How would you go about writing someone with mental issues? Conditions like schizofrenia?
There is a lot of awful takes that essentially end up being caricatures while actual people wity the condition are often quite chill. It's difficult to do them justice while also not being able to fully understand how it is
Writing about Mental Health Conditions
Questions to Ask When Reporting on Mental Health
Is mental illness relevant to this story? If not, there is no need to mention it.
What is your source? Donât rely on hearsay to report that a person has a mental illness. If you are reporting on a specific condition, make sure you are talking to a mental health professional to provide the facts. Mental health organisations like the APA can connect you with experts to discuss a wide range of mental health and substance use disorders, as well as the medications and techniques used to treat them.
What is the most accurate language to use? See below for advice about language that is specific and avoids derogatory terms.
Choose Your Words Carefully
The words you use to write about mental health are very important, and can help reduce stigma around mental illness if carefully chosen.
ONE. Focus on the person, not the condition. The basic concept is that the mental health condition (or physical or other condition) is only one aspect of a personâs life, not the defining characteristic.
Preferred:Â She is a person with schizophrenia.
Not preferred:Â She is schizophrenic.
TWO. Be specific. Mental illness is a general condition. Specific disorders are types of mental illness and should be used whenever possible (see below for a brief list and definitions of common disorders).
Preferred:Â He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder
Not preferred:Â He was mentally ill
THREE. Avoid derogatory language. Terms such as psycho, crazy and junkie should not be used. In addition, avoid words like âsufferingâ or âvictimâ when discussing those who have mental health challenges.
Preferred:Â She has a mental health illness. She has a substance use disorder.
Not preferred:Â She suffers from mental illness. Sheâs a drug abuser.
Common Mental Health Terms
The following are definitions of some of the most common mental health disorders. For more complete descriptions, consult Understanding Mental Disorders: Your Guide to DSM-5 or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Addiction - a chronic brain disease that causes compulsive substance use despite harmful consequences.
Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders - the overuse of alcohol or drugs leading to effects that are detrimental to the individualâs physical and mental health, or the welfare of others.
Autism Spectrum Disorders - a range of complex developmental disorders that can cause problems with thinking, feeling, language and the ability to relate to others.
Bipolar Disorder - (also commonly known as manic depression) is a brain disorder that causes shifts in a personâs mood, energy and ability to function.
Depression - a common and serious medical illness that causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed; it can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems.
Eating Disorders - illnesses in which people experience severe disturbances in their eating behaviors and related thoughts and emotions; anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder are the three main types.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)Â - an anxiety disorder in which people have recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations (obsessions) that make them feel driven to do something repetitively (compulsions).
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)Â - a psychiatric disorder that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act, war/combat, rape or other violent personal assault.
Schizophrenia - a chronic brain disorder with symptoms that can include delusions, hallucinations, trouble with thinking and concentration, and lack of motivation.
Facts about Mental Illness
Misconceptions and myths about mental health are unfortunately common. The following are a few facts about mental illness in the United States, as well as key resources for the latest statistics on mental health:
In any given year, more than 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. has a diagnosable mental disorder.
One in 20Â adults has a serious mental illness.
One in 6 adults has a substance use disorder (including alcohol use disorder).
Half of all chronic mental illness begins by age 14.
Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death for all ages and the second leading for people ages 10 to 34. It is more common than homicide.
Most people with mental illnesses are no more likely to be violent than those without a mental health disorder. In fact, people with a mental health disorder are at significantly higher risk of becoming victims of violence compared to the general population
Excerpted from The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH):
Write often about mental health challengesâthe greater awareness generated about mental health, the more chance there is of helping people who have problems associated with these illnesses.
Let us know if you are looking for story ideasâwe have lots of them and would be more than happy to share these ideas with you (you can find their contact details here).
We are asking for your help in reducing the stigma around mental illness including addiction because stigma is a huge problem for people living with mental illness.
We can accomplish this by dispelling some of the negative stereotypes that follow people who have mental illness such as: people with mental illness including addictions are all potentially violent and dangerous; are somehow responsible for their condition; and have nothing positive to contribute.
Labels matter. Donât describe a person with a substance use disorder as a âheroin addict,â âdrug user,â or âalcoholic.â Defining a person by their disorder makes the disorder become that personâs âmaster statusââthe reader or viewer will only see the person as defined by the illness not by who they really are as an individual.
Help reduce stigma by not leaving the person out when describing an individual. When a person is called a schizophrenic, the reader will only see the disorder and conjure up mental images that are likely negative and stereotypical. The same can be said for a person who is called a âmanic-depressive or a "depressed person.â Chances are they could be receiving treatment for these symptoms and are in fact not feeling depressed at all.
Exploring Mental Health in Fiction
As fiction writers, we take normal, everyday conflict and crank it up to a 10 to make our stories compelling.
In a mental health focused novel, itâs the absence of and quest for mental health thatâs the meat of the story, the source of the conflict at its heart.
What drives the plot is not what happens in the story, but the interplay between external factors and the heroâs response to them.
There are dos and donâts to writing about neurodivergence or mental illness that will make your characters and their struggles ring trueânot flat and stereotypical.
Origin of Your Characterâs Mental Health Issue. This can be rich in terms of your story creation. Even if you only hint at it in the narrative, as an author, you need to understand the root cause of your characterâs struggle before you decide what the manifestation will be. Family quirks, trauma, relocation, immigrationâall of these can impact mental health.
Your Own Past and Life and Family. The old write-what-you-know adage can prove fertile ground for character development.
Understand the Role Mental Health Will Play in Your Story. Is the story about mental illness? Based on something very familiar that you know well? Is the book set in a psychiatric hospital? Is the condition a side issue, a challenge that makes your protagonistâs life a little more complicated?
Be Accurate and Avoid Stereotypes. If you are not writing something autobiographical, drawing on your own personal experiences, make sure to do your research. Interview people, read articles by and about those with the psychological challenges you intend to feature. Make sure to keep it three-dimensional, even if your book is about being mentally ill. No one is just depressed or just anxious. No character is the sum of their quirks and ticks. Make sure any character with a mental health issue is well-rounded and interesting in other ways.
Donât Be Afraid to Lean Into the Humor. Par for the course with mental health issues are misadventures, foibles, and overcorrects that can end in comically disastrous results. As long as readers can laugh with rather than at the mix-ups, itâs all good. In fact, if everything we wrote about mental health were tragic, if everything we wrote about trauma were traumatic, the work would be pretty hard to stick with as a reader or as a writer. Whatever story structure you employâclassic three-act, spiral, or what have youâa well-drawn main character is essential. The interplay between the self (Passenger B for example), her circumstances (air turbulence), and others in her life (the frightened son and the maddeningly calm Passenger A) creates conflict, obstacles to resolution. Your heroâs place on the mental health continuum gives her texture and relatability. Her mess-ups, embarrassments, and misunderstandings are what resonate for readers and make your work thrilling, agonizing, and yesâsatisfyingly fun!
Characters with Mental Illness. The megalomaniacal CEO. The sociopathic killer. The suicidal teen. The anxious woman self-medicating with booze and pills while caring for her demented mother. As writers, we invite these characters into our stories because they are true-to-life and because their psychological problems invite curiosity and compassion.
To avoid stereotyping and caricatureâand to keep your story believableâtry these 5 strategies and tips:
Make the character relatable. Although common, mental illness is not the norm, so characters with such disorders, especially psychoses, are imbued with âotherness.â The writer must provide a way for the reader to relate to the character despite the illness and because of it.Â
Keep the narrative front and center. Stories work best when they are spun around a person and a set of relationships, not an illness. Even âissues booksâ are successful only when the story focuses on what happens to a particular cast of characters. Mental illness can be debilitating and all-consuming, but it does not define a person. That job still rests with the writer.
Balance internal and overt symptoms and behavior. The internal world of a mentally ill person is fascinating but can readily overwhelm the reader. It doesnât take pages of suicidal ideation, obsessive thoughts or internal word salad to deliver the message of an altered mental state. Go easy on the subjective "craziness" and opt instead to show how others are reacting (or not) to what is going on inside the ill personâs head. Also, not all mentally ill people have insight; they donât necessarily know that their behavior and thoughts are abnormal. Obviously, if the person doesnât realize they are ill, or if they become confused about it, then they might be an unreliable narrator. This can be a powerful tool but it is important to know upfront what relationship your character has with his or her illness, how that affects the interplay of external and internal worlds and the access others have to the characterâs problems. It can be as complicated as you wish, but donât leave the reader behind.
Specify the disorder, at least in your head. Generalized âcrazinessâ does not exist. A mental illness can elude diagnosis, or have a complicated diagnosis, but as a writer, you should try to pinpoint the disorder, even if your character is never properly diagnosed. Why? Disorders are defined by specific behaviors and cognitive flaws, so the more you narrow down the diagnosis, the more you know about how your character might behave, feel and think. For example, mania is evidenced in several disorders, including bipolar disorder, drug-related disorders, and some sub-types of schizophrenia. Knowing the underlying problem has ramifications for your characterâs other behavior, their prognosis, treatment, and whether the problem might have a genetic component.
Get the details right. For instance, relief via medication, if it comes, can begin after 2 weeks but the maximum effect can take 8 weeks. Details like this matter not just because they satisfy knowledgeable readers but also because spreading misinformation about mental illness does everyone a disservice. Mental health is a rapidly changing field, so ensure your information is correct for your time period. Terminology, diagnosis, treatment options, and prognosis can be vastly different from one decade to the next.
Fortunately, there are resources at your disposal:
Consult the relevant version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), the official guide to mental disorders. The American Psychological Association updates it periodically, so use the one corresponding to your setting.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is also an excellent resource;
Seek out mental health professionals and those who have first-hand experience with the disorder (patients and/or loved ones) to lend authentic details;
Visit online forums, but be discreet, respectful, and appropriately cautious.
As with all research, donât rely on a single source.
The credibility of your story is worth the extra time it takes to gain a deeper understanding of your mentally ill characters.
Knowledge, profound knowledge, engenders respect and compassion, two traits we all could use more of, both as writers and as people.
Writing about Your Own Mental Health
Writing about mental health is one thing, but making yourself vulnerable and disclosing your own illness, especially a serious one, is another.
First-hand accounts, though, are essential in making this national discourse authentic and true to life.
Writing to explain your experience to someone else can help you understand it better as well, leading to additional closure.
Writing fosters personal sense-making, especially when you learn how to reframe your experience more positively.
Exploring meaning in your traumatic experience through writing can mark a turning point in your recovery.
Your increased awareness and articulation of feelings and thoughts can be beneficial to others who may be going through a similar experience.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 â More: Notes & References â Writing Resources PDFs
Thanks for the question. This is important to write about. All the best with your writing!
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