Marijane Agnes Meaker (May 27, 1927 – November 21, 2022) was an American writer who, along with Tereska Torres , was credited with launching the lesbian pulp fiction genre, the only accessible novels on that theme in the 1950s.
100-628: Spring Fire , is a 1952 paperback novel written by Marijane Meaker , under the pseudonym "Vin Packer". It is the first lesbian paperback novel, and the beginning of the lesbian pulp fiction genre; it also addresses issues of conformity in 1950s American society. The novel tells the story of Susan "Mitch" Mitchell, an awkward, lonely freshman at a Midwestern college who falls in love with Leda, her popular but troubled sorority sister. Published by Gold Medal Books , Spring Fire sold 1.5 million copies through at least three printings. Cleis Press re-released
200-480: A social context . Such disturbances may occur as single episodes, may be persistent, or may be relapsing–remitting . There are many different types of mental disorders, with signs and symptoms that vary widely between specific disorders. A mental disorder is one aspect of mental health . The causes of mental disorders are often unclear. Theories incorporate findings from a range of fields. Disorders may be associated with particular regions or functions of
300-513: A "fuzzy prototype " that can never be precisely defined, or conversely that the concept always involves a mixture of scientific facts and subjective value judgments. Although the diagnostic categories are referred to as 'disorders', they are presented as medical diseases, but are not validated in the same way as most medical diagnoses. Some neurologists argue that classification will only be reliable and valid when based on neurobiological features rather than clinical interview, while others suggest that
400-436: A Trailblazer Award each year to one author for groundbreaking works in the field of lesbian literature. Meaker won the award in 2013 and joined the likes of Ann Bannon, Sarah Aldridge, Jane Rule, Ellen Hart, and many others as guiding lights of lesbian literature. The ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award recognizes one writer and a particular body of work for "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". Meaker won
500-464: A book that addressed a lesbian relationship; gay audiences weren't considered a market at this time. Paperback novels were rarely reviewed by mainstream literary reviews, but a Packer novel titled, Come Destroy Me was noticed by The New York Times crime-fiction reviewer Anthony Boucher . Meaker said, "I decided then and there that I would never write an ordinary story again; that if I was writing for paperback, I would write suspense because I wanted
600-460: A category for enduring personality change after a catastrophic experience or psychiatric illness. If an inability to sufficiently adjust to life circumstances begins within three months of a particular event or situation, and ends within six months after the stressor stops or is eliminated, it may instead be classed as an adjustment disorder . There is an emerging consensus that personality disorders, similar to personality traits in general, incorporate
700-442: A category of relational disorder , where the diagnosis is of a relationship rather than on any one individual in that relationship. The relationship may be between children and their parents, between couples, or others. There already exists, under the category of psychosis, a diagnosis of shared psychotic disorder where two or more individuals share a particular delusion because of their close relationship with each other. There are
800-592: A different feeling when I write for young adults. I guess I write for myself at that age." Meaker was born May 27, 1927, in Auburn, New York , to Ellis R. Meaker and the former Ida T. Jonick. Her father was a mayonnaise manufacturer. She spent her childhood in Auburn. She mentioned in an autobiography that Carson McCullers ' book Member of the Wedding influenced her. In a 2006 interview, Meaker said of McCullers, "I
900-440: A dimension or spectrum of mood, is subject to some scientific debate. Patterns of belief, language use and perception of reality can become dysregulated (e.g., delusions , thought disorder , hallucinations ). Psychotic disorders in this domain include schizophrenia , and delusional disorder . Schizoaffective disorder is a category used for individuals showing aspects of both schizophrenia and affective disorders. Schizotypy
1000-482: A disorder, it generally needs to cause dysfunction. Most international clinical documents use the term mental "disorder", while "illness" is also common. It has been noted that using the term "mental" (i.e., of the mind ) is not necessarily meant to imply separateness from the brain or body . According to the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM-IV ), published in 1994,
1100-427: A disorder. Obsessive–compulsive disorder can sometimes involve an inability to resist certain acts but is classed separately as being primarily an anxiety disorder. Substance use disorder : This disorder refers to the use of drugs (legal or illegal, including alcohol ) that persists despite significant problems or harm related to its use. Substance dependence and substance abuse fall under this umbrella category in
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#17327936707891200-403: A dysfunction in the individual. DSM-IV predicates the definition with caveats, stating that, as in the case with many medical terms, mental disorder "lacks a consistent operational definition that covers all situations", noting that different levels of abstraction can be used for medical definitions, including pathology, symptomology, deviance from a normal range, or etiology, and that the same
1300-399: A few anxiety disorders tend to appear in childhood. Some other anxiety disorders, substance disorders, and mood disorders emerge later in the mid-teens. Symptoms of schizophrenia typically manifest from late adolescence to early twenties. The likely course and outcome of mental disorders vary and are dependent on numerous factors related to the disorder itself, the individual as a whole, and
1400-540: A group, and they caused some consternation when being discussed by the Daughters of Bilitis . Ann Aldrich and the contributors to The Ladder took potshots at each other in print; once, a contributor to The Ladder accused Aldrich of being Ann Bannon, stating she expressed self-loathing in her writings. In 1970, Gene Damon of The Ladder referred to Meaker as "the evil genius" for her excellent writing about unpleasant and unsatisfactory lesbian themes. Meaker
1500-448: A local do-gooder, found out Meaker was encouraging her, she complained that Meaker was trying to get her daughter to "write weird." The novel would later be turned into an ABC Afterschool Special (as " Dinky Hocker )" in 1979 with Wendie Jo Sperber in the title role. Is That You, Miss Blue? , published in 1975, involves a girl in a Virginia Episcopal boarding school who develops a crush on her religiously devout teacher. Kerr modeled
1600-449: A mental disorder is a psychological syndrome or pattern that is associated with distress (e.g., via a painful symptom ), disability (impairment in one or more important areas of functioning), increased risk of death, or causes a significant loss of autonomy; however, it excludes normal responses such as the grief from loss of a loved one and also excludes deviant behavior for political, religious, or societal reasons not arising from
1700-416: A mixture of acute dysfunctional behaviors that may resolve in short periods, and maladaptive temperamental traits that are more enduring. Furthermore, there are also non-categorical schemes that rate all individuals via a profile of different dimensions of personality without a symptom-based cutoff from normal personality variation, for example through schemes based on dimensional models. An eating disorder
1800-478: A new name, and a new personality with each name. Meaker asked her parents to send her to Stuart Hall School , a boarding school in Staunton, Virginia , when she heard that lesbian activity occurred frequently at boarding schools. Unfortunately, she was kicked out: "I was an unruly, rebellious child – a troublemaker with low marks. I was suspended in my senior year for throwing darts at a dartboard decorated with
1900-467: A new school and fell in love with a more experienced, older girl. They traded love letters, and the other girl's mother found them on the eve of a weekend trip they were to take together. When the girl's mother approached her, "She said she'd rather kill herself than be like me," Meaker remembered. She initially wished to title the book Sorority Girl , but her business-minded editor changed the title to Spring Fire in order to confuse potential readers with
2000-505: A number of uncommon psychiatric syndromes , which are often named after the person who first described them, such as Capgras syndrome , De Clerambault syndrome , Othello syndrome , Ganser syndrome , Cotard delusion , and Ekbom syndrome , and additional disorders such as the Couvade syndrome and Geschwind syndrome . The onset of psychiatric disorders usually occurs from childhood to early adulthood. Impulse-control disorders and
2100-402: A proofreader with Gold Medal Books , and began writing mostly mystery novels as Vin Packer. According to her autobiographical young adult book ME ME ME ME: Not a Novel (1984), Meaker began her professional writing career by posing as a literary agent, whose "clients" consisted of her own pen names. As Packer, Meaker wrote 20 books in all, including The Evil Friendship from 1958, an account of
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#17327936707892200-697: A separate axis II in the case of the DSM-IV. A number of different personality disorders are listed, including those sometimes classed as eccentric , such as paranoid , schizoid and schizotypal personality disorders; types that have described as dramatic or emotional, such as antisocial , borderline , histrionic or narcissistic personality disorders; and those sometimes classed as fear-related, such as anxious-avoidant , dependent , or obsessive–compulsive personality disorders. Personality disorders, in general, are defined as emerging in childhood, or at least by adolescence or early adulthood. The ICD also has
2300-414: A severe psychiatric disability. Disability in this context may or may not involve such things as: In terms of total disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), which is an estimate of how many years of life are lost due to premature death or to being in a state of poor health and disability, psychiatric disabilities rank amongst the most disabling conditions. Unipolar (also known as Major) depressive disorder
2400-543: A sleep center for analysis, during which doctors ask for a detailed sleep history and sleep records. Doctors also use actigraphs and polysomnography . Doctors will do a multiple sleep latency test, which measures how long it takes a person to fall asleep. Sleep apnea, when breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, can be a serious sleep disorder. Three types of sleep apnea include obstructive sleep apnea , central sleep apnea , and complex sleep apnea . Sleep apnea can be diagnosed at home or with polysomnography at
2500-644: A sleep center. An ear, nose, and throat doctor may further help with the sleeping habits. Sexual disorders include dyspareunia and various kinds of paraphilia (sexual arousal to objects, situations, or individuals that are considered abnormal or harmful to the person or others). Impulse control disorder : People who are abnormally unable to resist certain urges or impulses that could be harmful to themselves or others, may be classified as having an impulse control disorder, and disorders such as kleptomania (stealing) or pyromania (fire-setting). Various behavioral addictions, such as gambling addiction, may be classed as
2600-431: A small group of writers whose work formed the subgenre of "pro-lesbian" pulp fiction; others include Ann Bannon , Sloane Britain , Paula Christian , Joan Ellis , March Hastings , Marjorie Lee , Della Martin , Rea Michaels , Claire Morgan , Randy Salem , Artemis Smith , Valerie Taylor , Torres, and Shirley Verel . In her early life, Meaker admits to dating men because it was expected of her. She said of meeting
2700-590: A sorority, because a boarding school is too young.' He added, 'Make sure that these girls turn away from homosexuality because it is immoral, don't just have them talk about it being a hard life. We have to pass postal inspection.'" Writer Ann Bannon has credited her beginnings as an author of lesbian fiction to discovering the Vin Packer novels in the 1950s. The response to Spring Fire was beyond all Meaker's and Gold Medal Books' expectations. Meaker states she got "boxes of mail" from women who were thrilled to see
2800-455: A very similar definition. The terms "mental breakdown" or "nervous breakdown" may be used by the general population to mean a mental disorder. The terms "nervous breakdown" and "mental breakdown" have not been formally defined through a medical diagnostic system such as the DSM-5 or ICD-10 and are nearly absent from scientific literature regarding mental illness. Although "nervous breakdown"
2900-416: A vital pioneering role in lesbian writing, it’s also as a warning of how difficult things could be. It’s ironic that Spring Fire was released now, when we need it the most, to remind us of the incredible courage of those who came before, the enormity of what has been accomplished, and why we must remain vigil, and treasure and protect every step forward we’ve managed to take." Marijane Meaker Under
3000-641: A young man who finds himself pulled in multiple directions. In the 1990s, Meaker added the pen name Mary James for a series of novels aimed at readers younger than the Kerr readership; it was not until 1994, after the publication of the third Mary James novel, that the covers indicated that the author was also known as M. E. Kerr. Mary James books include Shoebag , The Shuteyes , Frankenlouse and Shoebag Returns . Meaker gave advice in an interview for any aspiring writer, from her own experience: "I would tell aspiring writers to read. Read, read, read, read ... Read
3100-486: Is anxiety or fear that interferes with normal functioning may be classified as an anxiety disorder. Commonly recognized categories include specific phobias , generalized anxiety disorder , social anxiety disorder , panic disorder , agoraphobia , obsessive–compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder . Other affective (emotion/mood) processes can also become disordered. Mood disorder involving unusually intense and sustained sadness, melancholia, or despair
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3200-462: Is insomnia , which is described as difficulty falling and/or staying asleep. Other sleep disorders include narcolepsy , sleep apnea , REM sleep behavior disorder , chronic sleep deprivation , and restless leg syndrome . Narcolepsy is a condition of extreme tendencies to fall asleep whenever and wherever. People with narcolepsy feel refreshed after their random sleep, but eventually get sleepy again. Narcolepsy diagnosis requires an overnight stay at
3300-463: Is a category used for individuals showing some of the characteristics associated with schizophrenia, but without meeting cutoff criteria. Personality —the fundamental characteristics of a person that influence thoughts and behaviors across situations and time—may be considered disordered if judged to be abnormally rigid and maladaptive . Although treated separately by some, the commonly used categorical schemes include them as mental disorders, albeit on
3400-422: Is a nervous breakdown. But that term has vanished from medicine, although not from the way we speak.... The nervous patients of yesteryear are the depressives of today. That is the bad news.... There is a deeper illness that drives depression and the symptoms of mood. We can call this deeper illness something else, or invent a neologism, but we need to get the discussion off depression and onto this deeper disorder in
3500-477: Is a serious mental health condition that involves an unhealthy relationship with food and body image. They can cause severe physical and psychological problems. Eating disorders involve disproportionate concern in matters of food and weight. Categories of disorder in this area include anorexia nervosa , bulimia nervosa , exercise bulimia or binge eating disorder . Sleep disorders are associated with disruption to normal sleep patterns. A common sleep disorder
3600-527: Is an old diagnosis involving somatic complaints as well as fatigue and low spirits/depression, which is officially recognized by the ICD-10 but no longer by the DSM-IV. Factitious disorders are diagnosed where symptoms are thought to be reported for personal gain. Symptoms are often deliberately produced or feigned, and may relate to either symptoms in the individual or in someone close to them, particularly people they care for. There are attempts to introduce
3700-475: Is direct and independent; they become roommates and have double dates—Leda with boyfriend Jake and Mitch with the sullen, boorish president of the "Sig Eps" who humiliates her during a fraternity party. Mitch flees the party after striking the fraternity president on the head and the sorority is blackballed . Much-more-experienced Leda trades her exasperation with Mitch's innocence with overt affection for her in rapid mood switches. To avoid further exclusion, Mitch
3800-444: Is frowned-on by the sorority leaders. Mitch's only friend in the pledge class is kicked out of the sorority after getting home at 1 AM because her date had a flat tire. Leda tries to teach Mitch that they must put men first so they aren't disrespected, but they may love each other in private. Leda's promiscuous, alcoholic young mother visits, and Leda tries to test Mitch so she's able to answer her mother's questions about men, but Mitch
3900-456: Is known as major depression (also known as unipolar or clinical depression). Milder, but still prolonged depression, can be diagnosed as dysthymia . Bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression) involves abnormally "high" or pressured mood states, known as mania or hypomania , alternating with normal or depressed moods. The extent to which unipolar and bipolar mood phenomena represent distinct categories of disorder, or mix and merge along
4000-399: Is not rigorously defined, surveys of laypersons suggest that the term refers to a specific acute time-limited reactive disorder involving symptoms such as anxiety or depression, usually precipitated by external stressors . Many health experts today refer to a nervous breakdown as a mental health crisis . In addition to the concept of mental disorder, some people have argued for a return to
4100-430: Is persuaded by her sorority to invite the fraternity president to a dance at the sorority house, where he rapes her after getting her drunk. Afterwards Leda finds her stunned and calms her down by telling her how much she loves her. They begin a secret affair while Leda publicly continues dating Jake, whom she tells Mitch she rather despises, and Mitch going with relatively harmless "independents" (non-fraternity boys), which
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4200-429: Is shy and reluctant to lie about her feelings. But after her mother leaves, Leda apologizes for ignoring Mitch, shows her affection again, and tries to reassure her that they aren't lesbians. Mitch tries to sleep with her date to see if he makes her feel the way Leda does, but he is unable to perform. Convinced that she is abnormal and infectious and that Leda is a temptation, Mitch writes to Leda telling her she's leaving
4300-506: Is so preoccupied with assisting people addicted to drugs that she virtually ignores her own daughter. It was listed by the School Library Journal ' s 20th century 100 most significant books for children and young adults. The story was inspired by a class Meaker taught by going into high schools and talking to students about writing. One overweight girl wrote stories Meaker characterized as "really grotesque"; when her mother,
4400-449: Is still plausible. The World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that the long-term studies' findings converged with others in "relieving patients, carers and clinicians of the chronicity paradigm which dominated thinking throughout much of the 20th century." A follow-up study by Tohen and coworkers revealed that around half of people initially diagnosed with bipolar disorder achieve symptomatic recovery (no longer meeting criteria for
4500-747: Is the third leading cause of disability worldwide, of any condition mental or physical, accounting for 65.5 million years lost. The first systematic description of global disability arising in youth, in 2011, found that among 10- to 24-year-olds nearly half of all disability (current and as estimated to continue) was due to psychiatric disabilities, including substance use disorders and conditions involving self-harm . Second to this were accidental injuries (mainly traffic collisions) accounting for 12 percent of disability, followed by communicable diseases at 10 percent. The psychiatric disabilities associated with most disabilities in high-income countries were unipolar major depression (20%) and alcohol use disorder (11%). In
4600-661: Is true for mental disorders, so that sometimes one type of definition is appropriate and sometimes another, depending on the situation. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) redefined mental disorders in the DSM-5 as "a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning." The final draft of ICD-11 contains
4700-511: The James A Michener title The Fires of Spring . Susan ("Mitch") Mitchell is pledging to the Tri Epsilon sorority at fictional Cranston University. She is seen as a boon to the sorority due to her father's significant wealth, and the sorority is promised a new silverware set from the alumni if she is accepted. Large, ungainly, and shy, she is drawn to older sorority member Leda Taylor who
4800-584: The Parker–Hulme murder case in New Zealand. Two books by Packer were loosely based on the Emmett Till murder and the aftermath of the investigation: 3-Day Terror and Dark Don't Catch Me . Unlike other popular crime writers in the pulp market, Packer's books were less based on action, and more "psychologically dense" and "insidious". One mystery critic said of Packer's books, "Her probing accounts of
4900-423: The community , Treatments are provided by mental health professionals. Common treatment options are psychotherapy or psychiatric medication , while lifestyle changes, social interventions, peer support , and self-help are also options. In a minority of cases, there may be involuntary detention or treatment . Prevention programs have been shown to reduce depression. In 2019, common mental disorders around
5000-441: The 1950s, and discussed it and her own pulp fiction novels in interviews around the time of the book's release. Meaker explained her reasons behind writing about their relationship: "I knew Pat when she was young and not yet so jaded and bigoted. The internet is filled with stories of her meanness, and prejudice , and also of her introversion , of her being a loner. I met that Pat many years after we broke up." As of 2006, Meaker
5100-451: The 1993 Edwards Award. Nervous breakdown A mental disorder , also referred to as a mental illness , a mental health condition , or a psychiatric disability , is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is also characterized by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotional regulation, or behavior, often in
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#17327936707895200-469: The DSM and ICD, some approaches are not based on identifying distinct categories of disorder using dichotomous symptom profiles intended to separate the abnormal from the normal. There is significant scientific debate about the relative merits of categorical versus such non-categorical (or hybrid) schemes, also known as continuum or dimensional models. A spectrum approach may incorporate elements of both. In
5300-495: The DSM. Substance use disorder may be due to a pattern of compulsive and repetitive use of a drug that results in tolerance to its effects and withdrawal symptoms when use is reduced or stopped. Dissociative disorder : People with severe disturbances of their self-identity, memory, and general awareness of themselves and their surroundings may be classified as having these types of disorders, including depersonalization derealization disorder or dissociative identity disorder (which
5400-523: The ICD). Popular labels such as psychopath (or sociopath) do not appear in the DSM or ICD but are linked by some to these diagnoses. Somatoform disorders may be diagnosed when there are problems that appear to originate in the body that are thought to be manifestations of a mental disorder. This includes somatization disorder and conversion disorder . There are also disorders of how a person perceives their body, such as body dysmorphic disorder . Neurasthenia
5500-610: The New York State Library Association in 1999 (Knickerbocker Award) and the Assembly on Literature in 2000 (Adolescents Award). Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack! (1972) ‡ If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever? Gentlehands (1978) ‡ Little Little Me Me Me Me Me: Not a Novel (1983) ‡ Him She Loves? Fell Back Night Kites (1986) ‡ Deliver Us from Evie Slap Your Sides (‡) The young-adult librarians cited four novels when Kerr won
5600-404: The [gay couples in the] wedding pages of The New York Times , which was awaiting us in the future, I wouldn't have believed it. I thought books were important, but these were paperbacks and so I didn't think they would last any longer than the paper that they were printed on." These books proved to be controversial when released. Books by Ann Aldrich were not overly sympathetic toward lesbians as
5700-542: The annual award in 1993 as M.E. Kerr, citing four books published from 1972 to 1986: Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack! (Kerr's debut novel), Gentlehands , Me Me Me Me Me: Not a Novel , and Night Kites (‡). The young-adult librarians called her "a pioneer in realistic fiction for teenagers. Her characters and plots often deal with ordinary teenagers who, faced with extraordinary situations and events, must make tough choices." Meaker received other lifetime achievement awards from Publishing Triangle in 1998 ( Bill Whitehead Award ),
5800-407: The answers and few problems have never interested me, not to write about, not to befriend." Kerr's books addressed functions and dysfunctions in relationships between parents and children, teachers and students, friends, and she often wrote about first loves. Kerr's first attempt was extremely successful. Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack! was published in 1972 and was about an overweight girl whose mother
5900-603: The bars were in New York, where they could live, where I had lived. You know, they wanted to know how to get to New York and how to get to these bars." In an interview with the Lambda Book Report in 2005, Meaker reflected on the impact of her books as Ann Aldrich, saying, "I honestly never thought about anything except people like me buying the book. I never thought of us having any entitlement or any importance; it just never dawned upon me. If somebody had showed me
6000-481: The book in 2004 after extensive negotiations with Meaker, who had long denied permission over her feelings about the ending. Following the exposure of their relationship, Leda is committed to a mental institution and Mitch realizes she never loved Leda. Meaker later wrote, "I still cringe when I think about it. I never wanted it republished. It was too embarrassing." Meaker explained in the 2004 foreword that Dick Carroll, her editor at Gold Medal Books, told her that because
6100-413: The book would be sent through the mail, no references to homosexuality as an attractive life could be portrayed or postal inspectors would send it back to the publishing house. He said that one character must acknowledge that she is not a lesbian, and the other she's involved with "must be sick or crazy". The story is based on an affair Meaker had in boarding school as a teenager. She was awkward and shy in
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#17327936707896200-683: The brain and body. That is the point. In eliminating the nervous breakdown, psychiatry has come close to having its own nervous breakdown. Nerves stand at the core of common mental illness, no matter how much we try to forget them. "Nervous breakdown" is a pseudo-medical term to describe a wealth of stress-related feelings and they are often made worse by the belief that there is a real phenomenon called "nervous breakdown". There are currently two widely established systems that classify mental disorders: Both of these list categories of disorder and provide standardized criteria for diagnosis. They have deliberately converged their codes in recent revisions so that
6300-514: The brain. Disorders are usually diagnosed or assessed by a mental health professional , such as a clinical psychologist , psychiatrist , psychiatric nurse, or clinical social worker , using various methods such as psychometric tests , but often relying on observation and questioning. Cultural and religious beliefs, as well as social norms , should be taken into account when making a diagnosis. Services for mental disorders are usually based in psychiatric hospitals , outpatient clinics , or in
6400-427: The developmental period. Stigma and discrimination can add to the suffering and disability associated with mental disorders, leading to various social movements attempting to increase understanding and challenge social exclusion . The definition and classification of mental disorders are key issues for researchers as well as service providers and those who may be diagnosed. For a mental state to be classified as
6500-424: The diagnosis) within six weeks, and nearly all achieve it within two years, with nearly half regaining their prior occupational and residential status in that period. Less than half go on to experience a new episode of mania or major depression within the next two years. Some disorders may be very limited in their functional effects, while others may involve substantial disability and support needs. In this context,
6600-556: The differing ideological and practical perspectives need to be better integrated. The DSM and ICD approach remains under attack both because of the implied causality model and because some researchers believe it better to aim at underlying brain differences which can precede symptoms by many years. The high degree of comorbidity between disorders in categorical models such as the DSM and ICD have led some to propose dimensional models. Studying comorbidity between disorders have demonstrated two latent (unobserved) factors or dimensions in
6700-500: The eastern Mediterranean region, it was unipolar major depression (12%) and schizophrenia (7%), and in Africa it was unipolar major depression (7%) and bipolar disorder (5%). Suicide, which is often attributed to some underlying mental disorder, is a leading cause of death among teenagers and adults under 35. There are an estimated 10 to 20 million non-fatal attempted suicides every year worldwide. The predominant view as of 2018
6800-438: The expectations of her family and friends despite knowing she was a lesbian: "I dealt with it by playing the game: dating, going steady with a serviceman I really liked, but not 'that way' and in general coping as we all had to do by behaving like everyone else." Meaker was involved romantically with author Patricia Highsmith for two years. She wrote about this relationship in the 2003 nonfiction memoir, Highsmith: A Romance of
6900-456: The globe include: depression , which affects about 264 million people; dementia , which affects about 50 million; bipolar disorder , which affects about 45 million; and schizophrenia and other psychoses , which affect about 20 million people. Neurodevelopmental disorders include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) , autism spectrum disorder (ASD) , and intellectual disability , of which onset occurs early in
7000-520: The hospital; the tenuous confrontation leaves Leda laughing and crying simultaneously as Mitch departs. The day the sorority's new silverware set arrives, they learn that Leda has had a complete nervous breakdown and is to be institutionalized. Mitch begins new friendships as she realizes that she never really loved Leda after all. A pulp fiction novel, Spring Fire was sold in train and bus station kiosks and drug stores with other sensationalist books about crime, drugs, gangsters, and cowboys. Although it
7100-439: The idea of what if you meet a nice guy, a really nice man, and what if you find out that in his past he wasn't such a nice man? How would you feel?" In 1994's Deliver Us From Evie , 16-year-old Parr tells the story of his 18-year-old sister Evie's relationship with another girl and also of his own interest in a girl whose family rejects homosexuality as immoral. Kerr again addressed homosexuality in 1997's "Hello," I Lied , about
7200-424: The immense success of the 1950 Torres novel, which sold 4.5 million copies. Eager to continue their financial success, editor Dick Carroll asked Meaker to write a book with a lesbian theme. Her original story idea involved a romance between two students of a boarding school, but editor Dick Carroll asked her to change it to sorority sisters because the boarding school setting was too risky. "He said, 'Well, it has to be
7300-483: The impact the book had while she was working at Gold Medal Books: " Spring Fire was not aimed at any lesbian market, because there wasn’t any that we knew about. I was just out of college. We were amazed, floored, by the mail that poured in. That was the first time anyone was aware of the gay audience out there." In 2004 upon the re-release of the Cleis Press edition, a reviewer noted, " Spring Fire not only plays
7400-688: The internalizing-externalizing distinction, but also supports the formation of a third dimension of thought disorders such as schizophrenia. Biological evidence also supports the validity of the internalizing-externalizing structure of mental disorders, with twin and adoption studies supporting heritable factors for externalizing and internalizing disorders. A leading dimensional model is the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology . There are many different categories of mental disorder, and many different facets of human behavior and personality that can become disordered. An anxiety disorder
7500-411: The kind of books you'd like to write. Study your competition, see how they do it. Go away to college, or to work or whatever. See some of the world away from where you live. Try to join or start a writers' group where everyone shares what they're working on." Meaker, along with Torres, is credited with creating the lesbian pulp fiction subgenre. She is named by literary scholar Yvonne Keller as one of
7600-419: The lives of lesbians that included We Walk Alone in 1955, We, Too, Must Love in 1958, Carol in a Thousand Cities in 1960, We Two Won't Last in 1963, and Take A Lesbian To Lunch in 1972. The Feminist Press re-released We Walk Alone and We, Too, Must Love in 2007. Meaker said of this series, "The Aldrich books were more like resource books. A lot of the mail I got was from people wanting to know where
7700-648: The manuals are often broadly comparable, although significant differences remain. Other classification schemes may be used in non-western cultures, for example, the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders , and other manuals may be used by those of alternative theoretical persuasions, such as the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual . In general, mental disorders are classified separately from neurological disorders , learning disabilities or intellectual disability . Unlike
7800-560: The name Vin Packer , she wrote mystery and crime novels , including Spring Fire . As Ann Aldrich , she wrote nonfiction books about lesbians, and as M.E. Kerr , she wrote young-adult fiction. As Mary James , she wrote books for younger children. Meaker won multiple awards including the American Library Association 's lifetime award for young-adult literature, the ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award . She
7900-566: The old-fashioned concept of nervous illness. In How Everyone Became Depressed: The Rise and Fall of the Nervous Breakdown (2013), Edward Shorter, a professor of psychiatry and the history of medicine, says: About half of them are depressed. Or at least that is the diagnosis that they got when they were put on antidepressants. ... They go to work but they are unhappy and uncomfortable; they are somewhat anxious; they are tired; they have various physical pains—and they tend to obsess about
8000-478: The owner of Gold Medal Books' parent company, who wanted to, "shake the hand of the writer who outsold God's Little Acre ( Erskine Caldwell )." Spring Fire inspired other serious writers in the lesbian pulp fiction genre such as Ann Bannon and Valerie Taylor , and indeed, proved so profitable that the genre attracted (usually male) writers whose books exploited the topic of lesbianism, launching an entire genre of fiction. In 1989, Meaker spoke about realizing
8100-482: The pictures of faculty members cut out of an old yearbook. My mother's pleas to the bishop (it was an Episcopal school) got me reinstated long enough to graduate." As a high-school junior she began submitting stories to women's magazines under the name "Eric Rantham McKay" and was soundly rejected. Meaker later attended Vermont Junior College in 1945 and the University of Missouri from 1946 to 1949, where she
8200-452: The public perception of the level of disability associated with mental disorders can change. Nevertheless, internationally, people report equal or greater disability from commonly occurring mental conditions than from commonly occurring physical conditions, particularly in their social roles and personal relationships. The proportion with access to professional help for mental disorders is far lower, however, even among those assessed as having
8300-519: The reviews." Soon after editor Dick Carroll from Gold Medal Books died, Meaker stopped writing as Vin Packer. Meaker used the pseudonym Ann Aldrich for a series of five books published as paperback originals, but which were in fact nonfiction works. She read Donald Webster Cory 's book The Homosexual in America , which was a nonfiction book about gay men. Noticing there was nothing similar for lesbians, Meaker used her own observations of lesbians and
8400-407: The roots of crime are richly detailed snapshots of their times, unconventional, intensely readable, and devoid of heroes, villains, or pat solutions." As Vin Packer, Meaker wrote the groundbreaking romance novel Spring Fire , published in 1952 , which along with Tereska Torres' Women's Barracks is credited with launching the genre of lesbian "pulp" fiction . Spring Fire was a response to
8500-414: The scientific and academic literature on the definition or classification of mental disorder, one extreme argues that it is entirely a matter of value judgements (including of what is normal ) while another proposes that it is or could be entirely objective and scientific (including by reference to statistical norms). Common hybrid views argue that the concept of mental disorder is objective even if only
8600-466: The social environment. Some disorders may last a brief period of time, while others may be long-term in nature. All disorders can have a varied course. Long-term international studies of schizophrenia have found that over a half of individuals recover in terms of symptoms, and around a fifth to a third in terms of symptoms and functioning, with many requiring no medication. While some have serious difficulties and support needs for many years, "late" recovery
8700-458: The sorority. Leda tries to stop her by seducing her again, but their sorority sisters enter the room and see what is happening. In an emergency meeting, Leda reads the sisters Mitch's heartfelt letter and explains that Mitch has had a crush on her and the sisters had seen Mitch attacking Leda. While the Dean of Women interrogates Mitch, Leda gets drunk and wallows in her guilt for selling Mitch out to
8800-435: The sorority. When the Dean asks to see Leda, sorority members find her sobering up, but she is still not sober enough to drive and she crashes the car; in the aftermath, witnesses hear her calling out deliriously for Mitch. Her injuries are serious enough that she is hospitalized for 3 days, during which Mitch moves out of the sorority house and back into the dorm. They meet a final time when the Dean drives Mitch to visit Leda in
8900-411: The story on her own experiences in boarding school when she developed a crush on one of her own teachers. 1978's Gentlehands is about a young man who becomes involved with a young woman from a much wealthier family. When he tries to get to know his estranged grandfather, he learns that the man was a Nazi who killed Jews at Auschwitz . The premise for the book, stated Kerr, was, "I wanted to provoke
9000-470: The stress of having to hide a condition in work or school, etc., by adverse effects of medications or other substances, or by mismatches between illness-related variations and demands for regularity. It is also the case that, while often being characterized in purely negative terms, some mental traits or states labeled as psychiatric disabilities can also involve above-average creativity, non- conformity , goal-striving, meticulousness, or empathy. In addition,
9100-428: The structure of mental disorders that are thought to possibly reflect etiological processes. These two dimensions reflect a distinction between internalizing disorders, such as mood or anxiety symptoms, and externalizing disorders such as behavioral or substance use symptoms. A single general factor of psychopathology, similar to the g factor for intelligence, has been empirically supported. The p factor model supports
9200-420: The terms psychiatric disability and psychological disability are sometimes used instead of mental disorder . The degree of ability or disability may vary over time and across different life domains. Furthermore, psychiatric disability has been linked to institutionalization , discrimination and social exclusion as well as to the inherent effects of disorders. Alternatively, functioning may be affected by
9300-449: The whole business. There is a term for what they have, and it is a good old-fashioned term that has gone out of use. They have nerves or a nervous illness. It is an illness not just of mind or brain, but a disorder of the entire body. ... We have a package here of five symptoms—mild depression, some anxiety, fatigue, somatic pains, and obsessive thinking. ... We have had nervous illness for centuries. When you are too nervous to function ... it
9400-435: Was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority . She wasn't interested in conforming to the rules of a sorority, though; she preferred to seek friends who were also writers. She made frequent submissions to literary magazines and collected many rejection slips. Meaker sold her first story to Ladies' Home Journal under the name Laura Winston for $ 750. Upon graduation, she worked as a file clerk with Dutton Publishing , then as
9500-470: Was described by The New York Times Book Review as "one of the grand masters of young adult fiction." Meaker's books feature complex characters that have difficult relationships and complicated problems, who rail against conformity. Meaker said of this approach, " I remember being depressed by all the neatly tied-up, happy-ending stories, the abundance of winners, the themes of winning, solving, finding — when around me it didn't seem that easy. So I write with
9600-429: Was drawn to all McCullers’s books. She was an underdog -lover as I am. She was also this sensitive, intelligent writer whose words were lovely. I felt she was a champion of everyone who felt out-of-step with the world. I still feel that way." Meaker grew up in a house filled with books and was fascinated by the concept of writing and writers. She was particularly interested in the idea of a pseudonym, that one could invent
9700-654: Was living in East Hampton , New York , where she taught writing classes at the Ashawagh Hall Writers' Workshop. Her workshop experiences led to the nonfiction instructional book, Blood on the Forehead: What I Know About Writing (1998). Meaker died of cardiopulmonary arrest at her home in Springs, New York , on November 21, 2022, at the age of 95. The Golden Crown Literary Society awards
9800-505: Was not reviewed by any renowned literary critics, Spring Fire sold more copies in 1952 than The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain and My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier , also released the same year. When the paper in pulp novels was not designed to last more than a year, Spring Fire went through three printings, eventually selling nearly 1.5 million copies. Its success earned Meaker an invitation to meet Roger Fawcett,
9900-792: Was persuaded to try young adult fiction at the suggestion of author Louise Fitzhugh ( Harriet the Spy ), and chose to do so after reading Paul Zindel 's The Pigman . She chose the pen name M. E. Kerr, as a phonetic play on her last name. Although the audience was different from Vin Packer's, Kerr's approach to her stories and characters seemed to vary little. She still addressed topics not usually covered by children's books: racism , AIDS , homosexuality , absent parents, social class differences, and her characters still had problems that had no easy solutions. She said of this direction, "I tend to write about people who struggle, who try to overcome obstacles, who usually do, but sometimes not. People who have all
10000-687: Was previously referred to as multiple personality disorder or "split personality"). Cognitive disorder : These affect cognitive abilities, including learning and memory. This category includes delirium and mild and major neurocognitive disorder (previously termed dementia ). Developmental disorder : These disorders initially occur in childhood. Some examples include autism spectrum disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder , and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which may continue into adulthood. Conduct disorder, if continuing into adulthood, may be diagnosed as antisocial personality disorder (dissocial personality disorder in
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