#mental disorder representation

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

Having survived abuse from people with mental illnesses, I know the urge to warn others to be wary of those mental illnesses. I know how often it can feel like that is your only power in life…the only action you can take against what you went through. But listen. Just because a mentally ill person caused you complex trauma, doesn’t mean you get to generalize and slander and malign every person with that mental illness.

You do not have to forgive your abusers. but you do have to heal without spreading stigma and misinformation. you do have to heal without antagonizing or dehumanizing others who are also just trying to heal. you have to help break the cycle. because nobody can heal alone.

[noodle-shenaniganery]

I think one of the big issues with autism representation is largely that we don’t get that many autistic characters in media. It’s impossible to represent the entire spectrum in one character. And oftentimes, even when we do get representation, it’s the same types of characters over and over again. The spectrum is broad! It’s chaotic! Almost any representation could hypothetically reflect someone’s experiences, so why keep using the same few archetypes repeatedly? There are so many ways an autistic character could be written. Look, here’s some:

- A nonverbal autistic character with the power to manipulate plants who often uses plants to communicate (e.g. grows cacti when upset, dandelions when happy, roses when they like someone/something, orchids when confused, etc.). They also use plants to move around, grab things, point, etc. due to significantly impaired motor control.

- A nonspeaking, physically disabled autistic character with strabismus who is the ‘tech genius’ of the group. They often can’t go on missions themself because of their disability, but are completely fine with providing the rest with the gadgets, advice, and the occasional Dad Joke™️.

- The ghost of an autistic person who keeps trying to make friends with the new residents of their home, but doesn’t understand social rules at all and keeps accidentally scaring people by appearing/saying things without notice. They also stim by yelling, singing, and moving (things) around, which understandably freaks people out.

- A blind, semispeaking autistic teenager whose special interest is music, and their life mostly revolves around music. They mostly speak in song quotes, and are trying to learn how to play as many instruments as possible. They switch between different mobility aids that help them get around (they are dynamically disabled from their Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), from crutches to wheechairs. They could also try to be in their school’s music club and/or orchestra, while also dealing with high school shenanigans.

- An autistic adult who, after decades of going undiagnosed, is now adjusting to life knowing that they’re not broken, just different. They also have comorbid mental illnesses, partially as a result of their late diagnosis.

There you go. There’s some ideas.

(If anyone uses these, please tag me or let me know, I’d love to read some stories with these.)

[hiemalice]

I hope everyone fangirling over tom holland’s new series The Crowded Room remembers that you are getting this cost at the lives of real fucking people living with DID. You are watching a romanticization of a man who threw the DID community under the bus by winning a case of “my alter did it” which people have spent decades fighting against. You are letting the man who turned the serial killer alter into reality, who turned this disorder’s stigma REAL.

I hope you know that while you’re excited for you celebrity crush’s new series, we are getting mocked and harassed by citizens and medical fields alike. That we are getting driven to suicide and being murdered because of the fearmongering. This is the cost that comes with it.

You have blood on your hands.

[angelellipsis-devilofdots]

traumatized people find comfort in traumatized characters because they represent our feelings and experiences, and serve as a reminder that recovery and healthy coping is possible and viable, and i think this is beautiful

[mightymelancholy]

A form only for those diagnosed or did the research and truly believed to have Antisocial Personality Disorder. This form does not require an email.

[autisticnotartistic]

It’s 7:44 am and I just finished Heartstopper season 3, and it’s safe to say that it’s the best season yet, and that I loved every moment.

As an autistic queer person who has struggled with mental health difficulties similar to Charlie’s for most of my life, I cannot overstate how important this show was and is to me.

When I stumbled across the first season, it kickstarted a years long special interest that produced autistic joy at an intensity I hadn’t felt since before I developed depression as a 13 year old, and inspired me to explore the queer media that I missed out on as a miserable, closeted teen.

I see many aspects of myself in both Nick and Charlie, and for me, their love for each other is deeply symbolic of my own journey with self-acceptance, self-love and self-compassion.

It is a resource that I will refer back to many times in my career as a mental health counselor. I hope to someday keep copies of diverse books in my office for clients to borrow. Representation matters.

Thank you to Alice and the entire cast and crew for the hours of labor and love that you poured into every scene. Media like this will change the way queer children develop for the better, and it already has.

I sure know it has changed me <3

@aliceoseman @chronicintrovert @heartstoppercomic

[chloe-creating]

Doll artist Anne Aeves made a blythe doll of me, with my bald spot. I love her. 🥺❤️

[martyrbat]

[ID: the uncoloured drawing for page 4 of the comic Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #192 next to the publicized page. In them, Alfred is in a room in the Wayne Manor and is drawing back the curtains to let in the sunlight. The narration reads, ‘In the morning, it's like nothing happened,’ despite Bruce almost bleeding out from a rough patrol last night. Bruce from off panel comments, “Ah, much better with the extra light. Thank you, Alfred.” Alfred looks over and dryly replies, “You know, anyone else would be doing pretty well just to be awake”

Bruce is shown to be in an electric hospital bed and has his head wrapped in bloodstained bandages, where little tufts of black hair stick out from it. He has a neck brace on and his arm is wrapped. There's a large bandage placed on his lower face, where his stubble is also overgrown due to neglecting his personal grooming in favour of focusing on Batman related duties. The revealed room is shown to be cluttered with several large, medical machines and carts full of medical supplies — which includes sponges, oxygen tanks and masks, pain relievers, syringes, bandages, and (inexplicably) a baster. Bruce sits up in bed and is chewing at the end of a pen as he looks down at a notepad and several papers that's on an overbed table.

Alfred brings him breakfast on a tray as he remarks, “I step out for twenty minutes and you're not only awake, you're already scribbling notes. Might I impose on you to set those aside long enough for some food, if not some actual rest?” Bruce instead asks where's the coffee, to which Alfred responds, “Actually, Sir, I think the last thing your overtaxed system needs right now is more stimulant.” Bruce challenges him, “‘Overtaxed’? Is that your professional opinion?” Alfred wryly replies, “As the one who found you riddled with holes last night, I can only speculate as to their cause. However... having discounted the possibility of suicidal intention, or gross incompetence, on your part...” Bruce immediately accuses, “You think I'm trying to do more than I can actually manage.” His butler calmly justifies, “Unless you've developed some new ability that you are hiding from me, I suspect you cannot be everywhere at once.”

In the original line art, there's two plushies (a round bunny and a bat) drawn amongst all the medical supplies. Sadly, it wasn't included in the publicized version. The third photo is a description of the drawing from the artist's (Seth Fisher) website. It reads: This is one of the delightful pages in which Seth put some amusements for himself which were censored and excised by the editors, in order to retain Batman's image as a serious superhero. In this page both the bunny and the bat in the lower right frame failed to make the final cut.]

[crazycatsiren]

Hey media, here's an idea: how about an abusive parent character who's abusive because they're abusive?

Not because they're mentally ill (especially not because they have bipolar disorder). But because they're just a horrible person who'd abuse children, their own at that?

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

Getting really tired of seeing “mental health advocates” vilifying mental health conditions, especially narcissistic personality disorder. Please fucking stop

[slugandthorn]

The coolest gender thing in the 2009 Japanese video game persona 3 100% how hard they coded shinjiro as the dead mom

[beautifullymacabre]

.self.

🥀click for full length flower

I didn't realize how well these compliment each other (not necessarily aesthetically) until after I posted them separately. I feel they deserve a post for the both of them.

[cheeseballsack]

nefaris angst

[princesilverlining]

I need more characters who have generalized anxiety disorder. Social anxiety is real, even I struggle with it, but it's not the only form of anxiety. "It's easy to portray and more relatable to neurotypical people" bestie it's like being in the world, barely living your life. Twiddling your thumbs in dread as things happen around you until you finally cave and do something rash. Normal people may think you're weird at the moment, but you are too engulfed in stress to think too much about it. Every moment is a drop into the dam and a leak is a dumb little impulse decision, I don't know how to finish this allegory, but I'm glad I can't. I love characters like Kobeni from Chainsaw Man who embody this sense of everlasting dread, and her cave scene was just perfect to me. It's more than just that though, the entire air around her reeks of dread and anxiety. She's scared, and I'm scared, which makes me feel ok to be scared.

Please tag anime characters with gad who vibe like Kobeni, I need more instances of gad characters being treated like normal people. Also just you know... existing.

[hotfudgecherryrosy]

I think about this a lot from time to time so maybe i want to get it off my chest. Background: I think it was like, the year the slenderman stabbing happened so my mom banned me from creepypastas bc that just panicked her. I don't think she actually believed id kill someone if i read jeff the killer...

That summer at camp i met this girl a year older than me who believed creepypastas were real. She also described seeing shadows/ghosts that i now realize were probably hallucionations. I'm NOT a doctor and don't have the authority to say what was going on with her, but I was too young to know what psychosis was.

Anyway, she was a very nice girl. Some people think ppl w/ psychosis are dangerous or something but the people ik with it are like genuinely the sweetest people i know. The only reason I mentioned the stabbing is because I never mentioned this to my mom until years after because I didn't want her to tell me not to hang out with her. I think about her from time to time and I hope so much that she's doing well. I don't remember her last name so I dont know how to reach out to her :(. I always had trouble making friends and most of the girls in the group a year above me were super mean to me so she made me very happy even if I was confused about her situation.

[thedisabilitybookarchive]

'Nothing Without Us'- Gordon, Cait. Johnson, Talia C.

Disability Rep: Multiple; Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Deaf, Sign Language, Genetic Disease, Cane User, Mental Illness, Seizures, Multiple Sclerosis, Neurological Impairment, Bipolar, Spinal Injury, Chronic Pain, Walking/Mobility Impairment, Chemical Sensitivity, Neurodivergence, Physical Disability, Multiple Personality Disorder, Amputee

Genre: Multi-Genre; Speculative, Apocalyptic, Fantasy, Science-Fiction, Realistic, Contemporary, Horror,

Age: Young Adult, New Adult, Adult

Setting: Multiple- Possibly Canada

Additional Rep: Queer, Non-Binary, Neo-Pronouns, TBD

For more information on summaries, content warnings and additional tropes, see here: