My Weblog: A thousand words. All of them "Whaa -

Images to go with words have been on my mind recently, because last week not one but two jacket designs came in. (I asked if I could show them today. No deal. )

But as well as that, pictures have been bugging me because I've got Durand and Barlow's Essentials of Abnormal Psychology open on my desk while I write the new book (yep, another chucklefest of bunnies and daisies) and this is the image on the cover.

I'd love to think the message is "Learn psychology and help people so that all teens can be as well-adjusted as this one with her obvious thoughtfulness and excellent grooming". But I suspect the message is really "Black lips! Long fringe! Devil child!"

Things aren't much better inside. Personality disorders are amongst the most distressing and intractable of psychiatric conditions and histrionic personality disorder, like others, is associated with chaotic lives, broken relationships, lost jobs . . .

"vain, extravagant and seductive"

. . . and - ye gods! - flowers in the hair. Words fail me, but you don't get to play that card when you're a writer so I'll just say I cannot imagine who thought this woman would be good visual shorthand for an out-of-control temptress.

When we turn to the subject of sex, it gets so bad it's just funny. Did you know that sexual behavior often continues well into old age? Well, it does. Look at this pair:

It's hard to say what's more hilarious: the idea that this is sex or the thought that these women are old.

Finally, let's look at a photograph of a person who is genuinely elderly, being used to illustrate the serious problem of depression in the aged. One problem: she's not depressed . . .