Acute Mental Illness Brought On By A Traumatic Event

[kingdmforahorse]

I have a character, I'll call her Elena for now, who I need to develop an acute mental break after witnessing one of her good friends being abducted for the slave trade and nearly being taken herself. The story roughly takes place in 16th century Poland and she's about 18 years old

Comments

[planet_x_zero]

This trope, that a single event is a trigger for mental illness, isn't scientifically accurate, except for PTSD. There's a misconception that a single event causes a "mental break". Usually it's a cluster of events. It'd be more likely that pre-existing depression was triggered into a full-blown major depressive disorder. Actually, try that: Major Depressive Disorder with Psychotic Features.

[mariadkins]

I second this. Anything else would be horribly inaccurate.

[mutive]

Eh, that's not really true. Stressful events don't *cause* an awful lot of mental illnesses, but they can certainly trigger them. Someone might be managing bipolar or schizophrenia decently, then be triggered by drugs, alcohol, stress, whatever...

(Particularly with bipolar, which I know a fair amount about, it's really easy to go from functioning to an absolute mess fairly quickly if you don't get enough sleep. I agree that it's rarely a single event, but having a bunch of friends abducted could certainly be the first trigger that led to a character having a hard time sleeping, relying on drugs or alcohol to sleep, etc. etc.)

[planet_x_zero]

Episodes can be triggered, I agree. A single event can trigger a major depressive episode, for example. The idea, though, that someone suddenly "snaps" is myth. The underlying illness must be present.

The OP stated of the character, "originally her personality was very sweet, caring, sensitive, forgiving, and she believed in nonviolence." That does not necessarily suggest the existence of an extant mental illness. Also, the extreme conditions of the "acute mental break": catatonic immediately following the event and then from there to have hallucinations, flashbacks, triggers that set her off, and nonsensical talking are extreme, insofar as they would manifest all at once. High doses of LSD make more sense.

This is basically the M*A*S*H Hawkeye goes crazy trope. Hawkeye witnesses something terrible or is triggered by a memory into a "breakdown". Then he's cured in one visit by the avuncular psychiatrist, Sidney. It's total bunk, although the average reader not familiar with mental illness will certainly still buy into it.

[lilacsigil]

Acute Traumatic Stress Disorder (her immediate reaction) followed by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder fits your description.

[kingdmforahorse]

Thanks much, I'll do some more research on on acute traumatic stress disorder!

[scifishipper]

I agree. In the DSM-5: Acute Stress Disorder (lasting up to one month) and if symptoms persist more than one month, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In PTSD, there's also a subtype for dissociative symptoms, which might work better than catatonia, which is not commonly described with PTSD.

Good luck!

[kingdmforahorse]

I had no idea about different subtypes and haven't checked out dissociation symptoms yet in place of catatonia, so I will that that now. Thanks for the info!

[anonymous]

You could fix it by adding a physical trauma. A knock on the head would do you, with attendant concussion.

[kingdmforahorse]

Interesting, I had not considered that angle before, thanks!

[mutive]

You're in a certain amount of luck as almost any illness will be aggravated by acute stress. (And, at 18, she's about the right age for most mental illnesses to surface, anyway.) So you could go for almost anything.

PTSD is definitely a possibility. (Caused by the event.) You could also have her have the underlying conditions for bipolar or schizophrenia, neither of which would be *caused* by the incident, but either of which could certainly be triggered by it. (And at 18, it's entirely possible she'd never had an episode before, as both tend to surface late teens/early 20s.) All three of these can involve catatonic periods, hallucinations, and periods of normalcy.

[kingdmforahorse]

Her age wasn't something I thought about too much, but it's good to know if there were a time for mental illness to manifest she's at the correct age. I'm leaning towards the event acting as a trigger for a predisposed/dormant mental illness, though perhaps PTSD could serve originally before the underlying mental illness becomes full blown. I had not thought of a bipolar disorder before, but I will look into that as well. Thanks for you help!