PSYCHOLOGY 101 FOR WRITERS

This workshop focuses some basics in psychology. The first half will look at how to write characters from neurodiverse backgrounds as well as those who deal with mental illness with sensitivity and accuracy. The second half will look more deeply into forensic psychology, how it ties into the legal system, and in how one can use forensic psychology to help influence and shape their writing, especially for individuals who may be writing romantic suspense.

Margaret Bates was Magna Cum Laude in psychology as an undergraduate at Duke University. During her undergraduate work, she spent six months as an intern at a state hospital for schizophrenics in La Pa, Bolivia. During her graduate work, she spent five years working toward a Ph.D. in developmental psychology with an emphasis in autism intervention therapy and was everything but dissertation at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Currently, she is finishing her Master’s thesis in industrial/organizational psychology at The University of Baltimore with a focus on workplace ostracism and its effects on meaningfulness in life and healthy psychological functioning.