Psychology for Writers- Introduction

When you hear the words “mental health,” I can imagine a multitude of places your mind goes to. It’s such a huge buzzword these days, and it really embodies that bizarre social paradox we have: the more prevalent something is, the less impactful it becomes. It loses meaning and starts dissolving into the background noise that is the social zeitgeist we live in.

That was a lot of words just now.

So when it comes to representation and portrayal of “realistic” psychology and mental health issues, it’s hard to tell where to turn to for ideas and information. As a writer, I feel like one of my biggest advantages is my academic background in psychology. I have a master’s degree in the subject and the amount of work and research I put into getting that slip of fancy paper reflects the way I write to this day.

If you’re confused about mental health and are hoping to incorporate it meaningfully into your writing, then let me give you some pointers on where to start and how to implement it. Here are some general guidelines: Do all the research you can

"Research" is another word that gets thrown around a lot, but actual, meaningful research isn't so easy. There's a huge difference between doing group studies on people to get actionable data and pulling something out of the first thing you find on Google. While you certainly don't need to do the former, you shouldn't settle for the latter, either. Most research papers are dozens of pages long, which may seem daunting, but more than a few of those pages are just citing the sources. My master's thesis came out to around 55 pages, and I filled 5 with the names of my sources. You can't just find one source that says something and take that as gospel truth. You need to cross-reference and get context for what one source says, because another source may have a completely different finding. You need to collate all the different bits of information to arrive at the greater truth. College websites, hospital research papers, and anything that ends in ".edu" will be your best friends.

Pictured: the average thesis paper research experience.

Talk to People

To write a character at all, you need to have SOME understanding of people, and what better way to know them and their issues than to actually speak to them? Scary as that may sound for my fellow introverts and social anxiety sufferers (that might have to be its own blog post), there's really no better option. Especially since mental health issues and realities are so widespread, everyone deals with them in one way or another. Depression? It's pretty common. ADHD? You'd be surprised. Anxiety? The United States is one of the world leaders in anxiety medication prescriptions. Talk to your friends or coworkers about the things you're interested in, you might have quite a bit to talk about. That's not me saying you have to be their therapist, but it would behoove you to listen, too.

There's a reason people can identify so much with this sea creature.

Ask Yourself "Why?"

Whatever your medium, whatever your story, make sure you understand why it's going into what you're writing. Understanding a topic like this is no small undertaking, but the payoff of understanding what happens in our brains can be huge. Telling a resonant and well-researched story is a rare thing, and I want to help you do that.

I've been around people with psychological issues and questions all my life, and I see one of those people every time I look in the mirror. I've had a lot of experience with clinical depression and anxiety, and-- no coincidence, I would bet-- made a ton of friends who deal with similar things. Through my own writing, especially my first book, I wanted to understand more about the things people dealt with and maybe give the people who are struggling a little glimmer of hope when they read my story. I want to tell them, "I understand," or at the very least, "I see you." After lifetimes of being misunderstood, let me be one of the few people who reaches out a hand in empathy with my work. Fiction is my mainstay, but understanding how people think, act, and feel-- particularly as each aspect influences another-- in the realest possible way is what sets my work apart. It's made me a better writer, and in future posts, I'll be going into specific details for different disorders, states of mind, and emotions. There are multitudes of each, and multitudes of ways to look at and represent them. Let me help you, dear reader, navigate them all.

Sometimes, though, it just feels like this.