For some people, dealing with mental illness can be a difficult subject to handle, but for three authors, they used their experiences with it to create two graphic novels.
Sarah Leavitt shows the cover of her novel
Clem and Oliver Martini recently wrote and illustrated Bitter Medicine: a Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness that documents their family’s 30-year struggle with schizophrenia.
While there are plenty of books written about schizophrenia, there are not many written about living with the affliction, Clem noted before doing a reading of the book at the Crossings Branch library last week.
Oliver, who provided illustrations for the book, has schizophrenia. Clem used his own observations and his brother’s experiences for the novel’s story.
Clem also writes about the hardships his family has endured as the result of mistakes made by the health care system.
Clem told a story of how Oliver was diagnosed with diabetes, which isn’t uncommon, but it was the direct result of medication that was prescribed to him to help treat his schizophrenia.
“The mental health system is so troubled that the only way to expose it was by taking a personal story and shining a light on it, which led to the book,” says Clem. “Every personal story has a public application.”
Writing the novel also provided a sense of accomplishment for Clem.
“It’s satisfying to acknowledge that things that happened shouldn’t have happened the way they did, “ says Clem.
In Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me, Sarah Leavitt uses illustrations from her journal to portray how her family was changed as a result of her mother’s dementia.
Several members in the audience were brought to tears while Leavitt spoke and showed her illustrations.
The novel offers a range of stories ranging from the realization of her mother’s illness to her mother’s relationship with the family cat.
“I think I just wanted to write about what really happened and I couldn’t do that without providing some really personal things about myself,” says Leavitt.
For more information on the authors visit www.sarahleavitt.com and www.ucalgary.ca/~martini/.