Blogging about mental health in writing

“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.”

- Nido Qubein

How do you write a character with PTSD?

How about a character with depression and/or anxiety? A personality disorder? Dysphoria? Schizophrenia? Psychopathy?

A character who hallucinates?

A neurodiverse character, like someone who’s autistic, dyslexic, or has ADHD?

What about a neurotypical character who doesn’t have any quantifiable problem, but just had the shock of their lives, and you — the author — have no idea how to write their reactions?

The simple and deeply infuriating answer is: it depends.

It depends on the type of story you’re writing, the tone you’re taking, who your main characters are, and how much research you’re willing to do. There is no one-size-fits-all advice here, and the point of this blog is not to give you the idea that there is only one correct way to write these characters. I can only give you one perspective, and because I don’t know anything about you or your writing style, I’m a very limited perspective at that.

So why should you bother listening to me at all? Why am I a still a valuable perspective to have?

As someone with over twenty years of experience writing, and six years of experience studying and practising psychology, I hope I can at least give you a starting point. I’ve personally struggled with several mental health issues including hallucinations, PTSD, and ADHD. I’ve also met and worked with clients running the entire spectrum of mental health — or, as I affectionately like to call it, the spectrum of Weird Brain Errors.

(A note regarding neurodiversity: throughout this blog, I often use ‘Weird Brain Errors’ to cover the entirety of the stuff I write about. This is functionally inaccurate, because many things that society deems Weird Brain Errors are actually just different ways of thinking. A prime example: autism. Autism is not an error. For many people, it’s a fundamental and valuable part of their identity. For my purposes here, ‘Weird Brain Errors’ is just useful shorthand for ‘all of the different and often socially difficult ways a brain can develop, leading to lifelong difficulties in a society not built to accommodate anything other than the narrowest possible definition of healthy psychology’. Some people prefer the term ‘disability’; I do not.)

With each blog post, I’m going to try to address a single thing: a single Weird Brain Error (my ‘How to Write’ series); a single aspect of neurodiversity (my ‘Functioning Like a Boss’ series); a personal observation (my ‘How It Feels’ series); or a piece of media featuring a psychological thing someone asked me to delve deeper into (my ‘Am Has Wild Opinions On’ series). I will describe:

• What the thing is, both officially and unofficially. (Because the DSM-5 is, as you will find, very unhelpful for explaining what a thing actually is.)

• My personal experience and knowledge of the thing, both directly and indirectly.

• How accurately the thing is usually depicted in media. (To which the answer is usually just me laughing endlessly into the void.)

• How I would write a character with some or all of the thing. (Artistic licence is encouraged in most cases, so long as you don’t cross certain lines.)

• Specific tips for how to write similar characters, with links for further reading and research. (Where possible, those links will include primary sources, i.e., information from people who have personally experienced the topic in question.)

Here is a bit of general advice when writing any character struggling with an issue you’re not familiar with:

• Do some basic research before you start writing. This does not need to be intensive reading; it just needs to give you a general idea of what you want to address in your writing. At the very least, know what the most common symptoms or traits look like, what they feel like, and how likely it is that your character will know what they’re struggling with. If there’s anything that feels weird later when you’re editing, you can always do more research, or grab a sensitivity reader.

• You do not need to hit every symptom on a checklist. In fact, don’t do this. Depending on the type of story you’re writing, pick only a few for your character. It’s really, really rare that someone experiences every single possible symptom of anything, and writing a character that way will feel disingenuous and boring to the reader. Remember the golden rule of mental health: we all go through the same stuff differently. Your character will still be your character, not a checklist.

• Relate your character’s experience to their setting. In a modern-day setting, your character might know exactly what they’re struggling with and why. In a historical fiction piece, they might not. In a fantasy setting, it could be either option, or a mix of both, depending on the world you’ve created. As with everything in character creation, relate the difficulties back to the character, their upbringing, and their priorities; does this bother them? Is there anything your character does where the thing is helpful and/or beneficial? How does your character go about their everyday life? How often do they need help? How often do they get any help they need?

• Remember that there is always a reason the thing exists. In psychology, that reason usually is: the brain constantly protects its person. Many mental health conditions acquired later in life manifest as an extreme version of a coping mechanism. While it may appear harmful or detrimental in the way we’ve built our society, as far as that person’s brain is concerned, it makes perfect sense. Based on everything that person’s brain has experienced, this is the best way to protect its person. It can be genetic, but it can also be due to a single traumatic event, consistent exhaustion or harassment, or constant inaccessibility. I’ll go into more detail on this with each specific Weird Brain Error, because of how much it can vary across conditions and spectrums.

• If in doubt, give it a try, and find someone with experience to look it over later. We learn by doing, and the more you write, the better you will get. This goes for nearly everything in the universe! Practice makes perfect. You are not obligated to share everything you write; you have the right and the freedom to make as many mistakes as you want in private. If someone with direct experience and good faith reads your published work and tells you that you made a mistake somewhere, listen to them, learn from it, and move on.

• You probably know more than you think, and simultaneously know less than you think. Trust yourself, but don’t trust yourself blindly. In all likelihood you already know this, since you’re reading my blog at all, but it bears repeating. Learning and doing go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other.

The above is only general advice to start with; I highly recommend searching the blog' tags for the specific thing you’re interested in, and reading the related posts. You’ll find more tailored advice, more specific tips, and even some examples.

Thanks heaps for sticking with me this far! If reading all of this was helpful to you, please consider supporting me on Patreon; all patrons get early access to these blog posts, and direct input on what topic I tackle next. You can also show your one-time support on Ko-Fi or PayPal. If you have a question about a specific topic I haven’t covered yet, hit me with it on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr — or email me: author@amariamson.com