Let’s talk about mental health in fiction

Hello, dearest Readers
First off, I want to apologize for being so negligent on this blog, but all my concentration is flowing into three (!) novel ideas right now and I am basically writing any given minute I can.

But today, I thought we could talk about mental health. I, personally, struggle with Panic disorder and depression, so I kinda am in the middle of all this. But in fiction, we often wonder how to describe mental health issues. Some authors do really well, others do so poorly that you wonder if they even tried.

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Why should you, as the author, care about the mental health of your characters?
If you write a novel, usually your character will go through one or other difficulty, right? It adds to the drama. Often, authors put their characters through more than just a difficulty. They press them through trauma. Now, to each individual Trauma is different. One character can deal with witnessing death better than another, or one gets traumatized by falling off a tree, while the other laughs it off. So you have to decide the line in the sand for each character individually. But in the end, everyone has a limit. A character that goes through heavy trauma and comes out unscathed is illogical and frankly; it is bad writing.

But how do I know how my character responds to Trauma?
You can look up symptoms for PTSS (Post-traumatic Stress Syndrom) also known as PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) and see what your character could exhibit. Some exclude themselves from the world, while others dive right in and try to replace all the bad feelings (those who might get addicted to alcohol or drugs).
Depending on what your character went through, they could experience something called „Survivor’s Guilt“. That is the feeling of being guilty of surviving something others did not. As an example, I could name a real-life event, like the Sewol Farrie disaster that killed over 200 high school students. Students who survived the disaster felt guilty because they were still alive while their friends and classmates were not. Trauma like that can lead to suicide.

There’s subtle trauma, too. Like losing a parent because they just leave and don’t come back. Or being bullied in school. Being bitten by a dog can result in a panic disorder whenever a dog is present. the internet is full of legitimate resources on mental health issues, their symptoms and possible ways to treat them.

But how do I write it well?
Just like with everything else in fiction: show, don’t tell. That means you show what the trauma does. Sweaty hands, higher puls, the fidgeting of fingers, scratching, accelerated breathing … those are all signs of someone reacting to trauma. Others disassociate and try to get as far away from the trigger as possible, others descend immediately into panic.
Show the symptoms, and describe them so well, that your reader feels them, too. It is easier said than done, but give it a try.

Why is Mental health so important in fiction?
It is just as important as the inclusion of POC or LGBTQ in modern literature. It connects the character with the reader. A hero who walks out of severe trauma as if nothing happened isn’t relatable. It’s just another god-like character. Characters need flaws, they need vulnerability. They need to be real.

I live with the credo: „Jeder Charakter hat ’nen Knacks weg!“ (Every character is a little bit crazy) and then I build on that. No matter how tough or strong your hero is, there is something that will make him break. And then you will show how it breaks him.