Exploring Mental Illness in Literature
At one point or another, most, if not all of us, would have struggled with our mental health. It could have been because of stress faced in school or at work, anxiety about the future, or just an overwhelming sense of dread and fear from all the negativity in the news.
The pandemic has not only brought about a major physical health crisis, it also caused a wave of mental health problems to surface and crash upon the world, with skyrocketing numbers of people suffering from mental health issues.
But in retrospect, there’s a silver lining to be found. With increased attention on a topic that has long been considered taboo, the pandemic has led more individuals to be more aware of their mental health, and opened up more discussions and avenues for those struggling to seek professional help and respite.
In Singapore last year, local non-profit organisation Brahm Centre trained over 23,000 people through their Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) workshops — three times more than in 2019. Apart from workshops, there is also increased awareness of helplines that locals can call in times of need, like the Samaritans of Singapore’s (SOS) 24-hour helpline at 1800 221 4444 and the National CARE hotline at 1800 202 6868 from 8am to 12 midnight daily.
While these are all positive changes, the stigma and barriers to accessing mental health help remains.
For instance, seeking professional treatment for mental illnesses can be very costly in Singapore, and many are not comfortable with opening up about their struggles with mental health with their loved ones. In an article published last year by Channel News Asia on the struggles that youths face in seeking help for their mental health, most of the young respondents interviewed had yet to tell their families about them seeking treatment.
In literature, the topic of mental health has been portrayed in many ways. Some works of fiction shed a harsh, negative light on mental illnesses and its treatments. In others, it has been depicted authentically and compassionately, though they inadvertently reveal how ignorant and callous society and the loved ones of those suffering can be (and tragically, real life is a lot like this).
One example of this is Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper (1892). The novella gives us a first-person look into the mind of the narrator, a woman suffering from postpartum depression, and the treatment that she receives, through a series of diary entries. As the novella progresses, the woman’s condition deteriorates, but all the while, her illness is trivialised by the people around her, including her own husband John, who also happens to be her physician.
In the novella, John prescribes the narrator with what is known as the “rest cure” — basically doing nothing all day till the illness passes. He also dismisses the narrator’s worries about her condition as “false and foolish fancies”, likening the narrator’s mental illness to a passing phase that she can choose to snap out of.
Decades later, the characters in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar would echo this false, oversimplification of mental health struggles, such as through Mrs. Greenwood, protagonist Esther Greenwood’s mother.
After experiencing a painful, botched shock therapy session, Esther tells her mother that she would like to stop seeing her first psychiatrist, Doctor Gordon. To this, Mrs. Greenwood says, “I knew my baby wasn’t like this… I knew you’d decide to be all right again.” Like John in The Yellow Wallpaper, Mrs. Greenwood trivialises Esther’s condition and seemingly blames Esther for it, making it seem as if it were a deliberate choice on her part to suffer like this.
Sadly, this is a common misconception that has been around for decades. To those without sufficient knowledge on the topic, mental health can be very daunting and difficult to grasp, unlike physical health problems, whereby symptoms are more obvious and perhaps more easily “cured”.
For instance, a person suffering from the common cold would likely be sniffling and sneezing, but a person suffering from depression could appear happy on the outside while bearing their negative thoughts alone in their minds.
Another commonly depicted aspect in fiction would be the inhumane treatment options, such as how shock therapy was used as a blanket solution for an array of mental illnesses. The indiscriminate use of extreme solutions reflect society’s lack of compassion towards individuals struggling with their mental health in real life. Oftentimes, a lack of understanding of mental health results in people being shamed, dismissed, or even shunned in real life.
In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, patients of the mental institution are subjected to painful shock therapy sessions regardless of their diagnosis. Patients are also controlled by fear, and are treated without respect or dignity.
Of course, this may not be the case in the mental institutions that we have today, but the discriminatory view that the mentally ill are broken or are abnormal and have to be fixed remains a common prejudice. This is a dangerous thought to have, as it could discourage struggling individuals from seeking professional help because of the fear of being looked down upon.
There are those who describe their mental illnesses as a creature, such as English writer Samuel Johnson and Sir Winston Churchill, who liken their depression to a black dog. In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, mental illness is portrayed in the form of a frighteningly ugly self-portrait.
The novel revolves around titular protagonist Dorian Gray and his slow descent into the depths of his mental illnesses (it isn’t explicitly stated, but various analyses have pegged the narcissistic personality disorder to his character).
Throughout the novel, Dorian’s physical form does not change, but his inner self, reflected in his portrait, does. Over time, it turns into a hideous, monstrous version of him, just as his mental health spirals further downward.
In a more realistic portrayal, The Bell Jar sees Buddy Willard, Esther’s college boyfriend, indirectly expressing his repulsion towards her after he finds out about her mental illness and having spent time in a mental institute. Despite always wanting to marry Esther, he ends up telling her, “I wonder who you’ll marry now, Esther,” implying how he thinks she is now highly undesirable because of her mental health record.
Ironically, Esther had already been cured, and Buddy had also just spent a long time in hospital after being diagnosed with tuberculosis. But sadly, the stigma against mental health stands — physical ailments can be considered pitiable, but mental issues make one altogether undesirable.
Though the presence of such stigma and discrimination is gradually being quashed in society, there is still a lot that can be done to support struggling individuals. And there is a lot that can be learnt from fictional portrayals of mental health, as extreme as they might be. Either way, we’re hopeful that society will continue to change for the better, and one day, we’ll all learn to be kinder and more accepting of ourselves and the people around us, flaws and all.
Titles mentioned:
From left to right:
The Yellow Wallpaper — Charlotte Perkins Gilman | Physical Copy, eBook, Audiobook
The Bell Jar — Sylvia Plath | Physical Copy, eBook
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest — Ken Kesey | Physical Copy, eBook
The Picture of Dorian Gray — Oscar Wilde | Physical Copy, eBook, Audiobook
All books featured are available via the NLB Mobile app or at our public libraries.
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Text by
National Reading Movement
National Library Board
