There will also be a number of us in this game who do suffer from mental illnesses and of course, we employ ourselves in a certain degree into our characters. I have a mental illness myself, but I am very private about it, it prolly comes out in some of my characters unintentionally.
But I do agree with what people say about being research, the problem is, mental illness can become stigmatised in general and you bare the risk of bringing that stigma into how you play your character and then it may come off as offensive.
Getting into the head of somebody who has a mental illness is very difficult and it is very difficult to see the world through their eyes - even though I suffer from one myself and am very compassionate and understanding of people and make the effort to learn and understand people, those with other mental illnesses, I still find it difficult to see the world through their eyes, even when I try. So I would say writing a character will mental issues becomes more of a sensitive thing when you yourself do not have it. But, if you are the empathetic sort who makes an effort to do it right, then not an issue.
However, I would say, generally, people who have mental problems, that they wish to only be treated as equals and not be misunderstood. It is something I wish, hence I'm generally not that forthcoming about mine.
So, if you don't respect people properly, you do run into as risk of pissing them off or even come off as patronising.
I don't think playing a mental illness needed necessarily be a character flaw, but is something 3 dimensional that gives your character, well, their character. You can gain some positive traits that many not be typical of those who do not have it.
If it is something that interests you, particularly, if you're interested in understanding what it is like, then do your research - if you can, maybe speak to somebody with experience. Like any good writer would. It's misrepresentation that's likely to get you flack, especially with stigma and how mental illness is generally misrepresented anyway.
If you wish to have a mental illness because you think it gives your character an interesting character flaw and proceed to misunderstand what it means to be a sufferer, then you might get a roundhouse kick to the face.
But I do agree with what people say about being research, the problem is, mental illness can become stigmatised in general and you bare the risk of bringing that stigma into how you play your character and then it may come off as offensive.
Getting into the head of somebody who has a mental illness is very difficult and it is very difficult to see the world through their eyes - even though I suffer from one myself and am very compassionate and understanding of people and make the effort to learn and understand people, those with other mental illnesses, I still find it difficult to see the world through their eyes, even when I try. So I would say writing a character will mental issues becomes more of a sensitive thing when you yourself do not have it. But, if you are the empathetic sort who makes an effort to do it right, then not an issue.
However, I would say, generally, people who have mental problems, that they wish to only be treated as equals and not be misunderstood. It is something I wish, hence I'm generally not that forthcoming about mine.
So, if you don't respect people properly, you do run into as risk of pissing them off or even come off as patronising. I don't think playing a mental illness needed necessarily be a character flaw, but is something 3 dimensional that gives your character, well, their character. You can gain some positive traits that many not be typical of those who do not have it.
If it is something that interests you, particularly, if you're interested in understanding what it is like, then do your research - if you can, maybe speak to somebody with experience. Like any good writer would.
It's misrepresentation that's likely to get you flack, especially with stigma and how mental illness is generally misrepresented anyway. If you wish to have a mental illness because you think it gives your character an interesting character flaw and proceed to misunderstand what it means to be a sufferer, then you might get a roundhouse kick to the face.
![[Image: enjin-480381-1364062850526494969-green.png]](http://sigs.enjin.com/sig/enjin-480381-1364062850526494969-green.png)
The Scholar Captain
