Random book (rants, book ideas, thoughts, etc.)

6. Romanticization of mental illness

Okay, let me just say that if you plan to write a book, and it features a mental illness of any kind...

YOU HAVE TO DO YOUR GODDAMN RESEARCH!

I cannot express this enough! Lots of people here either: A. demonize mental illness, B. Romanticize mental illness, or C. Depict mental illnesses incorrectly; but they mostly romanticize mental illnesses or portray them wrongly. (Few authors I can actually name; you might know who they are).

Some people here act like a mental illness is something that you buy at the store (another user's words, not mine), it's not. Same thing with anxiety.

And also about depression, many people believe that all they do is just being sad and cut themselves (that can be offensive to anyone who actually has depression). Depression is different for everyone. For those who have depression, they handle it in different ways. All I'm just saying is that it's kind of stupid to assume that all people cut themselves and be suicidal.

While we're still on this topic, let me explain something else that I've seen quite a lot actually (and it's also really/somewhat offensive to those who have a mental illness).

Why do some people believe that love can "cure" a mental illness? Here's how it literally rolls:

MC: *has depression and anxiety*

MC's love interest: *shows up and they start interacting for a short while*

MC: Wow! My depression is cured! All thanks to him/her!

Just no. That's not how real life works. Love can be a distraction, but never a cure. What? You thought that by singing a little song and staring into each other's eyes is what cures a MC's mental illness? That's being unrealistic (I'll explain that into a later part). Just because a quote in quote love interest shows up, doesn't mean that their love will "cure" and magically solve a person's mental illness. So quit doing that and actually research how mental illnesses work. It's a delicate subject and if you can't portray it accurately, then it's best if you don't write it at all.

Oh, before I forget, let's show an example!

Fucking Yandere Simulator wrongly portrays a mental illness, and that is ASPD (Antisocial personality disorder). That story literally says, Hey, Yandere Chan is "broken" and can't feel emotions at all! She's literally a robot! But then Senpai comes in and BOOM! She feels emotions! Woopie-doo!

Okay, first of all, that's wrong. When a person has ASPD, they can feel somewhat emotions, but they're just more blunt and are not really able to feel empathy. In Yandere Simulator, Yandere-Chan can't feel anything! Literally nothing! And again, "love" does not magically cure a person's mental illness! That's now real life works!