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    Eden Anderson replied to the topic Mental Illness/Disorders In Christian Fiction in the forum General Writing Discussions 6 years, 7 months ago

    @kari-karast Hey, friend, it’s been too long!! What’s been happening? How are you? 🤗

    Thanks for the suggestion.

    *hands you pizza*

    And here’s a hedgehug! 😉

    @ericawordsmith

    It’s been too long since I’ve talked to you too! How are you? Your in college?!! What are you studying?😍

    I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

    *hands you pizza just because*

    @sarah-inkdragon

    Great thoughts on this and love your passion!

    (*whispers* You made sense, by the way. 😊)

    Thanks for pointing out that mental illnesses is a very complex thing and will vary greatly from person to person…I feel like that’s a very important thing to remember.

    What’s more, “clean” Christian fiction often just entirely ignores that mental issues exist in the first place. Depression is swept under the rug because we often think it’s is just a teenager’s problem, PTSD is put away because “if we trust in God” our life apparently become just fine no matter the horrors we’ve faced.

    OUCH. Too true I’m afraid. Why do we do that?

    And yes, in their very base form, mental illnesses are excuses in some way or another.

    Interesting statement. What exactly do you mean by this?

    Thanks for your thoughts! Some great stuff  to chew on for awhile.🙂

    @princess-foo

    You are awesome! 😁

    Thanks for all the suggestions!!

    Here is your extra-large, extra-cheesy pizza. (I hope you like cheese!😜)

    @ncstokes

    You have a post about autism on your blog don’t you? I read it and it was really interesting and informative. Ever since I watched a movie about Temple Grandin (are you familiar with her?) I’ve been interested in autism.

    I rarely read “Christian” fiction either so I thought maybe I was just missing the books that have mental illness/disorders in them. I guess it’s a bigger problem than I thought. 😥

    So you are saying that there is a huge opportunity for Christians to put mental disorders in fiction and do it well? Especially because the media does a very poor job? I just hope we take that opportunity.

    Thanks so much for your thoughts; they were helpful!! And thanks for the insider look at autism!🤗

    @josiah

    The closest I’ve seen people generally get is by portraying characters with depression or anxiety–and normally in those cases they’re portrayed as spiritual problems to overcome (which certainly can be the case for some people), not as also being mental illnesses (which can also definitely be the case for some people).

    That really gets under my skin when people paint mental illness with a broad stroke and say that its all, purely spiritual and “mental illnesses” don’t actually exist.

    Yes, I agree, it can be spiritual, but thats not ALWAYS the case.

    Can someone please tell me why people do that? Especially christians…?

    *breathes*

     

    Well, I will admit that the thought of all that research has scared me a little. 😛

    @literatureforthelight

    Yeah, it is really confusing and complex!

    I agree completely that the psychological and spiritual are intertwined (everything is connected after all) but when people say that mental illness is “purely psychological” or “purely spiritual” that is dangerous, if not wrong. At least in my opinion.

     

     

    Thanks, everybody, for your thoughts!

    *throws pizzas*

     

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