Writing Tips for Your Brain to Absorb

How to Write Mental Illness

Mental illness is something people who write tend to put in. Most of the time it's because they have that mental illness or have a message about it. It's mostly the former though. It's also mostly beginners. 

Well, it's time I show you all something called...facts, reason, and subtlety. 

F a c t s

It doesn't matter if you have the mental illness or not, you have to do research on it. Because no matter how you look at it, mental illness doesn't just hit with full force. There are different levels someone can have it. In fact, when it comes to symptoms to any mental illness, no one has all the symptoms just most of them. People never really take that into consideration. 

Now lemme get into some facts about the most popular people seem to love to write in and later I will get into how to actually write it in. 

Depression- It literally takes two seconds to google it. Now, depression isn't just feeling awfully sad or angry or suicidal. In fact, not all people with depression are suicidal. Every person reacts differently to the depression. I mean, not all are insomniacs or lose their appetite or have anxiety or sleep a lot or isolate themselves. The symptoms that really do show in pretty much everyone with depression are some kind of change in sleep pattern, a change in appetite, restlessness, irritability, agitation, lack of concentration, slowness, exhaustion, and repeatedly going over thoughts. The first two being up to the person or even switch around. People depression are also very common to have fairly violent outburst depending on how severe it is. I also have to mention that it can be situational or a chemical. Meaning that it can be a reaction to a bad situation or something going haywire in the chemicals of the brain. Mainly serotonin which is the hormone that regulates a lot of functions actually. 

Anxiety and Panic disorder- There is more than one type of anxiety. In fact, Panic disorder is an extreme version of it that people still call only anxiety when it's actually quite different. Panic disorder is where the panic attacks come seemingly out of the blue at any given time. It's usually from the brain jumping to a phobia someone may have. Paranoia is near tripled because the person fears having another attack which causes such. This is what most write it in without knowing its name. Anxiety is boosted fear but not quite like panic disorder. Other than panic disorder, there's three main types of anxiety. Social, phobias, and generalized. The one people usually go for is social when they really shouldn't. They should more be writing in generalized because it creates a much more realistic portrayal to someone with purely anxiety. Phobias can also be used too. Phobias are a real thing after all, we all have them but this is more of an extreme version. Panic attacks are not strict to just generalized, social, and panic by the way.  The most common symptoms are tension, uneasiness, dry mouth, sweating, fear, panic, problems sleeping, numbness, tingling of hands or feet, and nausea. Not the mention panic attacks. Lack of serotonin can also be a cause. 

ADHD and ADD- ADHD and ADD are not the same thing. Though very similiar, they're different. ADHD is like an extreme need to move and the brain being unable to focus. It's like the cousin of anxiety but it doesn't really cause fearful thoughts, more all thoughts. The brain runs faster than someone can handle so the body responds in the need to move-to catch up. ADD is really just being unable to focus. Someone with ADD can act impulsive and mood swings are all over the place. Truthfully, the only different is the Hyperactivity in ADHD. ADHD is need to move and lack of focus while ADD is really just lack of focus. Some many people over exaggerate in their writing. Both can be forgetful but it's not like they have short term memory loss. Both are also likely to get frustrated and angry easily. ADHD is usually caused by outside sources while ADD is caused by a hormone known as progestrone which is you search it up is for reproductive organs.

Schizophrenia- This illness is like if you combined all the ones I mentioned previously and added a crap ton of the craziest drugs out there. It really makes it had for the person to control anything in their body. It's all haywire. Mainly caused by dopamine-the hormone that is essentially happiness-and a lot of it. It's like if your brain was on drugs constantly. In the most extreme cases anyway. The symptoms are social isolation, disorganized behavior, aggression, agitation, compulsive behavior, excitability, hostility, repetitive movements, self-harm, or lack of restraint, thought disorder, delusion, amnesia, belief that an ordinary event has special and personal meaning, belief that thoughts aren't one's own, disorientation, memory loss, mental confusion, or slowness in activity, anger, anxiety, apathy, feeling detached from self, general discontent, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, elevated mood, or inappropriate emotional response, hallucination, paranoia, hearing voices, depression, fear, persecutory delusion, or religious delusion, circumstantial speech, incoherent speech, rapid and frenzied speaking, or speech disorder, false belief of superiority, fatigue, impaired motor coordination, or lack of emotional response. Not all have all these symptoms. And most people pass it off as simply insanity but it's not. It really isn't.

And those are just the main ones people use. There are loads of others that you can learn about. You can tell I'm a total nerd for psychology. Now let's get into the next topic.

R e a s o n

There are causes to mental illnesses.

Most go with the trauma and child abuse and loss of loved ones and shit like that. Which, I will admit, aren't bad and are definitely causes to mental illnesses.

But that's not always the case.

Sometimes it's chemicals in the brain. As I pointed out before.

Other times-and holy shit get this-it develops for almost no reason.

Now you gotta write the reasons for why wisely. It can't just be contrived shit. Make it make sense to the story and actually have an effect on it.

This part is entirely on you.

Next topic

S U B T L E T Y AND P L O T

How do you add into the plot you might ask...or probably not

I'll just tell you anyway

Subtlety is key. It can't define the character.

Mental illness doesn't define anyone.

It just makes things harder. It's climbing a mountain with concrete blocks chained to your legs.

Now in the plot, it has to be something they come over or try to come over.

If you want to make it the plot, then you have to have a reason for them to be determined to come over the illness. It could for someone or competition or career. Something and anything.

I have to say though, LOVE DOESNT CURE MENTAL ILLNESS.

And that's all I gotta say alright

Do research and write it smart.

Pls and thank