annethology
  • Home
    • About Annethology
    • About me >
      • A little more about me
    • About my books
    • Author talks
    • Contact me
    • Forthcoming events
    • World Mental Health Day
    • Privacy
    • Sign up for my newsletter
  • First two novels
    • Sugar and Snails >
      • Acknowledgements
      • Blog tour, Q&A's and feature articles >
        • Birthday blog tour
        • S&S on tour 2022
      • Early endorsements
      • Events >
        • Launch photos
        • Launch party videos
      • in pictures
      • Media
      • If you've read the book
      • Polari
      • Reading group questions
      • Reviews
      • In the media
    • Underneath >
      • Endorsements and reviews
      • Launch party and events
      • Pictures
      • Questions for book groups
      • The stories underneath the novel
  • Matilda Windsor series
    • The accidental series
    • Matilda Windsor >
      • What readers say
      • For book groups
      • Interviews, articles and features
      • Matty on the move
      • Who were you in 1990?
      • Asylum lit
      • Matilda Windsor media
    • Stolen Summers >
      • Stolen Summers reviews
    • Lyrics for the Loved Ones
  • Short stories
    • Somebody’s Daughter
    • Becoming Someone (anthology) >
      • Becoming Someone (video readings)
      • Becoming Someone reviews
      • Becoming Someone online book chat
    • Print and downloads
    • Read it online
    • Quick reads
  • Free ebook
  • Annecdotal
    • Annecdotal blog
    • Annecdotal Press
    • Articles >
      • Print journalism
      • Where psychology meets fiction
    • Fictional therapists
    • Reading and reviews >
      • Reviews A to H
      • Reviews I to M
      • Reviews N to Z
      • Nonfiction
      • Themed quotes
      • Reading around the world
  • Shop
    • Inspired Quill (my publisher)
    • Bookshop.org (affiliate link)
    • Amazon UK
    • Amazon US
    • books2read
  • Main site

Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

World Mental Health Day: Dignity in Fiction?

10/10/2015

13 Comments

 
Following on from last month’s post for World Suicide Prevention Day, I’m marking World Mental Health Day on Annecdotal this weekend. The 2015 theme is dignity, so I’m highlighting sympathetic portrayals of mental health issues in fiction. I’ve blogged elsewhere about the mental health themes in my own novel, Sugar and Snails, including the development of the false self to protect one’s vulnerabilities; insecure attachment; and invisible vulnerabilities and self-harm; as well as my personal connection to those issues in the struggle to find a mind of my own and my post on Stigma Fighters about being a wounded healer. So I won’t repeat that here (but do follow the links if you haven’t already); focusing instead on the ways in which my recent reading provide insight into the mental health challenges we face across the lifespan.

The fragility of early parenthood couldn’t be captured better than in the character of Ari in After Birth by Elisa Albert. Still traumatised by an overly medicalised birth, she’s lonely and she’s angry at the structures that estrange women from vital sources of genuine support. This should be considered a prerequisite of a healthy society, not only for the sake of the struggling parents, but for the future well-being of their offspring. Cuts in public spending in these areas hurt us all.
Picture

Because children’s behaviour can’t logically be separated from that of their parents, I’m suspicious of the diagnosis of mental illness in young children. The feral tantruming six-year-old in The Visitors isn’t mentally ill, but angry, lonely and scared because no-one has yet found a way through the barriers of deafness and blindness to make her feel safe. When, in A Song for Issy Bradley, seven-year-old Jacob starts behaving oddly at school, it’s because no-one has helped him make sense of his feelings after the sudden death of his little sister.

The developmental tasks of adolescence are so complex, I’m in awe of anyone who comes through unscathed. For some young people, like Lydia in Everything I Never Told You, the burden to fulfil the dreams of their parents can push them to breaking point. For others, like Sean in Wolf in White Van, the meaninglessness of existence leads them to self-destruct. That fragility can endure well beyond the teen years, blurring the boundary between fantasy and reality as Alice does in How to Make a Friend, released this week in paperback and marked on Annethology with a new Q&A with the author, Fleur Smithwick.

Freud is credited with saying that love and work are the cornerstones of a healthy existence, but readers know that both can drive us mad. Stephen questions his sanity after a violent outbreak at work, although his actions aren’t a patch on those of his war-traumatised father in That Dark Remembered Day. The compromises we make between the need to earn a living and the questionable ethics of capitalism can lead to breakdown, as it does for James in The Zoo. But even non-profit organisations have their crazy side, which makes me wonder how much of Cheryl’s weirdness is attributable to personality and how much down to organisational culture in The First Bad Man.

But the loss of work can also be stressful, especially for someone with a well-developed inner curmudgeon like the eponymous hero in A Man Called Ove. Loneliness and unfulfilled longing can also be destabilising in later life, as it is initially for Mabel in The Snow Child. On top of that, old age is also associated with an increased risk of dementia, and not even the playful portrayal of dignified but dotty old ladies in The Night Guest and Elizabeth Is Missing can diminish our fears about that.

Beginning to draft this post prior to the announcement of the Carrot Ranch flash fiction prompt, I’d already resolved to combine the two when the theme of thieving was revealed. I hesitated at first, but then the sense of the story came quickly, all I had to do was juggle those words:

She recognised the hole by the rough edges that scraped against her soul when the sky was overcast. They mocked her at the clinic, said it was impossible for a nothing to make her sick. Refusing her an x-ray, they accused her of malingering, but the hole grew bigger so she went to the mall.
Miles of shiny new things to plug a heart-shaped hole: she stuffed them in her pockets, in her handbag, up her jumper, but the hole remained.
Prison gave her solace. If she couldn’t close the gap within her, she could fill a cell-shaped hole.

Apologies for the plethora of links, but do pursue any that take your fancy. Any of the novels pictured would be worth a read.

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
13 Comments
sarah link
11/10/2015 12:00:22 am

Some great choices for World Mental Health Day. (I like your links -- fun to come back and click on...just saying.) Also, brilliant flash. Love this.

Reply
Annecdoti
12/10/2015 05:31:14 pm

Thanks, Sarah, but what's with "just saying"? – Of course it's fun!

Reply
sarah
15/10/2015 09:42:47 pm

You said, "Apologies for the plethora of links..." I was just saying I like them. :-)

Norah Colvin link
11/10/2015 12:32:30 pm

Great post, Anne. Thanks for all the links. I followed some back and reread some of your previous posts about your writing (here and elsewhere) rather than the ones about the novels.
Mental health is such an important issue. One of my sisters suffered post-partum psychosis and then manic depression. It was very sad and very tragic. Unfortunately she suffered a double whammy with an aggressive breast cancer and had a pretty rough last four years of her life. I spent many hours with her in the hospital. It was not a pleasant place to be.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
12/10/2015 12:40:01 pm

I forgot to comment on your wonderful flash! The description of the hole and the inability to fill it, though various attempts are made, is very apt. Such a longing and need is often left empty as much from an inability to accept something to fill it, as from the lack of something to fill it. It is sad, but a true reflection, that a cell is probably a safe haven for many in similar circumstances. Sad too that the need, the hole, goes largely unrecognised and untreated.

Reply
Annecdotist
12/10/2015 05:39:42 pm

Thank you, Norah, for both these comments. As you know, I'm something of a link addict (even though it means it takes me twice as long to prepare my posts), so I appreciate your following these (and I've noticed tweeting them).
Your sister's situation is very sad. General health care services don't manage very well with people with mental health problems (mental health services don't either, of course), so must have made that doubly hard, as well as hard to watch.
Although it's not so original, I do think a whole is a good metaphor for how lots of people feel. The flash almost ended with her thieving, so I was surprised and pleased when I got the idea of her filling a hole rather than her own hole being filled. I don't know much about prisons but I do think it's dreadful that in this modern age they're still a receptacle for those who find life that bit harder.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
14/10/2015 12:53:03 pm

That's very true, Anne. We don't seem to have anywhere appropriate to "put" anyone who doesn't exactly fit. As if they should be "put" anywhere anyway. Perhaps we need to open up and make a hole big enough to take all.

Charli Mills
12/10/2015 11:53:17 pm

Dignity. It does so much more than bottles of pills. If only we treated one another -- even ourselves -- with more dignity, we'd have a better world. Your plethora of links are always rewarding and enhance what you have to say and reflect from book reviews. And what a terrific way to underscore an act of thievery, trying to fill that hole. I felt like I was looking out at a world that didn't "hear" me as I read from the narrator's perspective.

Reply
Annecdotist
14/10/2015 09:00:04 am

Thanks for this generous feedback, Charli, and yes, indeed, there's not a lot of dignity in swallowing pills when what you really need to be heard by others so you can begin to hear yourself. Thanks for another great prompt.

Reply
Udosdottir link
13/10/2015 10:28:16 am

Wonderful flash! You are giving a nothingness shape with words. It conveys brilliantly a feeling of being lost.

P.S.: I just started reading snugar and snails, and already love the back and forth of the story. Great stuff.

Reply
Annecdotist
14/10/2015 09:02:38 am

Thanks, I like the idea of giving nothingness shape. And so glad you're enjoying Sugar and Snails – I hope it continues in the same vein.

Reply
alcohol addiction nyc link
9/9/2017 11:31:13 pm

I think this is one of the most significant information for me. And i’m glad reading your article. But should remark on some general things, The web site style is perfect, the articles is really great : D. Good job, cheers

Reply
Annecdotist
11/9/2017 05:35:07 pm

Thanks for reading, and for your kind endorsement of the site and this post.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Free ebook: click the image to claim yours.
    Picture
    Available now
    Picture
    The poignant prequel to Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home
    Picture
    Find a review
    Picture
    Fictional therapists
    Picture
    Picture
    About Anne Goodwin
    Picture
    My published books
    entertaining fiction about identity, mental health and social justice
    Picture
    My third novel, published May 2021
    Picture
    My debut novel shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize
    Picture
    Picture
    My second novel published May 2017.
    Picture
    Short stories on the theme of identity published 2018
    Anne Goodwin's books on Goodreads
    Sugar and Snails Sugar and Snails
    reviews: 32
    ratings: 52 (avg rating 4.21)

    Underneath Underneath
    reviews: 24
    ratings: 60 (avg rating 3.17)

    Becoming Someone Becoming Someone
    reviews: 8
    ratings: 9 (avg rating 4.56)

    GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator, Issue 4 GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator, Issue 4
    reviews: 4
    ratings: 9 (avg rating 4.44)

    The Best of Fiction on the Web The Best of Fiction on the Web
    reviews: 3
    ratings: 3 (avg rating 4.67)

    2022 Reading Challenge

    2022 Reading Challenge
    Anne has read 2 books toward their goal of 100 books.
    hide
    2 of 100 (2%)
    view books
    Picture
    Annecdotal is where real life brushes up against the fictional.  
    Picture
    Annecdotist is the blogging persona of Anne Goodwin: 
    reader, writer,

    slug-slayer, tramper of moors, 
    recovering psychologist, 
    struggling soprano, 
    author of three fiction books.

    LATEST POSTS HERE
    I don't post to a schedule, but average  around ten reviews a month (see here for an alphabetical list), 
    some linked to a weekly flash fiction, plus posts on my WIPs and published books.  

    Your comments are welcome any time any where.

    Get new posts direct to your inbox ...

    Enter your email address:

    or click here …

    RSS Feed


    Picture

    Tweets by @Annecdotist
    Picture
    New short story, “My Dirty Weekend”
    Picture
    Let’s keep in touch – subscribe to my newsletter
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Popular posts

    • Compassion: something we all need
    • Do spoilers spoil?
    • How to create a convincing fictional therapist
    • Instructions for a novel
    • Looking at difference, embracing diversity
    • Never let me go: the dilemma of lending books
    • On loving, hating and writers’ block
      On Pop, Pirates and Plagiarism
    • READIN' for HER reviews
    • Relishing the cuts
    • The fast first draft
    • The tragedy of obedience
    • Writers and therapy: a love-hate relationship?

    Categories/Tags

    All
    Animals
    Annecdotist Hosts
    Annecdotist On Tour
    Articles
    Attachment Theory
    Author Interviews
    Becoming Someone
    Being A Writer
    Blogging
    Bodies
    Body
    Bookbirthday
    Books For Writers
    Bookshops
    CB Book Group
    Character
    Childhood
    Christmas
    Classics
    Climate Crisis
    Coming Of Age
    Counsellors Cafe
    Creative Writing Industry
    Creativity
    Cumbria
    Debut Novels
    Disability
    Editing
    Emotion
    Ethics
    Ethis
    Family
    Feedback And Critiques
    Fictional Psychologists & Therapists
    Food
    Friendship
    Futuristic
    Gender
    Genre
    Getting Published
    Giveaways
    Good Enough
    Grammar
    Gratitude
    Group/organisational Dynamics
    Hero’s Journey
    History
    Humour
    Identity
    Illness
    Independent Presses
    Institutions
    International Commemorative Day
    Jane Eyre
    Kidney Disease
    Language
    LGBTQ
    Libraries
    Live Events
    Lyrics For The Loved Ones
    Marketing
    Matilda Windsor
    Memoir
    Memory
    Mental Health
    Microfiction
    Motivation
    Music
    MW Prequel
    Names
    Narrative Voice
    Nature / Gardening
    Networking
    Newcastle
    Nonfiction
    Nottingham
    Novels
    Pandemic
    Peak District
    Perfect Match
    Poetry
    Point Of View
    Politics
    Politics Current Affairs
    Presentation
    Privacy
    Prizes
    Psychoanalytic Theory
    Psychology
    Psycholoists Write
    Psychotherapy
    Race
    Racism
    Rants
    Reading
    Real Vs Imaginary
    Religion
    Repetitive Strain Injury
    Research
    Reviewing
    Romance
    Satire
    Second Novels
    Settings
    Sex
    Shakespeare
    Short Stories General
    Short Stories My Published
    Short Stories Others'
    Siblings
    Snowflake
    Somebody's Daughter
    Stolen Summers
    Storytelling
    Structure
    Sugar And Snails
    Technology
    The
    The Guestlist
    Therapy
    TikTok
    TNTB
    Toiletday
    Tourism
    Toxic Positivity
    Transfiction
    Translation
    Trauma
    Unconscious
    Unconscious, The
    Underneath
    Voice Recognition Software
    War
    WaSBihC
    Weather
    Work
    Writing Process
    Writing Technique

    Archives

    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Picture
    BLOGGING COMMUNITIES
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos from havens.michael34, romana klee, mrsdkrebs, Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It., adam & lucy, dluders, Joybot, Hammer51012, jorgempf, Sherif Salama, eyspahn, raniel diaz, E. E. Piphanies, scaredofbabies, Nomadic Lass, paulternate, Tony Fischer Photography, archer10 (Dennis), slightly everything, impbox, jonwick04, country_boy_shane, dok1, Out.of.Focus, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, Elvert Barnes, guillenperez, Richard Perry, jamesnaruke, Juan Carlos Arniz Sanz, El Tuerto, kona99, maveric2003, !anaughty!, Patrick Denker, David Davies, hamilcar_south, idleformat, Dave Goodman, Sharon Mollerus, photosteve101, La Citta Vita, A Girl With Tea, striatic, carlosfpardo, Damork, Elvert Barnes, UNE Photos, jurvetson, quinn.anya, BChristensen93, Joelk75, ashesmonroe, albertogp123, >littleyiye<, mudgalbharat, Swami Stream, Dicemanic, lovelihood, anyjazz65, Tjeerd, albastrica mititica, jimmiehomeschoolmom, joshtasman, tedeytan, striatic, goforchris, torbakhopper, maggibautista, andreboeni, snigl3t, rainy city, frankieleon