When literature does mental illness right

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 1 in 5 American adults experience a mental illness. Yet, despite this commonality, there is still a stigma that surrounds these “invisible illnesses” which can often stem from misunderstanding. This week, Mental Illness Awareness Week, take the time to learn what it is really like to have an life-altering condition like depression, anorexia, PTSD, or anxiety through four characters whose perspectives are so real that it is hard to believe that they are fiction.

Vicky Cruz in The Memory of Light

A novel just released in January of this year, The Memory of Light is a moving narrative of life with depression written by Francisco X Stork. We follow Vicky through her mental health journey, from her recovery in the hospital just days after a suicide attempt to her initial diagnosis and how she grapples to come to terms with it. By being able to hear Vicky’s thoughts and see the world the way she does, the reader gets an unbelievably real sense of what living with a mind clouded by depression is like and is reminded, along with Vicky, of all the reasons to keep on living.

Lia Overbrook in Wintergirls

In Wintergirls, written by Laurie Halse Anderson, we experience the calorie-counting mentality of Lia, an 18-year-old who struggles with anorexia. After her best friend Cassie (who struggled with bulimia) dies, Lia’s anorexia comes back into full swing and the reader is there to witness every deception provided by Lia to deny how severely her condition is impacting herself and her family. By following Lia’s journey, the reader learns what goes through the mind of someone with an eating disorder and what (and what NOT) he or she can do to help someone struggling with a condition similar to Lia’s.

Septimus Warren Smith in Mrs. Dalloway

If you get frustrated with novels lacking plot, then Mrs. Dalloway is definitely not your kind of book. But, opinions of the novel aside, author Virginia Woolf does provide a very accurate and real representation of PTSD (or, in Woolf’s era, “shell shock”) in her characterization of Septimus Warren Smith, a World War I veteran who returns home after watching his best friend, Evans, die right before his eyes. The reader hears what is going through Septimus’s mind as his wife tries to connect with his former, pre-WWI self, as doctors try various treatments to heal him, and as Septimus tries to cope with Evans haunting him outside his window.

Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar

Yes, this book is very hyped and yes, Sylvia Plath is known for her bouts with mental illness and her eventual suicide, but that does not take away from the very real, haunting realities found in author Sylvia Plath’s writing. In The Bell Jar, protagonist Esther Greenwood struggles with her personal “bell jars” that are symbolic of the anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts that distort her reality (as mental illnesses tend to do). Whether you are with her as she explores New York City during her internship or while she wakes up in the hospital following her suicide attempt, Esther’s voice is so conversational and, most of all, relatable that you will feel like she is an old friend (or, even, a part of you) by the novel’s end.

By reading these fiction novels, we can spark real-life conversations about mental illness. No one should have to go through a situation similar to Vicky’s, Lia’s, Septimus’s, or Esther’s alone. Read these books and establish empathy not only with these characters but also with the people in your life; you never know who you might help just by being there and providing a little bit of extra support.