Today we’re digging into a deep topic, namely how (and how not) to write characters who have mental illness in your stories! Fair warning, this one is a RIDICULOUSLY LONG one! Sorry!
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News & Notes:
- Aisuru’s Kobo promotion, sales dry up, Amazon ads
- Women in Publishing Summit by Alexa Bigwarfe and Self-Publishing Advice Conference hosted by ALLi (Alliance of Independent Authors)
- Broken Wing progress – finished line edits and more minor revisions; 3 chapters needing heavy rewrites to deal with
- Sale on 1st editions – $5 for paperbacks, $8 for hardbacks
- Kingdom Hearts III rocks, but is short
Writing Characters With Mental Illness
- What is a mental illness?
- Why does it matter if you do it “right” in fiction?
- What are some ways fiction often gets mental illness wrong
- Some examples of problematic depictions of mental illness
- How to do it right
- Examples of great depictions of mental illness
Crap Ton of Resources!
- Writer’s Guide to Psychology: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment and Human Behavior by Carolyn Kaufman (2010)
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) by American Psychiatric Association
- DSM-I (1952), DSM-II (1968), DSM-III (1980), DSM-III-R, DSM-IV (1994), DSM-IV-TR (2000), DSM-5 (2013)
- International Classification of Diseases (ICD) by the World Health Organization
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
- Psychology Today
- Psycom.net
- American Psychiatry Association
- Make It OK
- Living With Mental Illness: Books, Stories and Memoirs from American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
- Writer’s Digest “How to Treat Mentally Ill Characters When Writing a Novel”
- “Implications: On Writing Mental Illness and Why Representation Matters” by Rebecca Anne Renner in the Obra/Artifact Literary Journal
- “Writing a Character With a Mental Health Condition” by Tamsin Winter for Writers & Artists
- “Writing Mental Illness” by Robert Wood for Standout Books
- “Discussion: The Challenges of Writing About Mental Illness” interview transcript on Disability in Kidlit
- “How to Create a Convincing Fictional Therapist” by Anne Goodwin
- Ways Mental Illness is Commonly Misrepresented in the Media
- Six Myths About Schizophrenia/
- Mental Health Myths and Facts
- Can I Be Committed to a Mental Hospital Against My Will
- Involuntary treatment and involuntary commitment laws: basis in law and history
- Civil Commitment in the United States
- Types of Therapy
- Straitjackets Are Still in Use, Just Not Where You Think
- 7 Myths about Physical Restraints in Psychiatric Facilities by David Susman
- Psychotherapy Myths
- Why Do Fictional Therapists Get it Wrong
- Scandal Got PTSD Wrong
- 7 big things that movies and TV still get wrong about mental illness
- What TV Gets Wrong About Mental Illness By Angelica Jade Bastién
- UnREAL Keeps It Real On Mental Illness
- Media’s Damaging Depictions of Mental Illness By Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S.
- Wonderland’s Distorted Vision
- For Families of Teens at Suicide Risk, ‘13 Reasons’ Raises Concerns
- 13 Reasons Why “13 Reasons Why” Isn’t Getting It Right: Why the Netflix series doesn’t help prevent suicide
- NAMI: African American Mental Health
- NAMI: Latino Mental Health
- Why are men more likely than women to take their own lives? by Daniel Freeman and Jason Freeman
- Own up: Should an author ever write a character outside their identity? by Nic Stone