I have ADHD, PTSD, panic issues, some paranoia, and other issues. I find it difficult to manage, yet am still able to write. I write largely to cope with my issues, although I do like the occassional lighter children's story.
How does writing with mental illness effect your output?
Aug '17
Aug '17
Motivation. There was an entire week and a half stretch this last month where I didn't even think about my work, and the more I stressed out about about not having the energy/will to write, the harder it was to get going when I finally sat my ass down and forced myself to do it.
I have Mindgrains and ADD so I can't write all of the time. But I'm sure you'll get through writing, just have to find the time! Take care, fellow creator.
Ouch, yea Mindgrains suck the most hard. I'm still not sure if I experienced them. There was a time I was having head aches all the time.
It doesn't happen too often, but there will be times where I just do not have the energy to get things completed and have to force myself. I was diagnosed with depression+anxiety a few months ago and I've been trying to find ways that I can get myself to finish things on time. Setting a timer for 30 minutes of working and 15 for a break seems to help. But there are days where all I end up doing is procrastinating (and stressing about the project), and then I beat myself up even more about it. 
It helps me really. Creative work and walks are the only things that work to make use of, and get out, that extra ADHD energy in a way that makes me happy.
My aspergers syndrome is something I barely notice these days. I was a waiter for a while and I have socialized a lot within my creative job and learnt to have social courage and better read people that way.
Yea I know about the asperges.
I had a friend once that said that walking around a lot can stimulate the imagination more. I've tried it, and it does help when I have writer's blockage.
Now if only there was an alphasmart I could strap my chest while going for walks.
I always found writing helped me with my mental illness. I'm Schizo-Affective, and sometimes I'll have bad days where I don't feel like doing anything, but usually writing has always helped me face each day and cope.
Does the way society view such conditions cause any writer's block, I've definitely heard it's a misunderstood condition?
But yea I know about not feeling like doing anything.
I'm Autistic and use drawing as a way to cope, so it is an essential part of my day. It's how I process emotions and impressions of the day, so it highly affects my output.
There are days where I cannot draw and just procrastinate, but I've learned that it's a sign of stress and that I need to take it easy, until the motivation is back. There are also days, where I can't concentrate on anything else and I will draw all day. I'm very lucky right now to be in an internship that helps me pace myself better, since they allow me to work on my comic on days where I'm tired.
One thing I observed is I tend to brainstorm better when I'm laying down, though I'm not entirely sure how I'll incorporate that into my work routine though.
And looking at baby sheep videos always helps.
I wouldn't say it causes writer's block for me, at least. It kind of motivates me to prove society wrong. I want to show them that they're wrong in assuming I can't be a contributing member of society.
But my mental illness is probably one of my biggest inspirations. Given I'm medicated now (which has done amazing things for me!), but my past and current struggles brought me to where I am today.
I have social anxiety (diagnosed as agoraphobia), a processing based learning disability, and ADD.
Writing has always been my primary coping mechanism. I would make up stories to occupy my brain so that I didn't think about the anxiety, and those fictional worlds helped me to play with and mold ideas so I could put lessons from school into a perspective that I could understand.
The only thing writing didn't help with was the ADD, because it was easier for me to get distracted by a story I liked. But, hey, two out of three is still pretty good.
My username says it all.
Anyway, because of my condition, Life of an Aspie1 has been the one idea I've had for a comic (and there were several before LoaA even though I had ideas for it as far back as 2011) that actually stuck with me. Any time I've tried to come up with ideas for other comics, I quickly abandoned them because my brain would always return its focus back to LoaA. This is actually a good thing as because I'm so obsessed with my comic, I've been able to lavish the most attention on it and help formulate any story ideas I have into better ones. On the subject of games to briefly change the subject, the most recent occurrence where I used a video game in LoaA, I went the distance and not only made it feel like my main protagonist was actually in that world (The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons to be specific), but also faithfully recreated the segment of OoS that she was playing (with a couple of minor liberties sure, but still, compared to many gaming webcomics I've read over the years where the focus is more on cheap jokes about the game in question, a variant of two guys sitting on a couch discussing or playing games, or is just "X game crossed with Y cute thing/pop culture icon" , I can honestly say that I immersed both the main protagonist and readers who are also gamers alike in the world of Holodrum (Oracle of Season's setting) using a longplay I found on Youtube to refresh my mind as it had been so many years since I played the game myself, my own playthrough via emulator to double check for authenticity's sake (and to relive a piece of my childhood. lol), and finally a Zelda Wiki to look up the dialogue for an NPC who gives "Link" the shovel item shortly before the player reaches the second dungeon of the game. Again, for authenticity's sake.
In some ways, I can say writing saved me from OCD. I used to have horrible thoughts that plagued my mind (even in my dreams), but once I focused on writing and changed my thinking process, I got better.
I have Aspergers, depression, and anxiety and I'd say writing and drawing especially have helped me cope with it all. I used to have several anxiety attacks and sometimes panic attacks every day during my late teens.
I have GAD, OCD, and bipolar type 2 (autistic too, but that's not a mental illness). In some ways, being mentally ill can hinder my creativity and motivation, which makes it a lot harder to get things done. But in other ways, being mentally ill allows me to have a deeper connection with my characters, many of who are mentally ill too. I still need to research the specifics, but I definitely feel as if they are more multi-dimensional than a lot of mentally ill characters who just exist for a certain trope or stereotype.
* Hugs