Sunday, September 24, 2017

Mental health in a post-apocalyptic world

As I said yesterday, I've been writing like crazy thanks to my not-so-lazy couch day, and something interesting came up in my story today.

The way I write is organic, I guess you can say: I know the basic skeleton of the plot, but I don't know the details until they're already on the page. This form of writing takes me and my characters to places I never expected. I think I said it before, but this book was originally supposed to be a one-off about a couple who escaped a bad storm. Now it's this rich world filled with all kinds of normal people just trying to make it in adverse conditions, and it's going to be (at least) four books when it's all said and done. I've met so many amazing people in my story, characters who have jumped onto the page and waved to me, and today I met two more new people who, if you read book three once it's done, you'll also meet: Adam and Charlotte. I don't want to give up too much of the story, of course, but I will say this: in Braving the Storm, we learn that the militia is responsible for several different groups: the townsfolk, the SCA, two colleges, the tent city, and the other farmers and stragglers (those in the cabin included) around the Slippery Rock area. Adam and Charlotte are from one of the colleges, and I never knew about them until today. It's so much fun to meet new people!

Anywho, one of the things they're dealing with--and something that I hadn't considered much about this post-apocalyptic scenario--is someone with a mental illness who no longer has medication to control it. Book three happens 7 months after the Blackout, so even stockpiles of drugs are pretty much gone now. To think of all those people out there who have mental disorders who would be so lost in this scenario makes my heart weep; it would take a very strong will to give the time and patience to help someone with, say, paranoid schizophrenia after the shit hit the fan.

I wanted to share an excerpt of book 3 with you that I just wrote. Keep in mind that Charlotte has one of those tell-it-like-it-is attitudes, and we find out why later in the story. Still, you can tell that she cares about their special member of the group:



“How’s everyone’s health?” Kenny asked.
“Other than Tommy, we’re all pretty healthy here,” Adam replied. “Most of us are still in our early twenties. The few middle aged people we have here stay active, so they don’t have many complaints other than the normal aches and pains in the morning.”
“Who’s Tommy?” Kenny inquired.
Charlotte snorted. “The resident bipolar case,” she replied. “He ran out of his meds a few months ago, so his mood swings are, well, in full swing. A few days ago he locked himself in one of the vacant houses because ‘he’s too much of a loser to live with the general populace.’  I’ll make sure you know which house is his so none of your people move into it; that home is reserved as his safe space for when he gets like this.”
“Is he okay in there by himself?” Steve asked.
Charlotte shrugged her shoulders apathetically. “We make sure his house is stocked with food, water, books, and notepads for him to doodle and write bad poetry in, that way he eats and has stuff to do while he broods—and we make sure there aren’t any sharp instruments. We check on him twice a day just in case, not that he ever lets anyone in. His depressive period lasts for a week or two, then he goes into his manic phase. Honestly, I’m really hoping for a manic phase when it comes time to plowing the lawns; he’ll have half the yard done by himself in an afternoon.”
“Is he dangerous?” Kenny inquired worriedly.
“No, he’s not violent; he’s just a royal pain in the ass when he throws one of his temper tantrums,” Charlotte replied. “Once he calms the fuck down he’ll come out and apologize to everyone. We all just take him with a grain of salt; we know that it’s mostly not his fault. He warned us about his condition right away and we still took him in, knowing that he’d run out of his medication eventually. He’s high maintenance, but he’s still one of our people.”


I just hope that everyone else with mental illness is treated with kindness and understanding in this sort of scenario. There are those who will not be safe to be around, as we see in our world now. For those mild, harmless cases, though, I hope they all have safe places to escape to and a caring group of individuals who make sure they have what they need to get through the dark.

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