Lived Experience Forum

[Winchester]

Hello, I am new to SANE Forums and I guess I came here to ask for your help, and to provide any help that I can in return. I am currently in year 12 and studying units 3 and 4 in art. We have been assigned to choose a theme to base our body of work on that will be assessed and give us our overall mark, we were told to choose a theme that means something to us. For me, there was a particular theme that stood out to me: Mental illnesses and what it really feels like to suffer them. I have suffered from anorexia and bulimia, which then lead to depression and anxiety. There is one thing that frustrated me more than anything when I was trying to recover from these illnesses, and that was the fact that so many people did not understand a thing about how it actually felt. Everyone has their own ideas of what mental illnesses are and what it does to the person suffering them, but I believe that you actually have no idea what it feels like, what it does to you, and why it happens, unless you are suffering or have suffered from the mental illness itself. I want to base my artwork on what it feels like to have mental Illnesses, I want to demonstrate through my art the truth about mental illnesses. Although I do have some of my thoughts and views on my chosen theme, it would be so incredibly helpful if you could describe to me what you believe it feels like to have a mental Illness. Any sort of feedback would be a great help to me, whether it be your story, a description of thoughts you had/have while suffering, what image you believe mental illnesses should be depicted as, or even just a single word that the illness made you feel. Thank you so much for help and for your time, it really means a lot to me.

[Terry]

Horror.  A bottomless pit.

I hope that helps you - that's the best description I can give.

[Winchester]

Sadly I couldn't agree with you more. Thank you Terry, it's perfect.

[Terry]

you're welcome.  you can get through it.  i'm (mostly) happy and successful these days.  Best wishes and god bless you.

[Terry]

ps. have a look at edmund munch's 'the scream' ('munch' spelled 'monk' in english) and/or vincent van gosh's painting 'cafe terrace at night' (some of his other paintings are more depressing; there is an up-side to mental illness too - 'cafe terrace at night' is a beautiful painting). good luck with your studies and remember that there is a way through mental illness, even if that road is a bit winding and hilly.  god bless you.

[Terry]

and don't forget: there were no effective medications or therapies in munch's and van gogh's day/s, but there are now. all the best, again and god bless, again.

[Terry]

@Winchester

i hope you are ok. are you getting the help you need?

[Winchester]

Thanks again Terry, I think you're description has helped me more than you will ever know and given me a lot of inspiration. Both of those artworks are two of my favourites, and Van Gogh is one of my favourite artists. I am ok and have mostly recovered, but as you would understand we all have our bad days.

[Terry]

No worries.  Well, this forum and all the forumites are always there for you any time you want to log on.  Getting a good counsellor who doesn't talk down to clients with mental illnesses will help.  Lifeline can be good to call if there's no-one else around to talk to and you are having a rough time and really need to talk (13 11 14).  Medications usually improve things, and TLC - show yourself the love to self-nurture and 'shore yourself up' and help heal yourself.  Don't knock yourself out with stress and pressure, either.  Nice things like walks, dancing and swimming all cheer the soul, and art too, as you know.  There are lots of online resources and other helps for you - ask anyone here and we will all try to support you.  god bless.

[chibam]

Hi @Winchester,

I meant to reply to this thread the other day but I got tied up...

If your still interested in ideas for depicting the MI experience, I was thinking something along the lines of a lone individual navigating through a community/tribe to which she is obviously a foreigner/alien. She is trying as best she can to calmly mimic their culture, rituals & mannerisms, but nonetheless all the "normal" people around her look upon her with suspicion, displeasure or perhaps even pity.

Another idea might be of a castaway struggling to tread water on a rough sea. There are no boats or land within sight. He can't keep up the exhausting struggle indefinitely. He desperately needs help, but there is none to be found.

There was a survey recently (I think run by Sane?) asking for ideas for graphic imagery to depict mental illness and these were the ideas that I submitted.