Even today there is still a stigma around mental health. Depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders, cutting these are all items that still are looked down upon. Still other mental health disorders like bipolar, ADHD and borderline personality disorder get an even worse view in society saying people are abusing medication and it is all made up in your mind, just concentrate harder.
Statements like this don’t help at all and they alienate the person with the disorder. I wanted to make a commentary around mental health in grydscaen so I touch on a few disorders through the epic including depression, suicide, schizoaffective disorder and cutting. The books are science fiction but because they involve a whole world with social norms and societal views, I can discuss issues like mental health in the flow of the story.
There are two characters I want to focus on for this post which are Sati Ima and Nathaneal Barjan who are both pilots in the military. Sati has schizoaffective disorder which he takes medication for. I made sure that we could see someone be successful, in a high stress job, on medication which should not be a negative, and thriving. Sati of course has to take monthly mental exams to ensure he is okay to fly, but that does not get in the way.
Sati has a disorder he has to live with and at least in the series we see him have one episode where his disorder takes over. We see him cutting to try to cope with the overwhelming flooding of emotions and the high anxiety. The cutting relaxes him but it is disfiguring on his arms and grydscaen tries to make a commentary about this, that it is not the best route to take to try and ease emotional pain.
We also see Nathaneal, the other pilot. In a later book his health is compromised by an aerial stunt in space and it takes its toll on his reflexes. Nathaneal has a special ability which is controlled by his psychic power and used by the military at opportune times. However, Nathaneal does not like this power and is loathe to use it. The stunt affects this power and makes Nathaneal depressed. We slowly watch him alienate himself and go into a deep dark place and contemplate suicide.
One of the reasons that I wrote grydscaen was to get the word out about mental health and try to remove the stigma on those that have symptoms. Nothing is wrong if you are depressed. Others might not understand and it may bring you to a dark place. Reach out and ask for help. Sati certainly does and Nathaneal helps him when he needs it.
The novel grydscaen: tribute includes the short story “A Storm’s Coming” about a homeless gay teen living on the streets of the Echelons which is like a big city. The Echelons is a slum so it makes street life difficult, more difficult than it should be. The teen Rom is faced with hunger, boredom, fear and danger in the story.
Two counseling centers have picked up “A Storm’s Coming” and the associated graphic novel and are using it as an empowerment tool for troubled teens. I donated copies of grydscaen: tribute which includes the story to the counseling centers. In the end Rom has hope even though he has a very harsh life but along the way he has friends and adults to help him at times.
The novels in the grydscaen series address many strong topics from LGBT rights, trans equality, marriage equality, mental illness, hackers, government overreach and personal security and privacy. It is a platform for the present day wrapped up in a science fiction futuristic post apocalyptic package. I hope you stick around for the ride.