by Vince McLeod (Author)
Writing With The DSM-V is the 5th book in VJM Publishing's Writing With Psychology series. It references the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th Edition) to help you make the most of your creative fiction. Mental illness is a common subject for creative fiction, but it's easy to get wrong. Many writers forget that psychiatry is a sophisticated endeavour and that much more is known about "crazy" people than first apparent. Writing With The DSM-V devotes one chapter to each of the psychiatric conditions in the DSM-V. A description of the condition is given and the experience of the condition is discussed from both the perspective of the protagonist and the perspective of secondary characters. This allows the author to understand the mental illness that they are writing about as well as the signs that are characteristic of it. Using this book, it will be possible for creative writers to portray mentally ill characters much more realistically, engagingly, respectfully and believably.