Mental Health in fiction -

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joo Reading Punchline by P.A. Fenton

07 Jul 2012, 08:49 PM | Post: #1

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Mental Health in fiction

Having just read Flux by Mark Faulkner I realised that since getting my kindle I've read lots of books where the main character has a mental health problem.
There's Tollesbury Time Forever by Stuart Ayris, Seesaw by Rosen Trevithick, Emotional Geology=by Linda Gillard and to a teeny extent Bang by David Wailing to name just a few.

Not sure where I'm going with this thread, but I feel that these books are some of the best I've read and it has certainly opened my eyes to the effects that this invisible disease can cause, even though these books are fictional.

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ElaineG Reading Standers by Dale Brumfield

07 Jul 2012, 08:57 PM | Post: #2

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RE: Mental Health in fiction

I can add Sunflowers by Melodie Starkie - one of the main characters has bipolar disorder

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Rosen Trevithick Reading

07 Jul 2012, 09:08 PM | Post: #3

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RE: Mental Health in fiction

No no no! I didn't know there was going to be a mental health issue in Bang! That's a spoiler, surely?

Very glad to hear that you'vee read so many books that are handling mental health problems well. Some of those are on my TBR list.
I see bipolar disorder used in fiction a lot but usually as an explanation for why the little brother has set fire to another house. Naturally, as a hard core bipolar arsonist, I would like suspicion to be pointed elsewhere! ;-)

www.rosentrevithick.co.uk

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joo Reading Punchline by P.A. Fenton

07 Jul 2012, 09:14 PM | Post: #4

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RE: Mental Health in fiction

It's not really a Bang spoiler, I expect most people that have read Bang will think "what's she on about?" Big Grin

Another one I'd forgotten to list was Crack Up by Eric Christopherson

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ElaineG Reading Standers by Dale Brumfield

07 Jul 2012, 09:18 PM | Post: #5

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RE: Mental Health in fiction

(07 Jul 2012 09:14 PM)joo Wrote: It's not really a Bang spoiler, I expect most people that have read Bang will think "what's she on about?"

Another one I'd forgotten to list was Crack Up by Eric Christopherson

I was thinking that, yes!

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ElaineG Reading Standers by Dale Brumfield

07 Jul 2012, 09:19 PM | Post: #6

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RE: Mental Health in fiction

But now the penny dropped!

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Rosen Trevithick Reading

07 Jul 2012, 10:14 PM | Post: #7

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RE: Mental Health in fiction

Okay, you're forgiven.

www.rosentrevithick.co.uk

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Linda Gillard Reading JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte

08 Jul 2012, 12:07 AM | Post: #8

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RE: Mental Health in fiction

Glad you enjoyed EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY, Joo. Smile

(For people who haven't read it - the female protagonist suffers from bipolar.)

Mental illness & depression crop up in a few of my books, notably UNTYING THE KNOT which is about a marriage wrecked by post-traumatic stress disorder. The husband is a soldier who works in bomb disposal.

Readers have contacted me over the years to say they really didn't know much about these illnesses or the problems for carers. There's a lot of education still to be done. Stigma prevents us from talking about mental health issues which means people don't understand or even recognise the problems.

Some readers have said to me, "I didn't know that what was wrong with my mum/brother/friend was bipolar until I read your book."

A friend's daughter read EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY and self-diagnosed her own mental ill health as bipolar. She's now getting appropriate help.

At an author event a woman approached me, clutching a copy of EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY. With tears in her eyes, she said, "My husband was bipolar and he killed himself. Now, when I want people to know what it was like living with a manic depressive, I can show them your book."

I think sometimes fiction gets through to people more directly than a newspaper article or documentary. A novel can make you walk a mile in someone else's shoes.

http://www.lindagillard.co.uk

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