On graphic mental illness narratives: an interview with Clem Martini, Tatiana Gill and Tyler Page

Abstract

ABSTRACT Mental illness continues to be the most stigmatized medical condition across cultures. Autobiographical accounts on affective disorders/mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression among others not only foreground the distinctive circumstances of one’s suffering but also poignantly portray what it means to undergo the disquieting phases of treatment (such as drug therapy and institutionalisation). As such, these narratives open up dialogues about mental illness which otherwise remain stigmatised and thus contribute to overcome discrimination associated with mental illness. Of late, graphic medicine, one of the burgeoning genres of comics, have widened the scope of such first-person accounts of mental illness. Coined by a British physician and comics artist, Ian Williams in 2007, graphic medicine, typically narrated by patients, (professional) caregivers or physicians, refers to the intersection of comics and healthcare. Prominent graphic mental illness memoirs include Darryl Cunningham’s Psychiatric Tales (2010), Ellen Forney’s Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo & Me (2012), and Rachel Lindsay’s Rx (2018). In their mission to counteract medicine’s dogmatic and reductionist approaches, these visual memoirs foreground a plethora of subjective experiences as they also expose and change the current mental health procedures for the better. Taking these cues and in the context of deteriorating global mental health prompted by COVID-19 pandemics, three authors, Clem Martini, Tyler Page and Tatiana Gill, in an email interview share their views on mental illness, graphic medicine, identity crisis, stigma, and, the larger systemic challenges of mental illness treatments and care-giving. The interview consists of two parts. In the first part Drawing Mental Illness the authors respond to questions common to all of them and in the second part Greater Choice, Better Care each of them answer specific questions pertaining to their respective memoir.