Cat Fight In The Kitchen-Wattpad Rant

Mental Illness

Very rarely will you have a textbook case. All too often I see people jumping down an author's throat because "I've suffered with depression for two years and I can't get out of bed so it's so unrealistic that your character can get out of bed. She doesn't really have depression." Or "I have anxiety and my panic attacks aren't like that at all. You don't just throw up. You get hot and you can't think right and blah blah blah, you're character isn't have a panic attack." Or my favorite that I've really seen "if she eats she doesn't have an eating disorder."

While I admit that it's beyond important to have accurate depictions of these illnesses, I also don't think you should be so quick to diagnose if it doesn't match your case exactly. Everyone is different so here are my suggestions:

a. If you have the same illness as one of your characters, make it close to your own experience (if you're comfortable with that). It will not only be 100% accurate (it happens to you, right?), but it will also provide others with valuable information. Any true account is great research. And you never know, you may meet someone that experiences very similar things and thinks they're weird because they aren't exactly textbook either. Make a friend. Help somebody out.

b. If you don't have the same illness, make sure to talk to as many people as you can with the illness. Don't just rely on WebMd or the experience of one person. Read memoirs. Read autobiographies. Read interviews. Read discussion boards. Ask questions! Wattpad has clubs and I guarantee if you politely make a discussion where you ask people with the disorder you want to know more about, there will be people more than willing to help you!

c. If all else fails, go text book. This might look like I'm turning around and telling you to do the exact opposite of what I just told you to do, but I promise I'm not. I don't think anyone should shy away from writing about mental illness if they want to. But sometimes there is just a lack of comfort or maybe even knowledge (I doubt that. There's always knowledge), but let's say for some reason you're uncomfortable asking people to help you. I can understand not wanting to pry. If this is the case, go ahead and go text book. It's a guideline for a reason: it's a good foundation. Your character doesn't have to fit all the symptoms, just a majority. And you know it's good, because it's the stuff doctor's use. And they're pretty smart.

2. It's an everyday thing

All too often I see writers that give their character a mental illness for more "depth" (or relatability, I dunno) and only bring it up to cause drama. The rest of the time it's nonexistent.

The biggest reason why I don't like this is because that's the absolute worst part about having a mental illness: you don't get to have a break. It's a day-by-day thing, but it's always going to be present. I'm not saying it has to run your story, but you can't just throw it away because it makes the plot a little more complicated. If you give it to your character then you have to commit. You can't just let them have a mental illness when it's convenient for you.

Because I'm sorry to break it to you, but honestly, mental illness hits its worst when you don't have time for it to. It's not always gonna go away when you're super happy or super busy. It'll always be there and it will find a way to affect everything.

Sometimes you can't celebrate your really important anniversary because you have PTSD and the thought of sex puts you on edge that night even though you were fine last week.

Sometimes you can't go to the concert you've been counting down the days to since you got the tickets because you have such bad anxiety that you know you'll have a panic attack and miss the show anyway.

Sometimes you want to be extremely happy for your friends for getting married but you can't go to the wedding because you know they'll want you to have cake and that has a shit ton of calories.