English Literature & Creative Writing
Anxiously Awaiting: Exploring the Stigma Surrounding Mental Illness in Rural America through a Fiction Novella
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Location
Indianapolis, IN
Subject Area
English Literature & Creative Writing
Start Date
13-4-2018 3:00 PM
End Date
13-4-2018 4:15 PM
Sponsor
James Keating (Butler University)
Description
Throughout my childhood and secondary education growing up in rural Indiana, I found that, in a town of less than 2,000 people, mental illness and teenage suicide were all too common. Upon researching the sad state of mental healthcare in rural America, I felt obliged to bring light in my Honors thesis to the overlooked and under-treated thoughts that plague the minds of adolescents experiencing depression, anxiety, and suicidal contemplation. In this fiction novella, I follow the life of Lincoln Phillips, a 14-year-old boy who lives with anxiety in an unchanging, inescapable town that stigmatizes mental illness. He experiences the suicide of his best friend that was hardly noticed, parents that discount his feelings and thoughts, and anxiety attacks that leave him feeling hollow. Lincoln, towards the end of the novella, encounters a girl by the name of Charlotte that eventually leads him to treatment by a mental health professional outside of the town of Wiltsky. By interviewing mental health professionals and students of many backgrounds and ages, analyzing the statistics surrounding mental health and illness in Indiana and rural America, and reviewing various articles and studies, I attempted to paint a realistic picture of rural American towns, mental illness, teenage desires and fears, and teenage suicide. I will be reading small excerpts from the novella, discussing the character, plot, and setting development, and discussing the statistics, studies, and personal experiences that influenced the writing of “Anxiously Awaiting.”
Anxiously Awaiting: Exploring the Stigma Surrounding Mental Illness in Rural America through a Fiction Novella
Indianapolis, IN
Throughout my childhood and secondary education growing up in rural Indiana, I found that, in a town of less than 2,000 people, mental illness and teenage suicide were all too common. Upon researching the sad state of mental healthcare in rural America, I felt obliged to bring light in my Honors thesis to the overlooked and under-treated thoughts that plague the minds of adolescents experiencing depression, anxiety, and suicidal contemplation. In this fiction novella, I follow the life of Lincoln Phillips, a 14-year-old boy who lives with anxiety in an unchanging, inescapable town that stigmatizes mental illness. He experiences the suicide of his best friend that was hardly noticed, parents that discount his feelings and thoughts, and anxiety attacks that leave him feeling hollow. Lincoln, towards the end of the novella, encounters a girl by the name of Charlotte that eventually leads him to treatment by a mental health professional outside of the town of Wiltsky. By interviewing mental health professionals and students of many backgrounds and ages, analyzing the statistics surrounding mental health and illness in Indiana and rural America, and reviewing various articles and studies, I attempted to paint a realistic picture of rural American towns, mental illness, teenage desires and fears, and teenage suicide. I will be reading small excerpts from the novella, discussing the character, plot, and setting development, and discussing the statistics, studies, and personal experiences that influenced the writing of “Anxiously Awaiting.”