ABSTRACT:

When Universal Pictures released Gus Van Sant’s “Psycho,” I received my standard letter from the Society for the Preservation of the Mentally Ill, or some such group, advising me of the dos and don’t of writing about the mentally challenged. I was told psycho is out, schizophrenic is in; nuts is out, along with crazy, deranged and loony tune.

So what is the appropriate term for a son who dresses like an old lady, stabs a young woman…