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Thanks to all who helped: my blog about bipolar in kids' lit is up today for World Mental Health Da

edited October 2012 in - Writing Tales
Thanks, everyone.

You can see the piece I wrote at

http://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/bipolar-characters-in-childrens-and-ya.html

It's there especially for World Mental Health Day and I'm hoping lots of writers and publishers will take note!

Comments

  • Very good piece, well done, and thank you.
  • Very informative article. Thanks.
  • Very good, just Tweeted it.
  • A very honest and interesting piece, Rosalie. Do you think there's so very little about it in children's literature because mental health issues are not prevalent until a certain age? Are children depressed, or do they just have occasional bouts of sadness?

    Thinking back to my years of teaching primary aged children, I can't say I was ever aware of depression in the children. Some were troubled due to their backgrounds, some were immature with their emotions and some were consistently 'lively'. I can see how a stream of difficult events can result in a permanently low mood which, I suppose, could be deemed depression.

    It's an interesting subject.
  • That's an interesting point, Nell - although a health professional told me that she has come across a number of young children who showed early symptoms of bipolar disorder. And young children certainly do have other mental illnesses and conditions - such as post-traumatic stress disorder. And then of course there are eating disorders - and children seem to be suffering from these at younger and younger ages.

    Another point is that, even if not all that many young children have these illnesses or conditions themselves, quite a lot of them will have parents, older siblings or other relatives who do. Some children act as carers of parents with mental health conditions. And in fact quite a few of the books on my list are ones where the child has a parent with a mental illness (an example being Jacqueline Wilson's 'The Illustrated Mum').

    Of course you have to be careful to write in a way that's appropriate for the age group - but I think it's important for children to be prepared for a world where mental illnesses, as well as physical disabilites and physical illnesses, exist. Sometimes the condition will be the focus of the book - but I argue in the article that books are also needed, for all ages, where one of the characters 'just happens' to have a mental health condition - the story is about something else.
  • [quote=Rosalie]Another point is that, even if not all that many young children have these illnesses or conditions themselves, quite a lot of them will have parents, older siblings or other relatives who do.[/quote]

    Absolutely. And this must surely have an effect on the family, whether or not they show it.

    [quote=Rosalie] I think it's important for children to be prepared for a world where mental illnesses, as well as physical disabilites and physical illnesses, exist.[/quote]

    Indeed. Mental illness is probably the most comonly suffered illness, but still sufferers are reluctant to admit it. It is part and parcel of life, it seems. I wonder why is is still a taboo subject.
  • Certainly where depression is concerned some employers see only a person not being there to do their job, and they're probably the sort of employers who pile on more stress.
    You only have to see that attitude a few times and admitting any mental health problem is a no no.
  • [quote=Tiny Nell] I wonder why is is still a taboo subject. [/quote]

    Possibly because to admit to being mentally ill suggests one is not in control.

    Employers want staff that are in control in order to do the job they've entrusted them with and want staff to be able to do it without constant supervision. Your job could be at risk if you admit your having a bout of mental illness and I would think that's one reason why people don't readily admit to it, even though probably 99.9% of the working population is currently skipping out of reality just a tad further than is recommended.
  • And I think we all have a deep fear of "madness" - of losing control of ourselves. All the stereotypes from literature probably do not help!
  • [quote=Rosalie]And I think we all have a deep fear of "madness" - of losing control of ourselves. All the stereotypes from literature probably do not help![/quote]

    That's so true, Rosalie.

    I'd like to see some young characters with OCD. My eldest suffers from it when he's stressed and he was scared silly when it first started at 11. He knew inside his head that it was totally illogical to do all the things he was doing, but he couldn't stop and he felt out of control - even though the routine he'd made himself was supposed to give him control. He was convinced that he was mad and even had suicidal thoughts because he thought that might be the only way to stop it. If he could have identified with a character who did get it under control, it probably wouldn't have been so bad.

    Looking back to my childhood, I remember myself doing similar things, but it didn't have a name then.
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