Writing about Mental Health

[darkriver198868]

For the last year I have toyed with idea of writing a novel around a certain mental health condition. Its a complex one which very rarely gets positive media representation.

Its also tricky as I have personal experience of it. I have written a few small blogs posts in story form and they have been very well received.

I want it to be a novel but, I dont want it to be about me. I am wondering how I can do it.

(Sorry I know thats poorly worded.)

Make the character experiencing it very different to you?

I often include my own MH experiences in my writing, but I write fantasy. I think this is where genre writing can really be great as it allows us to tackle really difficult, complex issues through a new frame. It doesn't have to be full on fantasy or SF, detective genre often includes to interesting views of MH that aren't just " crazy people do bad things". I've been listening to a series set post -ww1 were the detective has PTSD, he gets flashbacks and has a hears voice. It's really one of the best depictions of these experiences I've read for a long time, very nuanced. So basically what I'm saying is just focus on the experiences but change up the context, I think.

Research research research. Possibly a masters or PhD in psychology. Oh and more research.

If it is factually incorrect then it could be quite damaging.

I suffer from anxiety and have been diagnosed BPD. My experience is likely to be very diffetent to another with similar issues.

While I see where your coming from, I don't think someone should be put off writing about their own experiences because they don't have a PhD in psychology. Viewing MH through the lense of a psychologist is often very different to talking about those experiences as someone who just has to live with them. Personally I find many of the most powerful and helpful depictions of MH have come from people just talking about what they live with, not by people who spent years in academia studying it.

I do agree that you need to be careful not to make generalisations. My experience is not everyone's, but as long as it is kept individual and not telling anyone how they should feel I don't see a problem. I get a lot from people's experiences of hearing voices as though they are different to my experience of seeing visions a lot of it resonates with me. This is why I would say focus on the experiences not the dx. Once you start throwing labels about things can get more complicated I think.

I am writing a novel which is based on my experiences of depression/suicidal thoughts.

The way I've made the character not me is to build up a personality/background for her...several suggestions online on 'interviewing' your protagonist.

My research has included reading others' blogs of depression, newstories, reading or watching films where this is part of the subject matter.

Also I have clinician friends/relatives to ask about the technical side ...some of which is searchable but looks odd in your search history...but there must be ways to reach out to experts more formally to avoid any errors... but that's down the line. Get writing.

Above all...write and keep writing...
I have 20k words now and I started it with the Faber starting a novel online course. (It has chsn6ged name since I did the course..shows how long i have been at this).. .and with feedback I have changed a lot of the novel so the main character is even less like me..

We need more stories, voices, views of every experience...

So if the urge to write is so strong, begin and keep going...

I think Bigly's idea is a good one in that you need to make your character independent of you, via sci-fi or other means. Obviously your own experience of your MH condition will feed your writing, but any transcription of your own experiences, however well-meaning or heartfelt, will not make compelling, readable fiction -- and could well be dangerous for you, if you share it with a writing workshop or get negative feedback from an agent or editor, because you're sharing something that really happened to you, and feeling invalidated, and they're giving feedback on a piece of fiction.

I mean, imagine the difference between you writing a story based closely on a time you couldn't leave the house for six months, and someone scoffing and saying it was unrealistic and snowflake-y, and -- I don't know, a AU where artificial intelligence means that a character is able to have a fleet of clones or robots to carry out all her OCD handwashing/touching/counting rituals for her...? Or where a withdrawn agoraphobic is a superhero via a computer game?

I mean, that's a dopey idea, but do you see what I mean about distancing?

In all honesty i was joking about the PhD but trying to make a point about the level of research required to write an intelligent and sensitive account.

My novel has themes involving mental health within it, I use my own experiences and read blogs etc. to get other perspectives.

I have written a novel which has a main character suffering from the same MH problem as me. The industry is pretty keen on such books being #ownvoices now - i.e. the writer has personal experience. I did read around as well, to be sure that I handled it sensitively, and also gathered other perspectives and read medical papers on it.

My character is very different from me, so my experiences informed the character, rather than writing about me, if you see what I mean. I think it's generally a good idea not to identify too closely with your character. I see characters and plots more as a coalescence of my life, past, things I've seen/heard etc..