia about others rather than being worried about being criticized.

This can’t occur only during the course of: schizophrenia, bipolar/depressive episode with psychotic features, other psychotic disorders, or autism spectrum disorder.

#demystifying #schizotypal #schizotypal personality disorder #demystifying the dsm-v #superstition #delusions #hallucinations #illusions #paranoia #cluster a #personality disorders #this is not psychological or medical advice #this is writing advice #demystifying the dsm 5 #demystifying the DSM 5

scriptshrink

Psych Terminology: Words that begin with Schizo-

Schizophrenia - severe psychotic disorder that causes alterations in perceptions, thought, and behavior. This is the word you probably mean, as it’s the most commonly used.

Schizophreniform - a psychotic disorder that’s basically schizophrenia-lite. Not as many symptoms required, and you can’t have had it for more than 6 months.

Schizoaffective - basically schizophrenia AND a mood disorder (depressive / manic or hypomanic episodes) at the same time.

Schizotypal (Personality Disorder) - a personality disorder that involves difficulties with social interactions and odd & eccentric beliefs and behaviors.

Schizoid (Personality Disorder) - a personality disorder that involves being detached from and lacking a desire for social relationships.

None of these words mean having “split” or “multiple” personalities. That’s dissociative identity disorder.

#psych terminology #schizophrenia #schizophreniform #schizoaffective #schizotypal #schizoid #schizoid personality disorder #disambiguation #easily confused terms #misconceptions #definitions #this is not psychological or medical advice #this is writing advice #best of scriptshrink