Storytelling guide: Adapting mental illnesses and disorders 

Movies, books and video games all tend to tell a story that, in some part, take reference from issues or problems within our own world. One such example of this is the portrayal of mental illnesses and disorders. Many stories tend to try to adapt these things, but not all the time are they successful, and can end up doing more harm than good by romanticizing these things. 

When it comes to writing about mental illnesses and disorders, I believe that there should be certain rules and ideas to keep in mind. First off, when adapting these things, there should be some level of research put into these things. When you try to adapt something like this without having any sort of knowledge of these things outside of baseline media interpretations, it can ruin your own reputation and make you seem ignorant. 

Research is not only important when adapting mental illnesses and disorders, but also, in general, when writing a story. I mean, how would it look if I were to write a story about life living in another country with little to no knowledge of that country or the daily life of its people? It would make me look bad, as I did not put in any of the necessary work to correctly adapt whatever story I wished to tell. 

Not doing enough research can also lead to some other issues when it comes to adapting mental illnesses and disorders. This is the inclusion of stereotypes within these characters. We have all seen these sorts of stereotypes within media. One common example is the depiction of dissociative identity disorder (DID) and the stereotype of having an “evil alter.” 

For those that do not know, DID is a disorder in which a person may develop multiple alter selves for a multitude of reasons. The most common reason is the experience of severe and prolonged trauma during childhood, which results in the person developing separate personalities, also known as alters, in order to protect themself from memories of these events that led up to this trauma. 

In many stories involving characters with DID, there is a common trope that these characters tend to have an evil or psychotic alter. 

While I do like some characters with this archetype, such as the Green Goblin or Moon Knight, this trope is very overused a lot of times and can do harm to people with this disorder, portraying them as having this possible evil side. 

When dealing with adapting mental disorders and illnesses, researching the topics alone is not the only necessity. It is also important to take a look at examples of these adaptations done right within a story. 

There are many movies, shows, games and books in current day that do a great job of portraying these things. 

A great example of this would be the adaptation of anxiety within the movie “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” in which Puss in Boots is confronted by Death himself and, in many occasions, experiences anxiety attacks as a result. 

One such scene, shows him running away as figures resembling Death appear left and right, haunting his mind until eventually he stops by a tree where he attempts to catch his breath but his breathing only gets quicker and heavier as his heart races faster and faster. 

Suddenly, Perrito shows up and attempts to comfort him by laying his head on top of him. Puss eventually calms down as his heart and breathing start to steady. 

Many people have agreed that this scene very accurately depicts how it feels to have an anxiety attack. In most movies and shows depicting anxiety, it tends to be a relatively quick thing where they just breathe into a bag and then suddenly they feel better. In here though, it lingers on this anxiety. It’s never fully something that goes away, and when it does fade, it is not an immediate thing. 

Another good example of the portrayal of mental illness and disorders in media would be the show “Steven Universe,” in which it depicts a multitude of these illnesses and disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, autism and many more. 

In some ways, each of these concepts can be aligned with one or more characters. 

One example of this is the character known as Peridot. In the show Peridot is depicted as having difficulty when it comes to social interactions. 

She tends to have trouble understanding things and at times can seem apathetic, but when explained this things in a more literal way or through the use of the show “Camp Pining Hearts,” which is a special interest of hers, she is able to be better understand the situation and is able to be more empathetic towards it. 

It is due to this and many other aspects of her character within the show that many believe her to be on the autism spectrum, and many of those people tend to agree that she is a great depiction of this disorder as it very clearly represents what it is like to have autism. 

Not only that but it doesn’t portray it in this negative light either, instead it rather makes her just seem special and stand out from others, which paints autism in a more positive light. 

These are only a few examples of good depictions of mental illnesses and disorders within stories, and there are many more out there that I highly suggest checking out such as “The Owl House” or “Amphibia.” When writing about these topics, it is always best to make sure you have enough research to properly discuss them, so never be afraid to look at past works exploring these topics. 

I’m sure in the following years there will be many more great stories that explore these topics and show the true nature of these illnesses and disorders, and shed a positive light on them.