Reflections on the Role of the Writer: Writing and Mental Health

       One of the things I have observed in several of the works studied this term is how many of them touch on mental health, or rather the lack of it. Some of the references are subtle, and some blatant, but there are enough that it makes me think that writers suffer from issues in this area to a high degree. That might be true of creative types as a whole, though. This is also an area that is of personal meaning to me, so perhaps I am more sensitive to the references and see them more readily.

       A couple of works really made me think about it though, and how the writers approach it. Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus” contains obvious references to suicide. How else can one interpret “And like the cat I have nine times to die. / This is Number Three.” Or “The second time I meant / To last it out and not come back at all.” Knowing that she actually did end her life in this way just makes the references in her poems more tragic and poignant, and I can’t help but wonder how much of a cry for help they might have been. As authentic a voice as she brings to her poems, I hope that others might see her struggle with mental health when they read works by others with similar references and try and approach such writers with gestures of understanding and support.

       Another example is in T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land.” I looked at this when I did my formal essay and his references are much subtler than Plath’s, yet no less compelling. I can really relate to “I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.” Insomnia has plagued me from time to time, and I have also relieved some of the depressing nature of our cold snowy winters by heading to a more tropical region to rest and relax. His poem also references anxiety disorders (“My nerves are bad tonight.”), PTSD (“Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak.”), and mental strain to the point of seeing things that are not there (“Who is the third that walks always beside you? / When I count, there are only you and I together / But when I look ahead up the white road / There is always another one walking beside you”). Like Plath, Eliot’s own struggles with depression are well documented, as is the fact that his wife, Vivienne, also suffered from poor mental health. However, unlike Plath, Eliot was able to find some solace in the practices of mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy. His was a happier ending.

       Another recent piece I looked at for my studies was the TEDx talk by Rupi Kaur entitled “I’m Taking My Body Back”. In the talk, she performs spoken word about suffering a rape and how it made her feel afterwards (this is my transcription of the words, so any mistakes in the words, and any suggestion of form, is mine):

this home is empty now

no gas no electricity no running water

the food is rotten

from head to foot I am layered in dust fruit flies webs bugs

Someone call the plumber the stomach is backed up I’ve been vomiting since

call the electrician these eyes won't light up

call the cleaners to wash me up and hang me to dry

when you broke into my home it never felt like mine again

She vividly describes the emotional state of someone dealing with a trauma, yet the purpose of her talk is to say how she came to terms with it and has not let it become a defining point of who she is. Hers is a positive and motivational poem.

       These may be difficult topics to bring up. They may be unpleasant to read about. Yet one of the roles of a writer is to raise awareness and inform and attempt to give a point of view that others may be unaware of. In all these works, the writer is doing that for mental health issues. I, for one, appreciate having writers bring mental health to a wider audience, even if they have no solutions to offer, as it’s still something that bears a stigma for its sufferers, even more than a century after Eliot was writing about it.