Do You Think Your Character Might Be Depressed? Psych 101 for Writers

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Excerpt from WEAKEST LYNX

     “So how many Zoloft are you popping each day?” Dave gingerly set his coffee on the table.
    “That would be a fair indicator of how badly this guy’s getting to me. Right now? None.”
     “Nerves of steel?” He was in professional mode, eyes scanning me, assessing. It felt intrusive; I lowered my lashes for privacy.
     “Hardly. I’m trying to stay busy so when I fall into bed, I’m too exhausted to let the tap dancing in my stomach keep me awake.”
     “So Zantac, not Zoloft, keeps you together?”
     I focused on the mug I slid back and forth in front of me. “I guess.”






What causes depression and how can you tell if your character might be depressed?



Depression (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are many reasons for feeling depressed. Some people are affected by the amount of light available in the winter (SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder), some people have an inherited propensity towards depressive episodes, while others experience depression following a traumatic experience. Medical issues such as thyroid disorders and diabetes can produce depressive symptoms. Also, brain trauma such as concussions or tumors can produce depressive symptoms. Researchers believe that depression is a physiological response to a hormonal disturbance (fewer neuro-transmitters such as serotonin.)

Depression is diagnosed when sadness is accompanied by helplessness, hopelessness, and worthlessness.

 (Photo credit: El Hermano Pila)

According to the DSM V, a manual used to diagnose mental disorders, depression occurs when you have at least five of the following symptoms at the same time over a two week period of time:

* A depressed mood during most of the day, particularly

   in the morning
* Fatigue or loss of energy almost every day
* Feelings of worthlessness or guilt almost every day
* Impaired concentration, indecisiveness
* Insomnia (an inability to sleep) or hypersomnia

   (excessive sleeping) almost every day
* Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in almost all

   activities nearly every day
* Recurring thoughts of death or suicide (not just fearing

   death)
* A sense of restlessness or being slowed down
* Significant weight loss or weight gain

VIDEO QUICK STUDY - What is Depression (3:08)

VIDEO QUICK STUDY - Causes of Depression (6:25) biology

NOTE: Your character probably won't demonstrate ALL of the signs. Pick five to work with.

Types of depression include:
* Major
* Dysthimia (chronic low level)
* Bipolar
* Seasonal (SAD or seasonal affective disorder)
* Psychotic
* Postpartum (many mental health workers include episodic depression related to the menstrual cycle, etc)

How might your character look?

Of course, your character will have her own way of expressing her depressed state. 

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

* Flat affect - which means that the face is slack and

  does not register a normal range of emotion

* Weight changes which make clothing too tight or hang

    from their frames.

* Dark circles under the eye if the character is

   experiencing insomnia

* An unkept appearance which might include

  uncharacteristically:

  `Wearing the same clothes day after day without

    washing them

  ` Unwashed hair

  ` Unshaven

  ` Body odor

  ` Mismatched clothing

* The unkept appearance will extend to their home and environments

* Gray pallor

* Stooped posture

* Dragging gait

* Vacantly staring

* Frowning

VIDEO QUICK STUDY, TED Talk: We Need to Talk About Depression (9:30) Excellent description of what a character would feel/experience.

  

 How might your character act?

* Difficulty concentrating, remembering details, and making decisions

* Fatigued with decreased energy

* Not reactive to sound or interaction

* Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness, and/or hopeless/pessimism
* Insomnia or excessive sleeping
* Irritable

* Restlessness
* Loss of interest in activities or hobbies
* Loss of pleasure in life

* Loss of sex drive
* Change in appetite
* Persistent aches or pains such as headaches, cramps,
* Digestive issues that do not respond to conventional treatment.

* Feeling sad, anxious, and/or emptiness
* Lathargic gestures and movements

English: Human Experiences, depression/loss of loved one (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

* Their eyes may be red or wet and blink infrequently

* Little to no social interaction

  ` ignoring computer or phone messages

  ` No visitors/isolation

* Suicidal thoughts or suicide

     attempts

Your character may try to hide their depression by:

* Self-medicating (drugs/alcohol)

* Forced positive emotions like being on

   the stage and performing.

* Overly bright fake smiles

* Telling people that they have been ill - flu etc.

During this period your depressed heroine might be a target to nefarious characters because she may have diminished:

* Observational skills

* Ability to concentrate

* Time sequencing skills

* Concern for self-harm


Things that might help your character:

* A physical exam to rule out various medical issues

* Exercise

* Refraining from unprescribed drug use and alcohol consumption

* Nutritious food

* Caring friends, family, coworkers

* Meditation/yoga

* Therapy

* Medications

VIDEO QUICK STUDY - Dr Andrew Weil (5:15)

Zoloft (photograph) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Common medications include (top 10):  

* Cymbalta

* Lexapro

* Effexor

* Zoloft

* Celexa

* Trazadone

* Prozac

* Welbutrin (anxiety) 

* Citalopram

* Pristiq

According to WebMD Link

Why Should My Character Have Follow Up Appointments With Her Diagnosing Physician? 

1. If a character is suicidal, but is too depressed to act on their ideations, 

    * They don't have the strength to carry through with the suicidal
        act. 

    * Once the medications have started to act in the character's
       system, and they start up the hill towards

       recovery, the character might reach a point where suicidal 
       ideations and physical ability intersect and

       that can be disastrous. 

    * A monitoring physician might be able to intercede if this is
       disclosed in therapy. 

2.  Many people do not like the side-effects of the medications.

     * As soon as they start to feel better they stop taking their pills. 

     * The pills have an effect on the body system. 

     * If the character was taking pills to increase serotonin, for
        example, her body might stop producing

        serotonin on its own. 

     * When the patient suddenly stops taking the medication, they
        are often in a worse place than when they
        started. This could be a very interesting plot twist. ( Patients
        are weaned slowly and with careful
        monitoring from psychotropic meds.)

Should you recognize yourself in any of this information. Please seek help from your physician. Depression is a physiological disorder.

If you find yourself thinking about suicide please contact One of these National Suicide Prevention Hotlines
If you are a veteran, there is help specifically for you at this link to The Veterans Crisis Hotline 

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Forensic Toxicology - Drugs and Poisons 101: Information for Writers

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Excerpt WEAKEST LYNX

       I undressed in the bathroom. When I lifted the hamper lid, my peripheral vision caught a dark face reflected in the mirror. I gasped, my brain processing like a camera with an open shutter. Click. Tribal tattoos. Click. Gas mask. Click. Sink on right. Click. White cloth. Click. Sweet odor. Click. No alarm. Click. No help.

       While my mind snapped perceptions, my body acted from training. I lowered my hips to drop my weight for better balance and leverage. My left leg swung behind his. I bent my knee in a swift, sharp move as I reached over my head, grasping his shirt to put him on the floor.

        But the initial fumes I had sucked in made the room watery and undulating, melting my muscles and my instincts into useless puddles. My arms dropped ineffectually to my sides. One of his hands trapped me against him as I dangled, unable to hold my weight up with my legs, while his other hand smashed the cloth tightly over my nose. 

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Forensic Toxicologists study how animals are affected by drugs and poisons. They work for various independent companies as well as agencies.

Inside a forensic department there are typically two chemistry labs housed in different locations because of the potential for cross-contamination. There are:
1 Contraband Substances Labs
* Identifies substances in seized form
* Typically measured in gram and kilograms
2 Toxicology Lab
* Identifies substances that are found in urine, blood, and tissues
* Typically measured in micro-gram and nano-grams
What is a Forensic Toxicologist (1:50)

Some Useful Vocabulary:
A drug - single chemical or compound chemical that has psychological and or physical reactions on the

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

   body.
* Prescription
* Over the counter
* Recreational
   legal - such as alcohol
   illegal - such as heroine
* Natural - such as caffeine

A poison has life threatening 
                effects.
Toxicology - The study of how humans and animals are
                affected by poisons or drugs
Forensic Toxicology - how the affect of drugs and
                 poisons have legal ramifications
Synergism - Forensic Toxicologist must be mindful
                  of Synergism - When two or more drugs or
                  substances work together to increase the effect such as
                  alcohol and barbiturates. Jimmy Hendricks, Janice
                  Joplin are two examples.
Pharmacologyy - the science of understanding the way drugs act
                  and the affects they have on a body
Pharmoketetics study of how drugs move - including how they get
                  into and out of the body
Absorption - how a drug gets into a body 
                        VIDEO QUICK STUDY Absorption and Dose (7:49)

 1. The drug can be inserted intravenously - shot directly into a
      vein/ the blood system. They can also be shot into a muscle 
      where they will enter the blood in a gradual manner.
 2. Orally - entering the body through the digestive tract
 3. Rectal insertion - crossing the mucus lining into the gastro-
     intenstinal tract
 4. Inhaled - such as for asthmatics or with a nebulizer or gas like
     carbon monoxide poisoning.
 5. Deramal - lotions and other products that are applied to the skin,
     but will not typically show up in significant quantities in the
     blood stream.
 6. Ocular

Distribution - almost always the product is distributed to the rest
     of the body through the blood/circulatory system. These do not
     circulate in an even way.
 1. The heart and liver - often have a higher concentration
 2. The brain - many drugs cannot get into the brain because blood
     networks in the brain are less permeable than other parts of the 
     body.
 3. Some products simply build up in the system. Pesticides, for
     example, build up in fatty tissues (adipose) over time. 
     Example of this is mercury in fish.

Metabolism - (broken down into metabolites) usually happens in
      the liver.
 1. Drug is deactivated with time.
 2. Body eliminates the drug
 3. Converts it into a substance that can be used for energy

Elimination - 
  1. Most is removed through urine (that's why urine testing is so 
      important)
  2. Feces
  3. Sweat
  4. Lactation
  5. Hair follicles. 
      VIDEO QUICK STUDY of hair toxicology (1:10)
  6. Exhalent VIDEO QUICK STUDY - A breathalyzer to analyze
       alcohol consumption (:50)

Poisonings can occur by:

Accident

•   Child poisoning
•   Storing improperly, putting a poison in an incorrect 
•   Container/mislabeling
•   Taking the wrong medication
•   Taking one's medication multiple times during the day (do     to dementia, etc.)

  Adverse drug interactions

•  An individual might have specific issues such as organ    damage that is exacerbated over time by taking certain     medications.
•  Environmental causes such as radon or industrial chemicals
•  Animals such as spiders or snakes
•  Plants

  Overdose on recreational drugs VIDEO QUICK STUDY of street drugs and their forensic effects (9:52)

Suicide only fatal about 2% of the time but often results in organ 
             damage.
Homicide 

An arrangement of psychoactive drugs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In a living person signs of poisoning might include:

• nausea and vomiting
• respiratory distress
• change in skin coloration
• seizures
• blurred vision
• slurred speech
• mental confusion
• swelling
• Loss of consciousness

The severity of the reaction depends on many factors including:

•  Size of the victim
•  Health of the victim
•  Amount of substance
•  Duration of exposure

When deciding if this was a suicide or homicide investigators may utilize a forensic psychologist or death investigator to interview family, friends, and coworkers to put together a picture of their health  history, their state of mental health, and their history of drug use both legal and illegal.

Tests can be performed on the living or the dead.
Subjects who are living might be tested for some of these reasons:

•  Pre-employment drug tests
•  Randomized drug testing for public safety
•  Athletes
•  Crime scene - was a suspect under the influence?
•  Victim of a crime - for example was a date rape drug used?

   Blog - How to Drug Your Victim - the Four Main Date Rape Drugs

Post-mortem Forensic Drug Tests are done by Forensic Toxicologist and/or Forensic Pathologist - medical doctors specializing in disease and chemistry.

In trying to determine the poison/toxin there are three main steps:

Sample - Postmortem Sampling List will probably look at:

•       blood
•       urine
•       stomach contents
•       bile and liver (site of metabolism for many drugs)
•       brain tissue/spinal fluid
•       vitreous fluid (from the eye) Even in a body that has                  already started to breakdown, this is often a place where             toxicologists can gather information because the eye is               more resistant than other tissues to decomposition.

(Photo credit: Jack Spades)

•       fatty deposits
•       hair - this is the longest lasting           source of a decomposed body.

Screen -
      * indicates a drug might be present
      * some drugs mimic naturally 
         occurring substance
      * Gas Chromotography VIDEO QUICK STUDY (1:12)
      * Enzyme Multiplied Immunoassay Testing
         VIDEO QUICK STUDY (2:06)
Extract -
     * concentrates the drug so it's easier to detect
     * removes other substances that might contaminate the results
     * Mass Spectometry VIDEO QUICK STUDY (7:59)
       qualitative and quantitative information is gathered

Please let me know if you have any questions, and I will do my best to help.

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Investigation, Interview, & Interrogation: Information for Writers

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EXCERPT FROM CHAIN LYNX

    “T-bone don’t matter none. He in for assault. He a gang banger. No one believe nothing he’d say. He want to tell? Go ahead. He just trying to trade me in for a free walk, man.” Hector rested his eyes on his knees.
     “You told T-bone your story.”
     Hector looked up at Axel and back down with a scornful huff.
     “And now T-bone is dead,” Axel said.

     Hector all but threw his body out of his chair. He moved back in the tiny interrogation room, away from Axel, to stand in the corner. He was cornered.
     “What you mean T-bone dead?”
     Axel said nothing.
     "He was alive this morning when I got moved.”
     Axel gave a slight nod.
     Hector stalked back to his chair, sat down, and leaned
forward, tightly wound, focused. “T-bone dead?”
     “This is bigger than you could ever imagine.” Axel’s voice was quiet. Eerily free of emotion. “You are smaller than you could ever imagine. You, Hector, are a bug under someone’s shoe, and you are about to get squashed. I want to know why.”

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While intelligence gathering happens prior to a crime, an investigation happens as a reaction to a crime.
It is important for a writer to understand the different roles that are played by investigative professionals.
A forensic scientist processes evidence. Unlike what we see on TV, forensic scientists usually DO NOT conduct interviews or interrogations. Typically interviews and interrogation are considered police science rather than forensic science.

An interview is conducted with a witness and an interrogation is conducted with a suspect.

*Police interviews happen anywhere - on the street or in the station.
*It is important to note that people can reply or not.
*In an interrogation, suspects have the right to protect themselves from self-incrimination.
*Witnesses have the choice whether to cooperate or not.
*Even though witnesses can refuse to talk, they can be compelled to disclose their information in front of a
  grand jury and other court hearings. If an investigator is talking to someone who is refusing information, they
  can be threatened with a subpoena.

As a writer, you'll want to consider:

*Does the investigator have jurisdiction?
  Lee Loftland's blog about which agencies conduct which kinds of investigations
*What if several agencies can claim jurisdiction? Typically the location with the most significant crime
  and the best case will take the lead. This can cause problems and might help with your plot twists.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Investigations begin once it has been determined that a crime has taken place by one of the following:

*Police
*Prosecuters Office
*Grand Jury

Investigations can be broken down into three types:

1. Administrative - These are fact finding inquiries within an agency or business
*Professional Misconduct
*Safety Violations
*Employee background checks

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

*Harassment
*Discrimination
Video Quick Study - Investigators' Reports (4:21 Industry Investigator)

2. Criminal Investigation - conducted by an agency

3. Private Investigation - Professionals hired from
    outside of agencies to counter what the agencies
    produce for evidence

Once an agency decides that a criminal act has taken place two things must occur:

1 - Find the suspect
2 - Connect the suspect to the victim and the crime. This includes forensics, interrogation, and interviews

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Study Links to Related Blog Posts :
Fingerprints
Footwear
Blood Spatter
CSI Light


To reach the goal of arrest and conviction, investigators use:
* Search Warrants
* Arrest Warrants
* Forensic science applications
* Interviews
    Study Link: How a Police Sketch Artist Works
* Interrogations
   Study Link: Body Language of Liars
 
An interviewer will ask the same questions that your readers want to unravel as they read your story. Just remember Kiplings "Six Honest Men." Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How?

Some things for a writer to consider about their witness:

* What was the motive for coming forward?

At the Writers' Police Academy. I confess!

* What was their vantage point?
* What is their emotional state?
* What was their physical state?
* Were they injured? In shock?
* Were they under the influence of drugs or
   alcohol?
* Are they very old, or known to have impaired
   memory?
* Are they very young?
   Video of a child being interrogated. (8:00)
* Does the witness have limited intelligence.
* How long ago did the crime happen?
* Are the witnesses afraid to offer their
   information? - Perhaps your witness is afraid of
   the police
   because of something that has happened in the past. (Blog link showing this concept in action),
   or they are afraid of what might happen to themselves or their family and property if they step-forward
   with information.
   As a writer, if you have a character who is a reluctant witness, you might choose for them to use
   an anonymous tip line to get the information to the investigators.
* Perhaps your witness just doesn't want to get involved - they think that it would take time away from work
   or they would have to go to trial etc.

The investigator will use standardized forms to document the information. These may include:

* Witness Investigation Reports
* Missing, Damaged, or Stolen Property Reports

The Interview and/or Interrogation

Psychological studies have been conducted to try to get the optimal amount of information from a witness. To this end police might choose different locations for their interview. The police may walk the witness through the crime scene. They might conduct the interview at the home. Or possibly bring them in for formal interviewing at the police station.

Video Quick Study
First Jodi Arias Interrogation go to mark 3:00 to see her commenting on the temperature and watch the friendly, helpful tone of the investigator.
Training an Investigator (21:06) Talks about all of the things that impact and develop in an interview or interrogation (this focuses on child interviews) very interesting what technology has been developed for training purposes and beyond.

A writer must decide how this is documented either on camera or just voice recorded. Typically the investigator will put the recording device on the table in front of the witness. Being voice recorded is by consent-only in most states. A video tape, however, does not need to be disclosed if it is visual only. Often it is NOT disclosed that video is being taken because this has proven to impede the interview. Perhaps you want the witness to have this added intimidation factor? Perhaps you choose not to include video and something important is missed and the suspect is set free?

Sometimes a witness interview changes into an interrogation. If this happens, the subject will need to be apprised of their rights to not implicate themselves in a crime. Custodial Interrogations - the suspect is arrested then interrogated this is done AFTER their Miranda Rights are read to them.

*Typically only one person conducts the interview or interrogation.
*Forensic scientists DO NOT conduct interviews or interrogations.
*Investigators are trained to use a soft, normal tone and have a friendly demeanor.
*Typically at the beginning of an interrogation, time is spent just getting to know the person, figuring out the
  subject's capacity intellectually, and psychologically - how competent are they?

VIDEO QUICK STUDY
Effective Interrogation Prt 1 (14:53) Includes body language
Effective Interrogation Prt 2 (14:52) Minimization technique,
                                           (9:00 mark) aggressive techniques that do not work, denial interruption
Effective Interrogation Prt 3 (13:02) move to 3:00 mark.

See how this article influenced my plot lines in my novella MINE and my novel CHAOS IS COME AGAIN.

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Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

Police Sketch Artists - Drawing on Witness Recall

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There on the TV screen, I saw the rendering of my attacker. The life-like drawing stunned me. With eyes fixed on the picture, my heart staggered drunkenly around my rib cage and panic twisted my lungs. Stalker leered down at me, a big man of mixed racial background with almond-shaped eyes and a flat nose over a wide full mouth. Two scars disfigured the left side of his face -- one ran from his nose to the corner of his lip, and another ran from his eye to his chin. On the right side, he adorned himself with a tribal tattoo that showed black against his light brown skin.

 - WEAKEST LYNX

Your heroine survived the attack. She's sitting in the police station, drinking the swamp water they call coffee from a Styrofoam cup. A police artist takes your heroine down a long, echoing hallway to a quiet office. What will your heroine encounter?

The Police Artist's job is to make a rendering called a COMPOSITE SKETCH to be used to apprehend and possibly help convict the criminal.

  

* Ideally, the artist has a combined background in police work/criminology, art, and psychology.

* The room will probably have a comfortable chair for the witness. It will be void of face images - no art, or
   wanted posters or any other image that might subconsciously impede a good witness report.
* The artist will sit off to the side so the artist's own face doesn't get confused with the memory.
* The artist usually starts with open ended questions while making the initial rendering, "Tell me about the
    shape of his jaw line?" Then the artist shows the sketch to the witness. At that point, specific questions are
    asked. "Are his eyes the right distance apart?"
* At the end of the interview the artist signs and dates their work – in case the composite sketch ends up in
   court as evidence.
* The process will last 1-2 hours

VIDEO QUICK STUDY (7:24) - An artist at work and his interview techniques

One of the first questions that the artist will ask is about race. The reason for this is not to determine the skin color but the underlying bone structures (skull shape and facial geometry). There are three main bone structure families
*Caucasoid
* Negroid
* Mongoloid
(There is also Aboriginal, which does not anthropologically fit into these three categories)

Next they will be asked about the age. The differences in bone structure shifts are most apparent in children, however, in adults the shift comes mainly in skin texture, tone, and thickness.
VIDEO QUICK STUDY (1:28) showing an age progression rendering and discussion of what factors are considered.

And then they will ask about body build.

An author will have to decide whether the witness is a good witness or not. 

The artists need to have good interviewing skills including an understanding of memory and how trauma effects it (more about this in next week’s blog). The goal is a quality representation of the suspect with an emphasis on forensics.  LINK to blog article about witnessing in F.A.T. Simulation 
* Does your witness have good eye sight?
* Are they dexterous at visual processing? Do they have a "memory for faces?"
* Is your witness someone who is detail oriented and paying attention?
* Memories can be distorted by stress
* Cross-racial features can be confusing
* Consider the lighting conditions
* Consider how fleeting the view
* Consider the angle of view

As the author, you will need to decide what techniques your artist will use

1) Interview with Hand Rendering

    From my art classes I learned that:

   * faces are generally not symmetrical

   * the face is generally 5x the width of an eye

   *The width between the eyes is generally the width of one eye

   *The eyes are about half-way down the face

   * the ears and nose are roughly the same height

    It is the artist's job to find where the suspect's facial geometry shifts from the Greek/Classical ideal.

   

    VIDEO QUICK STUDY  (1:10) an artist using a ruler to portion properly while rendering a time lapse

    drawing of a suspect. 

2) Catalog  

Scientists using scanners have found that we spend less time looking at the lower face. Our focus stays on the upper face. And surprisingly, (to me, anyway) less focus on the eyes than the rest of the upper face. The forehead, the hairline, and hair have priority in our memories. So if your character wants to disguise themselves, they should pay more attention to wearing hats and wigs. 

People recognize things more easily than they can recall them. For this reason, science indicates that the benefit of offering photos outweighs the bias that they could produce. So artists have binders that divide the different zones of the face into options from which the witness can choose. FBI facial ID catalog. Also photo albums of tattoos, scars, hats, clothing, and glasses are helpful for witnesses to use in  identification.

VIDEO QUICK STUDY 1 (2:16) Police artist discussing his use of the catalog

VIDEO QUICK STUDY 2 (2:13) Police artist discusses her use of catalog and her interview technique

3) Computer generated

    The pros include:

    * Faster and allow the artists to swap out one feature for another with ease.

    * Less expensive to produce images this way.

    * Easier to e-mail and easier to store

    Examples of this software include:
    * Identi-kit Link to their website
    * Faces Link to their website

    VIDEO QUICK STUDY (4:49) Using FACES computer composite rendering

One of America's foremost police artists is Karen Taylor  Link to information about Karen Taylor

VIDEO QUICK STUDY (2:48) Karen Taylor helping to solve the identity of "Brush Girl." 

·     LINK to AMAZON: FORENSIC ART AND ILLUSTRATION BY KAREN TAYLOR 

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Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.