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Spoiler please: Does the "unreliable narrator" have a supposed mental illness? I'm getting really damned tired of "schizophrenic" characters that don't have a single symptom of the illness being used by ignorant authors.
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A Flicker in the Dark,
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Carol
I didn't think she had a mental illness, certainly not schizophrenia. I think she had anxiety and trauma, but anyone who grew up the way she did would have some kind of anxiety to overcome.
Darreth Naylor
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Rachel the Page-Turner
No schizophrenia, just anxiety
Paige
It’s more of anxiety from her life experiences and past trauma and she self medicates.
Lisa | Read Between the Spines
Yes, she is portrayed as having a mental illness but not schizophrenia. I am also super tired of the reliance and incorrect portrayal of characters with mental illnesses.
Stephanie
Schizophrenia would present very differently, and I don't think she was showing the disordered thinking that would eventually spin further and further out without medication if she was in a psychotic or trauma-triggered episode. I mean, mental illness can look very different in different people, but there are typical categories of signs and symptoms, which I don't think were present here.
But YES to your question/comment. For real, how would a Ph.D. psychologist not at least recognize some trauma or acknowledge her issues in some way, even if dismissive or in denial? Wouldn't she rationalize it or otherwise talk it away? She kind of did with the drugs, but not really.
I did not care for this book for a variety of reasons, but chief among them was this mischaracterization of mental health *and* mental health providers (main character). Even the most PTSD/trauma-addled person who has worked in the field would understand that something was going on with them. And clinical psychologists, who are usually very tightly licensed, have years — literal years! of training to see around common barriers and are usually required or highly recommended countertransference therapy (seeing a therapist to make sure your issues are not intertwined with or affecting your treatment of your therapy clients).
It just made no sense to me.
But YES to your question/comment. For real, how would a Ph.D. psychologist not at least recognize some trauma or acknowledge her issues in some way, even if dismissive or in denial? Wouldn't she rationalize it or otherwise talk it away? She kind of did with the drugs, but not really.
I did not care for this book for a variety of reasons, but chief among them was this mischaracterization of mental health *and* mental health providers (main character). Even the most PTSD/trauma-addled person who has worked in the field would understand that something was going on with them. And clinical psychologists, who are usually very tightly licensed, have years — literal years! of training to see around common barriers and are usually required or highly recommended countertransference therapy (seeing a therapist to make sure your issues are not intertwined with or affecting your treatment of your therapy clients).
It just made no sense to me.
Lisa
I just assumed it was anxiety, after she grew up thinking her father was a serial killer. That would cause anxiety for anyone.
Susan D'Entremont
While reading this book, at times I thought the main character was an unreliable narrator, but she really wasn't. What she narrated did happen, but she interpreted it incorrectly because that is what several of the other characters manipulated her to do.
Judith
To me, an unreliable narrator is biased, misconstrues, or knowingly misrepresents for a specific purpose or intent. But when a character's actions & motives are attributed to "mental illness," it feels like a copout...nothing has to make sense or happen for a valid reason.
PJ Linney
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Bernadette
The main character had PTSD and things her life tended to trigger that. People with PTSD tend to have trouble functioning and oftentimes turn to drugs and alcohol. She needed help, but was too stubborn to get it since she was a psychologist herself, so she self medicated.
Janislea
I did not notice any reference to her being schizophrenic. Was there one? I notice that on TV killers are often referred to as schizophrenic. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible.
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