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Mental Health Day: Artist creates witty illustrations on anxiety and depression
Monday marks World Mental Health Day, an annual day observed to help raise awareness of mental health issues. And it’s just the day to better understand the reality of living with depression and anxiety by way of simple illustrations.
British cartoonist, writer and illustrator Gemma Correll will make you smile on World Mental Health Day. Seriously.
Monday marks the annual day observed to help raise awareness of mental health issues. And it’s just the day to better understand the reality of living with depression and anxiety by way of simple illustrations.
US-based Correll has created a series of comics as a way to explain, and cope with, her own struggles with clinical anxiety and depression.
And she hopes by injecting a little humour into her illustrations, she’ll break down some of the stigma and encourage others to be more open about what they’re going through.
“I suffer from clinical anxiety and depression and I find that the best way to deal with it is to find humour in it,” she told Mashable.
“I do think that people should speak more freely about anxiety,” she adds.
“The illustrations were all inspired by my own anxieties and neuroticisms,” Correll told Mashable. “I suffer from clinical anxiety and depression and I find that the best way to deal with it is to find humour in it.”
“I honestly think that humour can be a saviour at times of distress or, if you just live with a constant level of anxiety and depression like I do,” she continued.
“I know that I would have felt a little better as an anxiety-ridden teenager if I knew that I wasn’t completely alone in my fears.”
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Gemma has received thousands of comments on her Facebook page from people who have similarly suffered in silence.
“Thank you for your spot on illustrations,” writes one woman. “I have bipolar II, anxiety. The list goes on and on. No one talks about it. There is humour in it. You have to see the humour or it kills you.”
It is estimated that nearly 60 million Indians experience some kind of mental health problems, with anxiety and depression being the most common forms of mental illness. Nearly 10-20 million (1-2% of the population) Indians suffered from severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and nearly 50 million (5% of population) suffered from common mental disorders like depression and anxiety at the end of 2005.
To see more of Gemma’s illustrations, head to her website or her Facebook, Instagram or Tumblr page. She has also written a survivor’s guide for all those ‘floundering in life’, called The Worrier’s Guide to Life.
For now, take a look at these simple illustrations that show the reality of living with anxiety and depression.
