Through Their Eyes: Exploring Severe Mental Illness through Short Stories

Indianapolis, IN

My honors thesis, created to fulfill Eastern Kentucky University's Honors Scholars program, consists of three original short stories with characters who each deal with severe mental illness. Mental illness affects one in every five people in the United States at any given time (NAMI, n.d.). While mental illness is extremely prevalent, there is stigma against it, which has dramatic implications on quality of life for those with mental illness. Research has shown, however, that media can serve as an active intervention in decreasing that stigma. The purpose of this project is that my original short stories may lead to decreased stigma among their audience. Severe mental illness includes an additional component of functional impairment, and is highly stigmatized and misunderstood. Each original story deals with a different severe mental illness (peripartum depression with psychotic features in “In Heat,” bipolar I disorder in “Tabula Rasa,” and panic disorder in “Outside”). The characters within these stories are sympathetic, complex, rounded portrayals of people who struggle with mental illnesses. I will describe the premise of each story, the mental illness each character deals with and how it impacts her life, and describe my creation and revision process for each story. I will also discuss implications and future directions for this project, as well as reading a selection from my work.