Portraying Self Harm

One of the characters in my book has borderline personality disorder and self harms.

• He is the antagonist, this (along with some other symptoms of his mental problems and etc.) is used to show how mentally messed up he was by his father(the former Big Bad) he was. It is used as a Cry for the Devil aspect of his character, but is not the only cause of his villiany.

  • (Does anyone see any problems with this?

• I'm not exactly sure how explicit I'd like to get with it. I'm planning for most of the story, it would only be implied (mentioning scars and other problems)

So obiviously this would be played seriously throughout and intented to be disturbing. But are there any misconceptions/stereotypes/Unfortunate Implications I should avoid?

edited 6th Jan '13 2:08:05 PM by TheMuse

I doubt there will be any Unfortunate Implications. I think it will add a new complexity to your character and it might make him more sympathetic.(Though it depends on if that is what you want.)

Oh, misconceptions and stereotypes... I would'nt base it only on what appears in films and the like. The best bet is to go for realism as opposed to over-dramatisation. So I'd suggest doing reaserch on the subject if need be.

edited 6th Jan '13 8:23:36 PM by Ficus

From your description, I'd say there may be room to argue that your using his mental problems as a sign of his evilness does carry some unfortunate implications as it invokes and reinforces the "mental illness = evil" perception; regardless whether there is a Freudian Excuse or not. That being said, this is a very common unfortunate implication and I personally wouldn't get too worked up or concerned about it.

Also, "self harm" isn't a very specific term/description. It runs the gamut from self-mutilation (e.g. wrist cutting) in order to "feel something" to impulsively swallowing pills only to immediately regret it to a deliberate and carefully planned suicide attempt. As such, to say that someone self harms would be akin to saying that someone gets short of breath.

Well mostlY it'd just be cutting and suicide attempts and such. It'd be portrayed as something extremely serious, because I want to avoid the Wangst-y, adolescent, "I'M SO MISUNDERSTOOD" goffik stereotype. And yeah, he's intended to be somewhat sympathetic.

edited 8th Jan '13 5:03:18 AM by TheMuse

And also, I'm averting the Crazy=Evil by having it have more of the message that "severe mental illness that isn't properly managed (There Are No Therapists in this universe) and is worsened with abuse will seriously fuck someone up"