The only way to catch a criminal is to think like one; that is the logic many television writers use when deciding to create a detective who is mentally ill. It is not enough to simply profile a criminal or understand the reasoning behind their crimes, but the detective now must have a real and clear link to the people they are chasing. That connection infers that mental illness is connected with criminality and violence. Modern detective fiction is moving away from this, but new problems have arisen. Too many shows present mental illness as either a negative thing or a quirk that helps the detective solve the crime and that gives audiences the wrong idea about the true nature of mental illness.
Television writers give their audiences cues to what illness looks like. If an audience sees a character that hears voices, they will equate them with a certain illness and those associations, thanks to detective fiction, are now closely linked to violence. It shows mental illness in the simplest and most convenient definitions. There is no excuse for this. If a whole television show is dedicated to a character with mental illness, there is an opportunity for writers to break the bonds of stigma and show an accurate portrayal of an illness. This is rarely the case.
Television writers often hide their false depictions under layers of slim reality. This is true in the case of the popular show Monk, featuring television’s best-known mentally ill detective. Adrian Monk is a former cop who must deal with his obsessive compulsive disorder while handling consultations with the police. His scrutiny for detail and order are things that aid him in solving crimes. Andy Breckman, the show’s creator, has OCD, so he was able to use some of his experiences for the show. It is through these disguises that this show is given the stamp of approval as a positive representation of OCD. Unfortunately, under Monk’s plights of frustration and exhaustion, the show is a wholly inaccurate portrayal of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
OCD stands for “obsessive compulsive disorder,” but many people use it as an adjective and think it means obsessive cleanliness. Illnesses and disorders are not adjectives. People calling each other “schizo” or “bipolar” are using terms incorrectly and treating these illnesses as common things. Obsessive compulsive disorder must be broken down to understand the full definition. Obsessions and compulsions are two different things that when combined may mean that a person has OCD. According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), this disorder only affects about 2.2 million people so the definition must be limited and refined if everyone has their own obsessions and compulsions.
In the episode “Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine,” Monk chooses to take his medicine, and it cures him instantly. The symptoms of OCD are no longer present, but the meds give Monk an inebriated behavior. Not only is that a wrong way to depict people on medication, but there is no known OCD medication that would give a patient those effects nor would medication like that be used in therapy. The bigger problem is that Monk loses his crime-fighting superpowers when he’s on medication; he’s totally useless at a crime scene. This is a clear message to audiences: taking medication is overall bad for improving a condition and could even worsen the effects because they are similar to inebriation. Even more, OCD is treated as a superpower in this scenario. Without the disorder in its purest form, Monk would lose his amazing power that put him above the skills of the police.
In the show Perception, the detective has schizophrenia, but the show’s writers made it seem like an amazing power that helps him solve crimes. This show follows the story of Dr. Daniel Pierce, a schizophrenic man who uses his mental disorder and specialty in neuropsychiatry to help the federal government solve their most difficult criminal cases. This show presents schizophrenia as a superpower that allows a man to figure out complex problems by having hallucinogenic phases. Hallucinating on his level would probably render a typical patient unable to function in normal society let alone function with the levels of stress he is under.
His understanding of the brain takes him part way and the other half is given by the people that are the results of his hallucinogenic episodes. There are incidents when Joan of Arc and a WWII naval officer help him solve crimes. How could anyone think schizophrenia is scary or evil when it means that people from different time periods came to help solve impossible mysteries? Living with schizophrenia is difficult enough without people falsely measuring worth and ability. Perception certainly made a lifestyle that most patients, if not all, cannot possibly follow nor would be recommended to do so. It is through shows like this that people romanticize mental illness, and it does not provide much better representation than showing schizophrenia as violent.
According to these shows, if someone has a mental illness then they should take advantage of it and make themselves superheroes to society. If they do not, they are not worthwhile and maybe dangerous, even if they are taking medication. Detective fiction continues to portray mental illness as something characteristic of the violent, or they do what Monk and Perception have done, which is to glorify and falsely define an illness. Neither method can be claimed as good. These results largely come from lazy and bad writing with poorly done research. There is no excuse for this long tradition of stigmatizing and patronizing the mentally ill.
