So a key part of my story is about one of my characters being mentally unstable. Here are his symptoms. Shows no care or emotion for others. Lies uncontrollably. Believes his own lies. Will stop at nothing to have things his way - selfish. In the book he never actually gets diagnosed, it's a post apocalyptic world with no doctors. My question is, how important is it the symptoms match realistically with a diagnosis in real life? Most of the symptoms above point to sociopathic tendencies, but not all of them fit perfectly. Could I just explain them away in a way that shows it's simply his own personality, or should I rewrite it so all symptoms fit the diagnosis, even though it's never diagnosed in the book?
I don't think it needs to match. Even in our world there are people who only have some of the symptoms of specific disorders, not all of them. Be true to your character, not true to the DSM.
Does that still apply though when you have possibly overdone the symptoms rather than undertone them? I think I may have over loaded his disorder traits and made it a little out there
I only have the brief description you gave, but to me the only one that seems dodgy is "believes his own lies" - it essentially suggest he doesn't accept reality, which might make things tricky? But then I look at the White House, and... yeah, I think you're good.
I'll try to give a more in depth description of what I mean by that. Basically, he sets up a scenario that makes all the other characters believe the impending disaster is likely, where in reality, he has set up a simulation that simply imitates disaster. Yet as time goes on he comes to believe the threat is real, and does everything he can to save himself from the none distant threat, even at the detriment of others.
Sound pretty extreme, but I don't think it's any wilder than some stuff I've read. It'll come down to execution, just like it always does. If you do it well - it'll be fine!
Even the DSM lets you score people on different symptoms. You can be perfectly fine sitting still and still have ADHD, even in the DSM (I think).
I have experience with symptoms of mental illness. The first thought that came to my mind when reading you discription was borderline personality disorder. If his personality traits ar fixed parts of his personality he has a personality disorder. Meaning he wil never chang Look up personality disorders , specifically borderline personality you will find a wealth of information to inspire you with your characters.
I've already done a bit of research but it's a bit of mine field. After research I've tried to write him as a sociopath. What's bothering me though is in not entirely sure it's feasible for him to believe his own lies. I'm thinking this is a completely different disorder entirely, and that on it's own causes issues. Is it possible to suffer from two different disorders simultaneously?
This is pretty much me. I have diagnosed ADHD but have no trouble simply sitting still. As per the OP's question, it seems like he's got a few traits of sociopathy, as you've mentioned, but he also seems to suffer from symptoms of paranoid personality disorder. People with PPD tend to create delusions in their mind, practically from thin air, and then believe them wholeheartedly as undisputable fact. It's very possible for people to suffer from two different disorders at the same time. Anxiety and depression come hand-in-hand for a lot of people, despite the fact that they have almost the exact opposite effects on you. Anxiety urges on action, based on perceived stressors, while depression often forces you into inaction through a lack of energy and passion. This can cause a devastating effect in people where they feel the need to do something, but don't have the drive to do it, so the disorders feed off of each other, becoming worse over time. My source is the fact that I suffer from both, and it can be exhausting.
Thats actually a real good input thank you. I've not come across ppu in my research but definately something to look into. Thanks for all your input everyone it's been a massive help
My first thought was Narcissistic Personality Disorder, but I can also see Borderline. Mental illnesses and personality disorders are social constructs. As in, it's not like there's a physical stamp in your brain that means you have a certain disorder. Humans look at clusters of traits that tend to go together and assign a diagnosis to them. But nature has a lot more gray area. So, my vote goes with "no, it's not critical that he have a textbook disorder."
