It seems that recently, the most popular and most anticipated young adult books feature themes revolving heavily around mental illness. This isn’t necessarily inappropriate—the stigmatization of mental illness has become increasingly popular among teenagers, especially due to trends like #MentalHealthPosi—however, not every author does it right. The best/most accurate books centered around mentally ill characters are, obviously, the ones written by mentally ill authors, though those seem to be rare. Luckily, a lot of authors without mental health issues research causes and symptoms for the disorders they’re choosing to display, but that is not always the case.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is one of the most iconic books when it comes to mental health centered characters and themes. This is no doubt due to the fact that Plath, herself, struggled with the same issues she reflected onto her protagonist, Esther. Esther’s life contains many parallels to that of her creator, which is why The Bell Jar is commonly referred to as “semi-autobiographical.” Esther is an unconventional protagonist in that she does not handle the problems the world throws at her “correctly.” She instead frequently entertains thoughts of self-harm and ultimately ends up in a mental institution. Similarities can be drawn to It’s Kind of A Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, a more modern book in which the much younger protagonist, Craig, is admitted to a psychiatric unit due to his depression and attempted suicide. Parallels can also be drawn between Craig and Vizzini, most unfortunately those regarding suicidal tendencies. Vizzini ended his life a few years ago, though his protagonist, Craig, found himself to be healing towards the end of the book. Though Vizzini’s death was tragic, his struggle with mental illness ultimately made his portrayal of it in his literature a million times more accurate than the average novel. The same can be said about Plath, who ended her life at age thirty.
Obviously, not every novelist writing about mental health is going to have undergone the same struggles as their characters, but many are wise enough to research the types of disorders they plan on portraying, and learning enough to create a mentally ill character who is not the epitome of stigmas and stereotypes. For example, David Levithan, a beloved LGBTQIA+ author, has written many mentally ill characters respectfully and accurately, though he has never made a public statement about his own mental health.
A lot of authors make a very good attempt at writing mental illness well, and a lot of the times they even achieve it, but it can be the way the supporting characters react to mentally ill protagonists that really ruin a story. All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven is a chilling story about a girl recovering from her sister’s death and a boy who has an undetermined mental illness, most likely bipolar disorder and depression. Said boy, Theodore Finch, who goes through periods of the “asleep” and the “awake” (assumedly mania and depression) ultimately kills himself because, though many characters such as his counselor, his family, and his girlfriend know about his suicidal thoughts, no one does anything to help him. Though Niven puts the numbers for suicide prevention/help lines in the back of the book, fans are left angry and unsettled. Niven captures Finch’s mental illness and portrays it accurately, but his mental health is not ever addressed. As soon as it is suggested by a counselor that Finch could have bipolar disorder, he shuts down and before we know it, is dead. He has many suicide attempts throughout the book, so it is very frustrating and upsetting that Finch never receives help, and his sole purpose throughout the book appears to be purely a gender swapped version of the manic pixie dream girl trope.
Ultimately, mental illness is more often that not, portrayed inaccurately in literature, specifically young adult fiction. And because mental illness and suicide are such popular themes in current YA fiction, we are forced to endure stereotypical portrayals of the disorders we live with everyday. Fortunately, we are blessed with gems such as It’s Kind of A Funny Story, The Bell Jar, Thirteen Reasons Why and countless David Levithan books to get us through this rough patch in modern literature.
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