![\"Cover](\"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/saving-francesca-200x310.jpg\")
<\/a>\t\n\t![](\"http:\/\/corinneduyvis.net\/images\/logo-bookshop.svg\"){kind=logo}
\n\t\t\t\tBUY ON BOOKSHOP<\/span>\n\t\t\t\tBOOKSHOP<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/article> \n\n\t<\/center><\/div>Kelly:<\/b> Oh, yes, that too. And it\u2019s not a comment that\u2019s challenged. I can only name one YA book (Saving Francesca<\/em><\/a> by Melina Marchetta) \u2014 and I\u2019ve read many! \u2014 where medication being a crutch or a bad thing is challenged. I hate seeing the pills being thrown away so much.<\/p>\nHannah:<\/b> I threw away $200 of pills once. Still mad at myself, but I totally understand why I did it. I completely bought into the idea that pills were for weaklings and it was better to find alternate ways of dealing or just ignore how I felt.<\/p>\n
Kelly:<\/b> I\u2019ll admit I find a lot of therapist scenes in YA \u2026 boring to read.<\/p>\n
Alex:<\/b> I haven’t found any convincing therapy scenes yet.<\/p>\n
Kelly:<\/b> Which I think in part has to do with depression and mental illness in general boring to deal with, thus not always exciting to write.<\/p>\n
Hannah:<\/b> Yes! Like how many other books about depression or anxiety are exist, but aren\u2019t publicized that way because they aren’t sensationalized or dragged out?<\/p>\n
Alex:<\/b> True. The main appeal of writing mental illness seems to be the tragedy of it.<\/p>\n
![\"Cover](\"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/through-to-you-200x302.jpg\")
<\/a>\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\tBUY ON BOOKSHOP<\/span>\n\t\t\t\tBOOKSHOP<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/article> \n\n\t<\/center><\/div>Kelly:<\/b> Through to You<\/em><\/a> by Emily Hainsworth does a good job with a therapist, actually. That\u2019s one I can call to mind where there\u2019s actual therapist scenes, rather than talk of therapy, etc.<\/p>\nHannah:<\/b> I’m trying to remember if Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets<\/em><\/a> ends with an actual therapist. I think it does, but I’d have to check.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> I think you might be right there, too. If I went through my read list, I could probably pull out more, but rarely do they stick out to me.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> I’d like to see the evolution of therapy more. Often, if it’s included at all, it’s the symbolic thing at the end of a story about how the person will get better. In reality, therapy is a lot of work.<\/p>\n Kayla:<\/b> I’d like to talk a little more about that idea that Kelly mentioned about “becoming a zombie.” There\u2019s a perception that medication always numbs, strips creativity or individuality, etc. That the likely negative side effects aren’t worth the potential benefits. Why do you think it\u2019s so pervasive in YA especially? And of course, medication isn\u2019t right for everyone, but why are these by far the most common narratives we see?<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> I think people like not having to depend on any outside substance to live. It’s similar with other disabilities. Like, there’s a lot of narratives about “overcoming” a disability. So pills are okay for something temporary but not permanent.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> I think part of it might be that people don\u2019t recognize the power of what medications do, either because they haven\u2019t been treated with the medication that works best for them as an individual or they\u2019re relying on outdated narratives, or hear only from those who haven\u2019t had good experiences.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a scene in Saving Francesca<\/em> where the mother, who is depressed, doesn\u2019t want to take medication because of what she believes to be harmful effects, and Francesca says to her that\u2019s wrong, those are old, outdated beliefs, and medications have improved tremendously. It rung true to me that might be part of the issue: antiquated beliefs, as well as bad experiences.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> Or the fact that maybe your body reacts to a medication when it’s brand new, and that reaction tells you never to take it again, when in reality it takes a while for your body to get in sync with anything new.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> I believed that for a long time: that a possible bad reaction means you should avoid medication forever.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> Everyone knows that tired muscles from exercising are a good thing and mean you should try again tomorrow, but with a medication reaction, it’s like it means the med is awful instead of the med is resetting some stuff and working things out with your body.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> The narrative isn\u2019t that medication rewires your brain \u2014 that it actually changes<\/em> the chemistry \u2014 but rather, that it makes you feel bad\/wrong\/etc.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> Exactly.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> Of course something that\u2019s changing your fundamental chemistry is going to be tough, especially at first. And rarely do the professionals get it right immediately. It takes work to do it right.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> There’s a lot of problems with any narrative where medication changes the “real” person.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> That’s what’s missing in almost all of these books: work.<\/p>\n Kayla:<\/b> And it seems like a lot of times in YA the characters don’t even get to the stage where they actually take medication, right? They dismiss it before even trying it?<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> Yes! It bothers me how the belief before it\u2019s presented as an option is “but it will dull me.” As if depression itself isn\u2019t a state of being dulled. That\u2019s depression lying.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> Ooo, or how about the artists who can no longer be inspired?<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> Oh yeah, that too.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> Yes, that is a problem, and I believed it for so long thanks to books and movies.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> There\u2019s not much deconstructing of the narratives, period. Whatever choices the character makes or doesn\u2019t make go unchallenged. And that\u2019s where the issues really arise.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> Don’t you think it’s weird that we eat up television shows about people working hard to lose weight and manage OCD and stuff with tough love and coaches and setbacks and stuff (sensationalized, but at least it’s true that it’s a lot of work), but in books we’re like nuh-uh?<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> How much are we more willing to see<\/em> hard work than read<\/em> it, though?<\/p>\n Is reading it boring? This is something I\u2019ve talked with writers about: when you live with a mental illness, you know how boring it is to live with. When you write it, you know how boring it is to write it. Is the same true of reading it?<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> Even if the character kills themselves, it’s never an issue of “Maybe we should have pushed them towards treatment more.” It’s just “If only we’d seen their pain!”<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> Oh, Alex! That brings us to “depression is never a thing in your brain; there’s always a reason, like probably somebody dumped or bullied you, and deconstructing that is the one and only key.” I think that’s why I’m not excited about reading 13 Reasons Why<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> Ugh, I hate that.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> Yes<\/em>, Hannah. That. This reminds me of a blog post by Francisco X. Stork<\/a>.<\/p>\n I got asked to blurb that book, and thought it was tremendously well done, and it\u2019s about a depression that occurs without a “reason.”<\/em> That blog post hit on it really well.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> And there have been a rash of teen suicides on train tracks around here, and the discussion is always pressure \u2014> depression \u2014> suicide, instead of pressure + depression = suicide.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> Alex, I thought that book was \u2026 really a disservice. Painful disservice to people who do suffer depression.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> How do you think depression should be portrayed when it isn’t an issue book? What about incidental depression? I’d like to see books about depressed people where that isn’t the plot at all.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> I thought that depression presented pretty well in None of the Above<\/a><\/em>, even though that wasn\u2019t the issue at all. It was an effect.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> Alex, the same way other parts of your identity are. Sometimes it’s really relevant that I’m black and other times it’s more relevant that I can’t eat gluten.<\/p>\n Kayla:<\/b> Let\u2019s talk a little more about that “suicide trend” in YA lately.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> The depression \u2014> suicide trend is \u2026 so sticky for me in YA.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> It is a problem.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> Because it does feel romanticized to an extreme and often leads<\/em> to romance in these books. I never had suicidal ideation with my depression. Moreover, I know this is just my personal experience, but no one wants to spend time with me when I\u2019m in a state. I<\/em> don\u2019t want to spend time with me.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> UGH, romance as the cure for mental illness is ridiculous.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> I’m sorry to hear that. You shouldn’t have to be alone.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> Oh, no need to be sorry! I manage it perfectly fine and have a killer support system. My point is more that the romance never feels convincing or real. And it\u2019s certainly not a cure<\/em>. It\u2019s not going to fix your mental illness.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> True.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> Exactly. It’s going to fix your relationship status on Facebook.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> I’ve been in really bad places and the worst<\/em> advice I got was things like, “You should hike a mountain at dawn!”<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> “What if you take a nap?”<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> “But think of all the good things in your life!”<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> “Why not go hang out with your friends?”<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> “But you smile a lot and are nice! How can you be depressed if you’re friendly?”<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> “But you’ve got so much going for you!” My depression is just about not appreciating life.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> “You\u2019re so productive, though, and you take care of yourself. How?” Because it\u2019s not about not appreciating life or not functioning. It\u2019s deeper.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> I have so much trouble explaining to people that I don’t want my mental illness to be a part of their life and so I do my best to get through my day and interact with the world, and then I go home and deal with (or don’t) my mental illness on my own time.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> Oh yeah, that one. Same, Hannah. I worked so hard to convince myself I didn\u2019t have a problem.<\/em> Since everyone seemed to think I was fine. But it was depression straight up lying to me. It wasn\u2019t until support said to me, “You need to get help. You\u2019re miserable and you deserve to be happy. This is<\/em> an emergency,” that I sat up and realized it was.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> It’s damaging. Then the more you do that, the more you have trouble finding support.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> It’s unfortunate that treatment is so demonized, because it would also be helpful to talk about the ways treatment can go wrong or not suit everyone. Like, I’ve had awful<\/em> therapists.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> What\u2019s so complicated about mental illness is everyone\u2019s method of dealing with it is different. Yet we see such a \u2026 singular narrative in YA.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> Yup. Depressed people have awful lives, then they fall in love or something and get better. That’s it.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> YES. And they\u2019re generally considering suicide too.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> Or they cut themselves until a quirky person in treatment helps them get better. It’s like the white-man-meets-MPDG narrative, but in therapy.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> Maybe they’ll cut or take too many pills, but rarely enough to be life-threatening.<\/p>\n Kayla:<\/b> I do want to talk more about the fact that there’s really only one narrative we get in YA. Why is that a problem? What are the real-life consequences when that’s all we see?<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> Raise your hand if the dominant narrative kept\/keeps you from seeking out treatment.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> Yep.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> Or if it keeps other people from believing you have a problem.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> I avoided getting help and medication because of that narrative.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> I’ve had depression all my life and only recently recognized it as something that has always affected me and that needs treatment.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> It\u2019s hard with teens to tease out what\u2019s a mental illness vs. what might be a case of teen hormones in overdrive. So having only one narrative of depression or mental illness suggests that those who are struggling may never see themselves in a way that makes them realize they need help.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> It suggests something is wrong with you if you can’t get over your mental illness.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> I just came back from a conference on censorship, and I do hate that “Think of the Children!” hand-wringing that comes with left- and right-initiated censorship, but I have a little of that myself when it comes to the portrayal of mental illness. And I want books that won’t tell teens to stop seeking treatment.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> And I want books that offer better options at the back than just “Here’s a suicide hotline!” Have you ever called those? I had awful experience with them.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> And I want books that don\u2019t offer depression \u2014> suicide. For someone who doesn\u2019t have that element, they can so easily be convinced they don\u2019t have a problem because “at least it\u2019s not that bad.”<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> Do you think it would help if the more subtle characteristics of mental illness in characters (as in, not the main plot) were named so that teens could see that mental illness is a) a named thing; b) treatable; c) not the only part of the story.<\/p>\n Being told to go to a website (basically wiki for psychiatrists) and read a description of what I was diagnosed with blew my mind, because it told me that not having extremes did not mean I didn’t “count” or that my illness wasn’t real.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> I think that would help. I really do.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> Good point, Hannah.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> And actually, I wonder how valuable it would be to have more narratives where it\u2019s not the MC with the illness, but a friend. And we see how it plays out differently when we\u2019re not in that headspace.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> Yes. Like Saving Francesca<\/em>.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> I can see the value there, but I want to see more depressed MCs too. I want to see my experience validated.<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> I would like to see more MCs, too, absolutely. But I do think seeing the mental illness outside the MC might be really valuable. I think of it in terms of a reader picking up a book and seeing the world around them differently. Since it\u2019s not their world.<\/p>\n Hannah:<\/b> If you asked a psychiatrist to read a bunch of YA books not explicitly about mental illness, do you think they would diagnose some characters we have missed?<\/p>\n Kelly:<\/b> This will be really, really grim, but a thing we need to see more of, too, are characters who fail. That\u2019s my biggest problem with suicide books, and it\u2019s extremely personal in my thoughts on this.<\/p>\n Alex:<\/b> Fail how?<\/p>\n![\"Cover](\"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/i-was-here-200x302.jpg\")
<\/a>\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\tBUY ON BOOKSHOP<\/span>\n\t\t\t\tBOOKSHOP<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/article> \n\n\t<\/center><\/div>Alex:<\/b> I just read I Was Here<\/em><\/a> (review here<\/a>) and it was big on finding reasons for suicide.<\/p>\n![\"Cover](\"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/a-sense-of-the-infinite-200x302.jpg\")
<\/a>\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\tBUY ON BOOKSHOP<\/span>\n\t\t\t\tBOOKSHOP<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/article> \n\n\t<\/center><\/div>Kelly:<\/b> Just read it in A Sense of the Infinite<\/a><\/em>, too, with a depressed friend. The handling was outstanding.<\/p>\n