Category: art

People with Mental Illness Enhance Our Lives

garland

A terrific visual chronicle (it’s a comic) of various celebrities. Apparently this was a novel style for the author, Darryl Cunningham, but it doesn’t show. The illustrations complement the material perfectly. Powerful stuff. Recommended.

Those covered include: Winston Churchill, Judy Garland, Nick Drake, Spike Milligan, and Brian Wilson. Here’s the link:

People with Mental Illness Enhance Our Lives.

10 Comics That Can Help You Understand Mental Illness

Following up on yesterday’s post, here’s a piece at io9 (we come from the future). Take a look and see which ones appeal. The styles of art vary quite a bit. I’ve noted a couple that I can vouch for. The comics are:

  1. Psychiatric Tales by Daryl Cunningham. (recommended). A psychiatric ward from the perspective of a nurse assistant. “…combines science, history, and anecdotes to demystify and destigmatize mental illness, and Cunningham’s stark artwork can be deeply affecting.”
  2. Adventures in Depression and Depression Part 2 by Allie Brosh (recommended). Sets the standard for depression narratives. Sad, but also very funny.
  3. Marbles: Mania, Michelangelo and Me by Ellen Forney (recommended). Insightful first-person account of the frustrations of being bipolar.
  4. depression comix by Clay. “…a sometimes gut-wrenching, sometimes tender, often relatable series of comics about the daily struggles of life with depression.” (I don’t know this one, but it looks very promising)
  5. I Do Not Have an Eating Disorder by Khale McHurst. Chronicle of disordered eating.
  6. better, drawn (various artists). Wide range of mental health topics in a variety of styles.
  7. Look Straight Ahead by Elaine M. Will. Narrative fiction about a mental breakdown.
  8. I’m Crazy by Adam Bourret. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Available only on Facebook?
  9. Invisible Injury: Beyond PTSD by Jeff Severns Guntzel and Andy Warner. Addresses the sense of “moral injury” veterans often feel when asked to do something that goes against what they consider to be right and wrong.
  10. The Next Day by Jason Gilmore, Paul Peterson, and John Porcellino. Interviews with survivors of suicide attempts.

Adventures in Depression

You may well have seen stacks of Allie Brosh’s book, “Hyperbole and a Half” in bookstores. What you might not have known is that it contains a harrowingly accurate first-person account of major depression. I wrote it on my old blog here: “Understanding Depression, Visual Edition.”

It is literally one of the best (if not the best) first-person accounts of what it is like to be depressed, including the frustration of others’ well meaning reaction. Much, if not all, of the comic is also available on her blog.

Here are the links:

Adventures in Depression

Depression, Part 2 (this came two years later)

Darkness

rain

Here’s a web comic by artist Darryl Cunningham from the UK. Cunningham struggled through depression and crushing shyness himself, before finding a creative outlet in comics. His empathy shines through: Darkness.

I’m a big fan of comics that cover this material, as people struggling with depression often struggle even to pick up a book, let alone wade through text. Graphic novels, comics, whatever you choose to call them, can offer a user friendly interface into a world that offers some comfort. I’ll be featuring more of his comics in coming weeks.