Inktober is a relatively new month-long challenge for artists all over the world. It was created by Jake Parker, who came up with the idea to focus on improving skills and developing positive drawing habits. For 31 days of October, everyone who wants to participate creates an ink drawing and posts it online using the #inktober tag. Each year there's a new prompt list to be used for the pictures. Shawn Coss decided to ditch the guidelines and create within a sore theme, posting new mental illness ink depictions every day of the Inktober.
Shawn's mental illness art translates sicknesses of the mind in an eerily accurate way, and his ghoulish illustrations don't end with Inktober. The artist has worked for such clients as the horror king Stephen King himself, creates Cyanide & Happiness cartoons, and even has his own clothing line.
So if you're searching for support with your mental illness or are plainly into horror, check Shawn's art below. It surely gave us the chills!
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Social Anxiety Disorder
I can't relate. People just bore me... So I avoid them. That's probably a disorder in itself...
Load More Replies...My anxiety really flares when multiple people are talking at the same time. So for me, it would be more like faces with no eyes, only mouths screaming over each other.
Load More Replies...Can you do more of these please!!!! High functioning anxiety disorder, adhd, narcissistic personality disorder. I would buy these as a book. They are beautiful and spot on.
This one is my whole life. Social anxiety and depression is all I've known. I don't remember my life before it, I've blocked everything out. My demons are my friends, they are all I know. I distance myself from everyone else in fear that they'll turn on me as others have in the past.
I can't relate to this one. I don't feel like people are after me. I wanna be closer to some people, but somehow I just can't. And life pushes me into sutuations I have to be the one approaching others and that's somehow a very hard thing to do.
I feel the same way as you do. I would like to talk to people and make friends but somehow I can't do it. Where can you get a diagnose?
Load More Replies...For me social anxiety would incorporate faces and especially eyes rather than arms I think.
to the creator - shawn - i just wanted to say that these are all really excellent and i applaud you choosing such important topics. well done.
I have severe social anxiety!! I literally have to talk to myself into leaving the house. Walmart is the absolute worst for me! But even going to family functions is extremely hard for me too.
Major Depressive Disorder
Me as well..this person captured it so clearly 😞
Load More Replies...When you feel like giving up, anxiety stress and heartache make you so sick to your stomach that your mind is spinning out of control with emotion and thoughts of hopelessness. When it is time to ask for help but you don't even feel worth it. Feeling like an inconvenience and like nobody should even care about you because you don't want them to waste their feelings. Being kicked when your down and struggling to see the light at the other end. Pain is temporary, trying to tell yourself it will work out but in the moment it seems impossible while your mind is flooded with disturbing thoughts. Sick at feeling alone but rather be alone then burden anyone. Consumed with pain. Trying to explain how you feel and what goes on in your mind but people look down at you for it. Feeling sick but still trying to make your way, hanging onto every last ounce of hope and faith because it's all you have. Not motivated to get up and get moving or to even say a word. ....to be ctnd
I know those feelings too...it's horrible...
Load More Replies...It is like trying to dig out of your own grave or like half of you is always buried. Especially at its worse.
These drawings are so beautiful. Would you consider selling some of your work if you don't already?
There's nothing I can do. Stuck in one place. Unable to move away from the pain an utter despair. Just baring it alone and nobody but me knows what I'm going through. That's how it felt. This picture remarkably identifies. I'm not alone
That captures my dread and feelings that I am trapped, but doesn't show the fear.
These are all absolutely incredible! Beautiful work. Disturbing. As they should be. Shows the world how we feel inside.
Insomnia
I find that jasmine tea helps dull it a little. A little, but at least some.
Load More Replies...It's so nice to see insomnia recognized as a real problem... so many people have told me it's not real.
I actually get anxious before going to bed because I know I will be fighting to sleep.....this is me every night!
why..? what is reasons..? may i help ....if u have any kind problem...so please share.. with me
Load More Replies...My problem is that I fight with my sleep because I don't want the next day to come...and won't stop going 200mph.
I used to have insomnia like this. When my husband would work weekend nights I would be scared to sleep and when I did go to sleep every noise would wake me and I would feel like this. Overtired. Freaked out. My mind creating monsters in shadows. Heart racing. Anxiety. But I've had insomnia issues for most of my life.
Me too. I have to drink a whole bottle of wine so I can pass out when my husband is out of town or I freak out about every little sound. It's awful.
Load More Replies...Once I was scared to go to sleep. I sometimes woke up and it felt like I couldn't breath, I would cry myself to sleep. I still have insomnia, but that feeling is gone.
real i actually look like this. sleepless nights...always tired and barely have any energy for any thing...even not enough to look at my phone...
This..is SO sad.. My poor, dear husband looks like this so often lately.
i can not express how much i relate to this, and good job i love your style
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Since 5 years I've got this f... disease and I can not bring it on paper how it feels... you got it! Thank you!
I was diagnosed with a severe form of PTSD. This picture is accurate. A combination of Acutonics therapy (helped stopped the spontaneous flashbacks) hypnotherapy (helped ease the fear and anxiety and get me centered) and taking the course in the forum with landmark worldwide helped me get over the terrifying phobias I was told I would never get rid of. I learned in that course a way to distiguish my past from the present and it set me free. While I had it and before I I used holy basil, gaba, and Rhidiola to control my anxiety and stress level. Holistically. I went to a holistic psychiatrist so that natural methods were chosen first before prescriptions. This is curable and you don't have to go on heavy pills and live like this forever. I share my healing journey because they are not well known and I was a severe case due to the multiple trauma I endured as a child my doctors were fascinated by my progress. It is curable and I am sharing how do all who suffer from this can learn.
Load More Replies...You captured this one so accurately for me. It's almost frightening to see what's inside me put to paper.
There's never been a better description than this. I'm going to show this to my doctor and therapist. Thank you .
Just seeing this breaks me down in tears. There's no words that can discribe how it feels to suffer with ptsd....but this....this speaks so much more clearly than descriptive words ever could.
You nail it. I have been suffering for 32 years with PTSD due to mental, physical, emotional and sexual abuse from age 5-17 and then received the diagnosis. I must admit I thought it was a disease for only people who had been to war, after receiving this diagnosis I realized I have most definitely been to war!!
I developed this as a child and it's actually Complex-PTSD. Very hard to explain when you were physically, emotionally, and sexually abused as a child.
Your right Rebecca.... Over a decade later, lots of education. And support and my demon no longer has me in grasp. It just lingers in the background trying to get hold of me again while I spend everyday dodging it. Some days are harder than others but I believe it will get easier. Like anything else - I know if I practice I'll get better.
Load More Replies...This illustration really touched me. It was so incredibly difficult for me to learn to reconcile with that demon. It was even more difficult for me to unlock the chains that bound me for so long. For anyone reading this please understand that you are not alone. I'm sorry for what happened to you and I'm so sorry you are suffering with this, but I believe in you. You can beat this so please believe in yourself.
Bipolar Disorder
Lookup Shawn Coss Atrocities on Facebook! You can get a link to his website to order things like original prints
Load More Replies...The missing arms I like the most . Is the maniac depression that leaves you disabled to help your help your self helpless to fight without hands while you melting on your knees . From the other polar your other self trying to rise from this state to put yourself in default and neutralise your feelings but struggling to keep the balance and rich the opposite side of the disorder . For me it looks more than an atypical bipolar disorder, Touching the field of manic depression . (Μανιοκατάθλιψη)=bipolar disorder
It's nothing like that. Bipolar disorder is a sunny day where everything is OK, and a cloudy day where everything is sad. It is also a sunny day where the sun is misery and your skin and eyes hurt, where there is every reason to be happy but it barely impacts, and the cloud over your brain makes it hard to think. It's also the day that will come, must come if you survive, simply by the law of probability - the day someone you love is hurting and in pain, but the most negative emotion you can feel is excited agitation. Where you know you should be sad but can't, and you know it will break something important but that dosn't bother you because literally nothing bothers you. Most of all it's the days in between, when you figure out how to put a life together from the active wreckage mania leaves and the long slow erosion the depression leaves. Over 30 years of bipolar depression with an atypical response to the standard mediations give me some perspective on this.
People experience it differently... That's what makes mental illness difficult to diagnose and treat...
Load More Replies...Spot on! The manic/mania depiction looks like he's trying to jump out of his body, and that's how I feel when I'm manic. It's like you have so much anxious and negative energy you don't know what to do with yourself. I truly want to jump out of my skin. The lows are just as terrible. You know there's no logical reason for you to feel all the hurt, pain, and sadness. It figuratively knocks the wind out of you- it's so overwhelming you can function. Having one on top of the other is brilliant too- when your depressed it feels like you're carrying extra weight, like someone is pushing you down. When you're manic it's like you're super man on top of the world with tons of energy. It's not a good feeling though- it's like a bomb with a hairpin trigger- anything can set you off
The point is (I think) that there are uncontrollable highs and uncontrollable lows. As where a person' without BPD's reaction or feelings to a situation/person/experience/etc can be like a bell curve (increase, level out, decrease) ours is more a fast climb, inability to level out at the top, sort of being "stuck" and after some time, a return to normal. Same anaology for the lows. At least that'a how I've learned to explain it.
If only society would truly accept mental illness just as they do other medical illnesses or addictions. There's no love or compassion, and it's sad. Pathetic really!!
Sorry, I do love the artwork and I can relate on many levels.
Load More Replies...This represents my bipolar perfectly. Miserable and so suicidely depressed I've been brought to my knees but yet I have this insane, manic person jumping out of me in bits and bursts or rattling the inside of my rib cage.
God, you nailed it...major ups, severe downs, and it's just impossible to plot what will happen next...beautiful!
Borderline Personality Disorder
I always find it fascinating how others see me, compared to how I see myself. While I understand the interpretation, and it is mesmerizing. I find, for me, it feels, like a perpetual black hole inside that nothing can fill, and, forever trying to decipher the reality of what is going on around me, as compared to how I feel is going on around me. People see BPD as instigatory and drama seeking, while, the few I have had the opportunity to talk to, agree, that it's actually reactionary, in a desperate attempt to keep up with the constantly shifting emotions. Chasing what can't be caught, reacting to what has already passed. Amazingly, I do see myself as naked in front of everyone. Like my emotions leave me perpetually ashamed and exposed.
My therapist is still deciphering whether I am BDP or bipolar - your post couldn't be more accurate to how I feel so often. Drama seeking, is love seeking. Anger, is a reaction to the fear of being abandoned. Frustration is the want for something more in life and not knowing what it is or how to get it. I searched and searched and am furious at the lack of sites, information and others that suffer with the condition. I wish you all well!
Load More Replies...The facelessness and knowing that you are full of monsters...this is it.
You put it so well... it made me tear up. As a hidden BPD (hidden to others anyways) that figured out how to "act normal".... and the child of a BPD... I haven't ever figured out how to explain it to anyone but that is perfect.
Load More Replies...This picture is awesome! I absolutely love it as a piece of art but it's too 'nice' to represent the torment and extreme loneliness bpds feel. That sheet should be around her neck with the demons pulling it to tighten it. Her body should be naked and bare with shards of glass erupting from her heart... or something like that ay
A few quotes that have helped me: "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf." - Jon Kabat-Zinn “People with BPD are like people with third degree burns over 90% of their bodies. Lacking emotional skin, they feel agony at the slightest touch or movement.” - Marsha M. Linehan
This is something I struggle with and this is so beautiful. Are you willing to let people use your art if you're credited. Cause I'd love this as a tattoo. This is amazing
As someone who pushes through BPD, I find this to be a very subtle, and insightful depiction of the more insidious internal aspects of the disorder.. The darkness in the head, and behind the cold eyes being both a representation of the persistently dark outlook on the everything, and also deep struggle to find and maintain identity. It feels like there is no soul to gaze through the window at. All or nothing. Split between death and sensual embrace. There is nothing else.
Yes. This. So ... much ... this ... I call them my A.N.T.s ... Automatic Negative Thoughts. That is -exactly- what it feels like.
Autism Spectrum Disorder
I think it's beautiful and perfectly shows the sadness from not being heard or understood.
Are you autistic? I don't think this is an accurate account of my existence. I can speak but when I do it's as if Im speaking the wrong language. No one can understand and I end up on the sidewalk watching the world pass me by.
Load More Replies...I think it's not only the inability to communicate, but also the fact that, as an autistic person, I can ascribe some of the symptems as my brain is screaming and insisting I behave certain ways that I know on some level are wrong.
Are you certain that the behaviors you describe really are wrong for you, or is it just society that makes you believe you should feel they are wrong? Maybe they are the ones being wrong. As long as you are not hurting anyone else, its ok to be you.
Load More Replies...ASD is not a mental illness or disorder. It is a neurological/communication disorder. As such thus is a limited illustration of a person who has ASD.
Thank-you for saying that. I wanted to but wasn't brave enough.I have ASD. I am not mentally ill. Just different.
Load More Replies...I'm autistic and this so relates to me - I can almost never get what's in my head to my mouth to speak out loud
This one actually made me cry. I have Autism AND ADHD. I get bullied alot. Ever sense I was a kid. Many people, even my own close family, don't inderstand that sometimes I just literally speak my mind. Thank you so much!!
I have Asperger's & ADHD. I'm very literal & don't understand sarcasm or social conventions. Yes, I, too, speak my mind. I didn't get diagnosed with Asperger's till I was 20. I'm 31 now. My last job was very, very accommodating. My first boss there, Nancy, she helped me use some aspects of my Asperger's to my advantage. I worked in accounting. Neither of us work there anymore, but she is my best friend. I held down that job for 8 years. When our company merged with another & moved cities, I cried out to her numerous times that I thought the other company would have power over me & fire me if they found out about my Asperger's. She assured me that she would not let that happen. I'm looking for work now, & I have a very real fear that I, once hired, would have to explain myself to my future boss & I'm afraid I won't get the same accommodation I got at my last place.
Load More Replies...Autism is not a mental illness and shouldn't be here. It's a normal form of human neurodiversity. It seems most of these images are from the eyes of neurotypical non-mentally ill folks.
Yeah. Having an inability to speak and a constant urge to harm yourself is just natural diversity. F**k off. You are one of those high functioning faggots who only ever cares about themselves.
Load More Replies...sometimes autism feel like this, but other times you feel like an alien among your own kind: you don't fit in with normal people and sometimes you don't even fit in with others with autism and in the end you feel alone even though you are surrounded by people. All you want is to understand what is going on around you and for people to understand you too but because you don't know how to ask for help or how tell others what they need to know about you that you want them to understand so badly you end up alone with your own thoughts struggling to understand the world around you because nothing makes sense. You want people to understand but they can't and you feel like you are trapped inside your own mind screaming for help because you are trapped in a straight jacket made up of confusion and misunderstanding but no matter how hard you scream or how many tears you cry no one pays you any mind and no one cares enough to help and those who want to help don't know how soon they all leave.
I have a toddler with ASD, I see him cry when he starts to play and others leave. I was never diagnosed but it happened to me as a child. Back in the day this isn't even a thing so my mother just thinks Im misbehaving n beats me. Experiencing all that as a child I do my best to understand my baby. I hope he feels loved n understood that he ll never feel lonely growing up. For myself, it seems I can never get whats in my brain outside correctly. Making real friends was hard. I envy ppl who can effortlessly bring out their mind in the form of a single action, like a stamp, getting it right on communicating. No matter how hard I try, it just makes it more impossible, especially with my closest family. When family doesn't help it's hard growing up or as an adult. We just have to make sure 1 - survival skills, 2 - work on being love (understanding, communicating, whatever we lacked) with ourself. It is a hard process. But it takes acceptance. The world we want &the world it is seems at odds
Load More Replies...Shawn, neither I nor any of my autistic friends and acquaintances find autism to be monstrous and torturous, the way you depict it; occasionally we get overwhelmed by sensory input and need to find ways to escape the overstimulus, and often we find ourselves saddened or angered by the way neurotypical people stigmatize us, pity us, and basically treat us as less than human, but it's the way people treat us that is monstrous here, not our autism. Unfortunately, your drawing only adds to that problem. How unfortunate. Perhaps you could have consulted some actual autistic people before deciding to draw autism as something monstrous and isolating? And why did you sew the mouth of your autism avatar shut? Most of us communicate quite well, thank you very much, though some of us are more verbal than others, and some of us need assistive technology. Also, autism is a neurological difference, not a mental illness. Even the DSM-V says so. Please do your research.
Kindly p**s off. This describes how I felt a lot when I was younger. Tons of thoughts and feelings in my head and not a good enough understanding of how to verbalize them.
Load More Replies...Damn f****n right. The last thing we need is another mundie portraying us as broken monsters.
Load More Replies...Im Autistic and have ADD. I had the problem pictured above my whole childhood. But nowadays I don't even bother to try to explain, since they can never understand. others are just too different, and it's, ok. I must say I don't feel that their way is better. Neurotypicals are always bound by these ineffective and stupid social norms and rules. Saying one thing, meaning another. Feeling the need to do a whole social dance before getting to a point. Accepting the world as it is just because they are supposed to. I was miserable trying to force myself to be like "them", especially because no matter how hard I tried I never could. Now that I decided I don't have to, i feel like this picture over here. autistic-M...6d3c57.jpg
Thank you for this reminder. As we work toward an ASD diagnosis of some kind for our 4 year old son, your words are the lesson I want to remember. Situations with social norms, rules, connotations, etc are always the most challenging for him. And instead of trying to make him fit into the situation, I am going to try to find HIS rainbow in the situation.
Load More Replies...Paranoid Schizophrenia
My husband is schizophrenic and I must say mostof these images really show the torment of the disorders, but this one could be more so I think. It doesn't show how horrible and degrading schizophrenic delusions can be. It's like torture.. it's like having your entire being torn apart and eaten alive by demons that no one else can see. His voices torment him 24/7... Sometimes his hallucinations keep him from sleeping... Besides it always being like he's in a room full of people judging and putting him down, he also hears explosions and smashing noises that will keep him up all night. This disorder permeates every part of our lives. Of all the seriously mental health disorders I think this one is the most extreme and debilitating BY FAR. Now a days, 2 years into him being a full blown schizophrenic, caring for him is like taking care of an old person with dementia.. he doesn't cook for himself, he barely cleans.. and doesn't remember anthing we talk about.. lots of notes and alarms...
Kayleigh- I am so in your same position. My (ex?) boyfriend snapped into full blown schizophrenia two years ago. I can relate to everything you've said. It's the worst trying to be a caretaker for someone who's family has all but abandoned him, someone who can't really hold any kind of conversation, who has no concept of what my needs are, who's homeless, basically living in my car... I mean, I could go on. I don't know how you do it. I don't know how I do it., either. But I feel you. I feel and understand all the anguish- because I'm right there, too.
Load More Replies..."The schizophrenic mind is not so much split as shattered. I like to say schizophrenia is like a waking nightmare." - Elyn Saks :/
The worst part about having this illness, is the bullying I get, and the friends and family that have abandoned me when I've needed them the most. When I lose touch, it's like there is no filter to stop me from saying things I would never say when well. What's the point of even making friends anymore, because they always end up judging me and hating me, and abandoning me. Makes me lonely and suicidal.
I've got it too ps, my family are useless, xxxxxxx
Load More Replies...My only sibling was a paranoid schizophrenic. I think this is a pretty accurate depiction of what my sister felt but never could express for many years up until her death in 2014. Thank you for these drawings. It brings, at least for me, a better understanding and sense of closure knowing the peace she now has.
i love this image my friend has this disorder and also has ADHD and is always freaking out in school.
I too have schizophrenia. It can be torture, however I have found many positive aspects of the illness. My brain often sees things in a completely innovative way compared to others which has been advantageous numerous times. My creativity is explosive! My hallucinations and delusions often keep me company when I'm alone. It's not all bad.
Having a severe MI like Sz also makes one more empathetic and compassionate regarding the struggles of others. There ARE positives.
Load More Replies...Wow. I thought it was distorted view and perception. I wouldn't have associated it with multiple voices
You did an awesome job depicting the voices, and your drawings are so explicit.
OCD
My OCD is also not to do with cleaning, but it brings the point across. Have to do it else you can't get comfy and it destroys you. Mine's to do with routine, I have routines with routines, and timings. It's pretty bad and pretty much ruins my life.
It annoys me so SO much how "being obsessed with cleaning" is what people still think OCD is. It is so much worse and more complicated and debilitating than just wanting to have clean hands
Load More Replies...Not all OCD is cleaning related. But I appreciate the point that it's making.
Don't know why you're getting down voted for this, I completely agree!
Load More Replies...I don't think the artist understands Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It's more like having a voice in your head that tells you to do things or something bad will happen. It could be doing something as odd as touching a door handle a certain number of times, but it can be crippling.
I agree, and about a voice in the head as well, but i try very hard to fight it, something bad can happen anyway, not everything is in our control, you have to let go and live with this idea, you are stronger than you think, even strong enough to deal with the consequences od this "bad" thing, just think possitively, you must be very sensetive person, who takes everything close to his heart, knows how to love and known heartbraking and frustration , also you must have something that you value most of all in this life and are afraid to loose... but this is normal thing and adequate emothion , just know that u are stronger than you know, believe in yourself, work on yourself , inspire yourself every day , every hour , don't let OCD destroy your well-being , dont let your subcontios fobias influence youe everyday life and well-being of your beloved ones.
Load More Replies...I have health and death OCD, I think OCD would be better represented by intrusive thoughts perhaps?
It was my first thought also, to show intrusive thoughts that represent OCD. When I am looking this picture again and again it's good, but it would be great with the same approach if it would be "clean clean clean" and showing person with blood on the head. Cause, I am feeling like I'm digging into my brain thinking over and over again when I have this thoughts. Sometimes I clean and wash stuff and myself too much so this is also good illustration of OCD.
Load More Replies...It is a misconception that people with Obssessive Compulsive Disorder are cleanliness freaks. The compulsion can be anything. For some it is to clean their aurroundings or to was ther hands again and again. For some,the compulsion might be to collect,say,candy wrappers. But,it is a compulsion. One has to perform the act or it might destroybthe person from within.
For me, I have to step on drains. But it has to be an even number of drains, I would jump so I can get an even number, if I step on an odd number, it affects me for the rest of the day. Like I have this niggling feeling in the back of my mind, that something bad is going to happen later if I don't do anything to correct it.
Load More Replies...This isn't OCD, I have OCD, it's not overly clean or organized, it's the feeling that you must do something or thinking even, and then doing it again because you don't feel it is right even though it's done perfectly, like counting money and putting it all back and count again because it didn't feel right, even if it was done right, like counting 2 one dollar bills, that easy to get right and can't be done wrong , but something in your head makes you feel it is wrong
Yes Lindsey you're right!! Mine is more about numbers and repetitive checking and rechecking. But this is still so rad and relatable.
My OCD has nothing to do with cleanliness but I definitely rip myself apart with my obsessions and compulsions
Not really captured OCD here it's more guilt, worry, repetition, intrusive thoughts in my opinion as that's how I suffer with it
I do as well but I use organization and perfectionism as a distraction for the intrusive thoughts that have been debilitating for most of my life. I know drugs aren't the answer for everyone but I have found Luvox to help a lot with the obsessive thoughts. One person with OCD to another, you aren't alone.
Load More Replies...Everyones ocd is different. Mine is cleaning and that everything has to be back in its right full place, also when it gets really bad I go into a messed up spring cleaning organization mode. I can get paranoid and it can triggered my insomnia and depression.
Same. The depression hits when I'm forced to recognize that nothing will be perfectly organized and clean all the time. Its a very defeating cycle.
Load More Replies...DPD
I didn't even know this was a thing. I've never been able to be alone I have to have someone close by. I looked at this picture a very long time. I have never seen something describe me so clearly.
I completely agree with you on your statement I didn't realize that if it's me. All six of my children are grown and moved on now and I spend my days with a 5 pound Chihuahua named Bentley and somehow he does keep me comforted to an extent, but not 100% fix for the way that I feel. I absolutely hate being alone and the feeling of insecurity and that if someone were invade my space I could in no way be able to defend myself .
Load More Replies...at 20 i didnt even know this was a thing until i saw this and scrolling through these amazing drawings and im thinking to myself ive felt like that before then i saw this one and my heart dropped a little feeling like this was more then i care to admit
Too many people self diagnose mental illness like these, when really they aren't even close which downplays and 'mocks' people actually suffering from this. Oh you like to be around other people? Must be because you have DPD! Oh, you get nervous meeting new people? Omg you have SAD. Go to a Doctor, get a diagnosis. Until then you don't have a diagnosis and therefore have no clue whether you do or do not.
Just because someone hasn't gone to a doctor for a diagnosis does not mean they don't have a mental illness. Yes, you can't be sure they do have one but you also can't be sure they don't. Please don't generalize something like this because some people are self-diagnosing when they are as you say, downplaying and mocking people actually suffering from this. There are people who are unable to find professional support, others who are too paranoid to. You can have a mental illness without going to a professional. We as a community cannot ignore the people who are shouting out in need, just because of a few people who say they have a mental disorder incorrectly.
Load More Replies...My literal constant feeling. I'm too afraid of being alone, but I also suffer from social anxiety and moderate depression so it's difficult to even describe the panic it raises in me. This has caused many a panic attacks. 😞
The panic attacks are the worst I can't even go on public without having them but my children gave me a Chihuahua five years ago as an empty nest syndrome gift . Bentley has been my saving grace he's been certified now is a PTSD dog and goes in public with me so I could not go back to Walmart and shop alone !! When I feel that fear and I feel like I want to run the art crawl in a corner and cry I grab his ear and I just gently rub his ear and it just somehow brings me back down to a Kolmar state where I can grab what I've got in my basket and at least check it out . In the past if I were to panic the basket stayed where it was and I ran as quick as late as I could out that door to get back home to my safe haven
Load More Replies...I don't know if it's a good thing that someone can capture all of these so well or not. Fortunately, this one isn't one on my list. I need to be alone, as much as I can at least. I used to have to have someone go to places with me, because I was so afraid of people and new places. At least I'm better with that now.
I never knew this was a thing either... but I googled it and it describes me so accurately. And seriously? Phenomenally powerful illustration.
Schizophrenia is the worst. It's like hearing a devil voice, with aa high pitch singing voice, and more at once. Worked at Phych Ward and these drawing do show it.
Imagine feeling this way and being forced to not have anyone you now fear to have anyone.
I never knew this had a name!!! I can be alone but I have an extremely severe DPD with my husband. I feel I can never be away from him. Sometimes it really gets on his nerves. But I just can't help it. I think it may stem from not having a very good relationship with my father. Well maybe not having a good relationship with my mother too. They were great parents but we're always preoccupied with other things. So I always felt abandoned.
Anorexia Nervosa
I didn't even notice the shadow until reading your comment
Load More Replies...It would be hard to draw, but it's more about the need to control than it is to be thin.
Yes, I completely agree! It would be really difficult but that's the angle I was coming from.
Load More Replies...These drawings are brilliant! But not everyone suffering with Anorexia Nervosa looks this skeletal, and this is quite a common assumption.
It's meant to be the personification of the illness, I think. Not drawings of sick people
Load More Replies...I struggled with anorexia for 10 years and weighed 75 lbs at my low point. I hate the typical image of the skeletal girl looking in the mirror and seeing a fat image of herself. While I was obsessed losing weight, for me I knew I was a skeleton. I didn't think I was fat. My skeletal appearance was visual evidence that I had control and was successful the only thing I believed I was good at. When you recover, you have to find a different purpose in life. For me, my anorexia protected me from dealing with life's ugliness, and gave me the control that I needed. This is a magnificent sketch but I believe it is inaccurately depicted.
honestly wish it would have gotten more creative than "oooh anorexia = skeleton!!"
Ok, I agree with everyone else as someone who has struggled... Maybe another element to represent control could have been added, like it struggling to keep balance between two sides of a weighted scale. However anorexia is defined as restriction, the fear or gaining weight and an underweight BMI. I guess that's why the artist interpreted it in this way.
Scrolling through and looking at all of these amazed me, but when I saw this one, my heart sank to my butt. I've lived with this disease since I was in 7th grade and even though I've conquered it, I will always struggle with it and I will never truly conquer it.
As someone who suffered from anorexia, I feel a bit let down by this one. For a lot of people suffering from anorexia, it has more to do with control. When I was 95 lbs, I knew I was thin, but the ability to control what I ate and my weight was so much more important to me. I liked seeing the # drop on the scale as I restricted because it was proof that I could control my weight. In some ways it was about being thin and staying thin, but I constantly see anorexia being portrayed with the "fat" reflection and the skin and bones actual person. I feel like this doesn't cover the mental illness in its entirety. I cannot speak for others, but I feel like anorexia is an inner demon for me. Even at my lowest weight of 74lbs when I had to start my recovery process, I constantly heard a voice in my head telling me to restrict my diet. I have to fight everyday now to not restrict again. I still have anxiety sometimes even panic attacks about eating certain foods because of anorexia.
I agree completely. It's about control or lack there of 100% for me as well. When I have little to no control over other aspects of my life my brain goes into "control the only things you can" or "take complete control over the things that only you have control over". It's not always about feeling like you're fat.. sometimes you look at yourself and notice how thin you really are, but the idea of losing that control it horrifying. Then there's "I'm thin now, but if I eat like I used to, I will turn into the person I used to .. which is true to an extent.. it's such a hard cycle to break..
Load More Replies...I think all of these sketches are brilliant but its a bit tiring always seeing anorexia depicted as a skeleton with a fat reflection, its so much more an illness of the mind than that. You cant think about anything else youre trapped in thoughts about food, control and weight and it becomes all you are as a person, isolated, scared, never good enough. Like someone else commented, when you recover its scary because you dont know who you are as a person without the illness, it consumes all aspects of your life.. wish it could have shown more of that.
Frightening but really good. I'd love it if you made one of "Eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS)". The hellish combination of everything.
Depersonalization Disorder
Absolute 100% accurate depiction. Depersonalization is what triggers my panic attacks, particularly nocturnal panic attacks. I'm 34 and have dealt with pretty severe mental illness since 18. Although managed on meds, it's impossible to ever be 100% again. Thank you for your incredible drawings. I appreciate these so much. ❤️
"Although managed on meds, it's impossible to ever be 100% again." Wow--that says it so perfectly, not just for this but for any mental illness or disorder. But the general public don't get that: they see it as "If you are sick, you go to a doctor, take some medication, and you are well." Mental and emotional problems are in an entirely different world or something.
Load More Replies...Use to suffer from this a lot as a young teen. It would just come over me like a fog. Nothing felt real, not even myself.
That is how I describe it too, like a fog. It's a very good way to explain it.
Load More Replies...I'm delightfully surprised that this was included, I clicked on this thinking there was no way it would be acknowledged since it's so under the radar. I'm 18 and I've had this for as long as I can remember. For the longest time I didn't think I had anything and then I thought I was schizophrenic but I've never reached out out of a fear of doctors that hasn't entirely gone away go I've never been officially diagnosed. I found the information online and had such a huge epiphany, that was only a month or two ago. Heh, anyway thank you! Thank you for acknowledging us! This is a lovely and accurate depiction.
A lot of people told me that too, including doctors, despite me insisting that wasn't it. Finally I found one who knew a lot about it to know it wasn't just tiredness!
Load More Replies...I have lengthy, and potent bouts with Depersonalization. This is a very haunting depiction of that horrible feeling. That you are several steps removed from yourself physically. That when it feels like you move, it takes a second for your body to actually move. And when you touch something, you can't tell it's there... or that it feels like your limbs are in different places... and that your emotions are in your arms or something. I experience depersonalization when my panic attacks (due to BPD) go on for too long. It's like my body is like "OK, we can't hyperventilate anymore. We can't tense up anymore. Your heart can't go any faster... time to shut down". I can see why depersonalization would be useful psychologically if you were being eaten alive by a sabre toothed cat. You definitely wouldn't want to feel that, or be engaged. But it doesn't work so well at work. Or when you're visiting friends. Much love for all who deal with depersonalization, derealization, anxiety, BPD... yeah.
I used to experience short episodes of depersonalisation as a child and teen. My heart goes out to anyone that suffers from this. It was the most terrifying feeling I had ever felt. As a child I used to think that I would never get back to my body. And nobody knew what I was feeling or worse, they thought I was pretending 😔
This feels inaccurate. For years, I would go about doing things without ever quite realizing that I was doing anything. It's not that I was watching myself from afar. It's that I didn't exist. I felt separated from myself because I had no concept of self. My strongest memory of those times is of any of the many details of the events surrounding my existence. Talking with one of my counselors, it was a lot like the allegory of the cave, except the wall is a mirror, the shadows are my surroundings, the cave is my disorder, and my shadow is missing from the wall. I didn't exist. And it wasn't even painful, because I had no idea. It wasn't until the shadows stopped being interesting that I even began to realize what they were, that something was strange, and that that strangeness was whatever misshapen stain on the wall which supposedly represented myself. My body. And I spent the greater part of two years staring at the ceiling, rarely eating, rarely moving, studying my shadow.
I hate that so many people relate to this. Having dealt with this for 10 years, I hate knowing that others do too. It's horrible, and no one should have to go through it. I will say this, if you're going through depersonalization, I promise you're not crazy or broken. It's ok. There's nothing wrong with you, it doesn't make you crazy, you won't get locked up, and you have nothing to be ashamed of. Talk to a therapist, I promise it can get better.
Oh my god! I have this! I never knew before what it was, but.. omg! I HATTTEE having this! It feels like.. idk... I'm never really HERE, and it's super annoying bc I feel like I'm missing out on fun. I'm also worried that I'll pass out/fall asleep/black out randomly.
Agoraphobia
For me it's not fear it's more like walking into a mental brick wall when I try to leave the house or do anything new that means going outside. it might as well be a physical wall in my way.
Load More Replies...The more you don't leave the house, the more impossible it is to leave the house. It is awful. People don't 'get it'. This is beautiful.
That feeling of people just outside the Windows and doors. Even when there is absolutely no way they could be there. Yes. I know this one too.
For those who are not familiar with Ago, Fear of places and situations that might cause panic, helplessness, or embarrassment, or as I like to call it for myself, Fear of the unknown.
I've kidnapped myself so far for the past 3 yrs..... I just got a job. I almost cry upon leaving home.... safety
I could always go outside, just not passed the neighbours house. The mere thought of going to the supermarket would make me sweat bullets!
Exactly how I feel most of the time...struggling with this debilitating DS is not easy but I fight it everyday....God is my strength through it all......
My mother suffers from this for around 20 years now and not many people have ever heard of this disorder let alone know anything about it. There needs to be more awareness and information regarding this mental disorder, the drawing is awesome I'd love to see some more interpretations
Wow another depiction of a person with a mental illness as less than human, no wonder he's agoraphobic.
Dissociative Identity Disorder
This is an amazing illustration for the insidious disease that I have. Your work just surpasses words...keep up the good work
Dissociative Identity Disorder; sounds pretty bad, I guess it is for some people. For me, I think it probably kept me alive for a long time. I just didn't have much control over it. Don't know if I can describe it or not, but when things got so terrible that I couldn't deal, instead of doing something to just end everything, I would slip into another part of me, and not have to deal with it for a period of time. Me and my other me and my other me and..... Did that make any sense, I wonder?
it did make sense..for me though...i couldn't express my feelings and I just laughed whenever i felt like crying so it caused issues with people thinking that I thought something sad was funny or they thought I was happy when I was not and made it really hard to show my true self...whatever that is because im not 100% yet...I am working on it..I am my own therapist though
Load More Replies...Formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder. The name was changed in the DSM-5 due to how the disorder manifests itself. Severe childhood trauma among other factors can cause mental "splits" or disassociation as a defense against the trauma, etc.I believe they found the disassociation to be a larger contributor to the disorder. The brain is one complex organism to say the least.
They also changed the name because it manifests differently in people- some do have pretty distinct alters, with distinct names, but others have ones that are more abstract or subtle and no name change. Not everyone blacks out either as the other takes over, rather they're watching themselves with no control while the alter is out, or in a dreamlike state. Closer to depersonalization but acting completely different while in that state. Sometimes they'll remember what happened, sometimes they won't. So the new name better fits this and acknowleges it manifests very differently in different people.
Load More Replies...have DID as a part of PTSD - no alters, but do dissociate. It's horrible having "monsters" in your head
I don't have this, but as an autistic person (and a method actor) I've created alters that are kinda similar to having this. Coming out of a separate persona and back to myself is like viewing the past events in third person like they were a movie. My gf actually has DID and we've found it's pretty easy to understand each other. With me it was to cope with high amounts of stress and with her it was due to childhood trauma.
As many comments below share their on the testimonies I wish to share mine as well. Originally my did I feared to be schizophrenia until I realized that the separate voices as it were internalized we're separate inners. After much creative therapy they were distinguished one from another some took names some talk forms by using online avatars to external as himself and express themselves. Further down in the posts one mentioned DIO instead of DID once it was somewhat managed. This is subtle humor as I believe the Spanish word for God is Dio or Dios i believe. Nearly all of my inners would never consider me Godlike. When I best try to explain my own system 2 people who don't understand I usually use the analogy of a bus. The bus has a driver the bus has passengers the passengers can talk to each other the passengers can talk to the driver the driver can talk to the passengers and no one outside the bus can hear all the commotion going on. Now most of my innards are like a small family.
people on tiktok fake this with their fave fictional characters as "alters". i don't have it, but i do know it isn't an uwu so quirky and psycho edgy disorder.
Capgras Syndrome
Hadn't heard of this one either! Very interesting. "Capgras Syndrome, also known as Capgras Delusion, is the irrational belief that a familiar person or place has been replaced with an exact duplicate — an imposter (Ellis, 2001, Hirstein, and Ramachandran, 1997)."
Fascinating. I've never heard of this one. "Invasion of the body snatchers."
My sister had issues with this when she was younger. She thought my parents were replaced by spies.
As someone who deals with Derealization often, I can relate to this. I'm no means downplaying this disorder, or saying I really have true insight in to it. When I have hard instances of derealization, it feels like everyone is a robot, or a replica sometimes. It's like 'the uncanny valley' (look it up) becomes reality. Things don't... look different. They just, seem different. Faces look the same, but alien. Movements look normal, but come across like they are in some game, or simulation. To me, this seems like it could be caused by a long, and unrelenting derealization episode. To the point where it becomes a psychotic delusion. I have no stance to make any kind of diagnosis... but I know if my derealization episodes were to extended periods of time, I could understand why interpretations like this would start to show.
Perfect explaination of what derealization feels like. I always have trouble explaining what it feels like to someone. I always use the movie gothika with halle berry. When a ghost walked past but it moved all weird. Idk i cant explain it but you did for me lol.
Load More Replies...I sometimes get a thought like this, it scares me. But I don't get it very often.
Cotard's Delusion
Had to google this: It is a rare mental illness in which the affected person holds the delusional belief that he or she is already dead, does not exist, is putrefying, or has lost his or her blood or internal organs.
Wow. Thanks for looking this up..what a terrifying thing to have.
Load More Replies...actually saw this mentioned on code black the other night.. definitely seems an accurate depiction
Well, if they're already dead, then what's the issue here? They can't be a productive dismembered member of society?
What Dead from Mayhem had, this is why he shot himself in the head with a shotgun...
There's an episode of NBC's Hannibal (can be found on Amazon Prime), where a girl has this. It's horrifying. She believes she's dead, and her body is shutting down, and she can't see faces. She kills her best friend trying to get her "mask" off.
Your works are amazing! Best art article in a very long time...
This is one of the best art articles I.ve seen in a very long time. Your works are amazing.
For at least three years, my now 8 year old daughter has persisted that she's not really here, that she's not a real person, or that she never existed at all and that this is made up by someone who is real. I wasn't aware that what she was saying was actually a potential symptom of this delusion. It began after she watched Coraline (stop motion animation film. #15 of this illustration series is basically what this movie is about). I guess my daughter would feel opposite of Capgras Syndrome. She feels she is the fake or imposter.
DSED
Please don't downplay or make fun of mental illness on a plea for awareness.
Load More Replies...These are great! So haunting in so many ways. Please illustrate the narcissistic personality disorder too.
Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder (DSED) or Disinhibited Attachment Disorder of Childhood is an attachment disorder that consists of "a pattern of behavior in which a child actively approaches and interacts with unfamiliar adults." and which "...significantly impairs young children’s abilities to relate interpersonally to adults and peers."[1] For example, sitting on the lap of a stranger or peer, or leaving with a stranger. DSED is exclusively a childhood disorder and is not diagnosed before the age of nine months or after the age of five. Infants and very young children are at risk if they receive inconsistent or insufficient care from a primary caregiver
I nannied a kid with all these traits. It's sad really and incredibly nerveracking because he would try to walk off and attach himself to strangers.
Just red the definition of this and got really upset with your art. Really accurate and disturbing, congratulations!
Literally made me cry , my 3 year old has exactly this condition talks to any stranger and would happily walk away with them if he had the chance :( , and his well looked after loved and cared for.
My son doesn't have a steady male figure in his life, his father told him to his face that he wasn't his father, and somehow after 2years no contact he knew he was... anyways my son will try to go with anyone, run up to anyone and hug them or hold there hand... in school, the teachers have to keep an extra eye on him, he will try to run off with anyone. I didn't know that there was an actual mental disorder for this...
Wkipedia's definition- "a pattern of behavior in which a child actively approaches and interacts with unfamiliar adults". A nightmare for a parent in some areas
Schizophrenia
This one reminds me of Carpenter's "In the mouth of madness". Good job!
This one remind me something too: the backwater gospel
Load More Replies...I noticed that with schizophrenia and psychosis, grandiose or heavy religion seems to come into play with my son
Does anyone think this might have something to do with the history of schizophrenics being treated as possessed, and suffering all kinds of abuse in the name of being excorsized?
At first I was a little confused by this, but when I think back to my experience with relatively "low level" psychosis this picture starts to make more sense. I was constantly being harassed by 'voices' attacking who I am as a person, and past mistakes I've made. I think the crosses aren't a direct reference to religion as such, but simply the righteousness that comes with it; and the internal struggle suffers of Schizophrenia and Psychosis sometimes tussle with.
As much as I get the religious aspect of schizophrenia, that isn't the only significant factor of the disorder. The disorder itself just makes your hear and see things that aren't there, not only religious idols.
He has drawn another drawing further up to illustrate hearing voices. Those voices aren't there for onlookers but they're certainly there for the sufferer and very often they associate them to spirits.
Load More Replies...This is really a super narrow focus on some with Schizophrenia...not to mention if the symptom is religious, it could be Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, the Occult, or a made up cult. More common symptoms are lack of hygiene, isolation, non-verbal, hearing voices, unprovoked agitation, or even a complete lack of movement (standing in the middle of a street).
dude, it's a b&w ink artistic depiction, not an effing sci paper targetting to be published in Nature -.- I think it's awesome.
Load More Replies...My interpretation, is that it's the unquibble belief that what is happening is completely real. Similar to faith and religion, although there is no evidence what so ever that what you believe in is real. You know it to your core, even if others can see, hear or understand it.
*can't see hear understand it. Sorry When I witnessed a family member suffering from this illness. Their delusions had nothing to do with religion. Not that they verbalised anyway at any point but the things they thought was happening, they 100% believed was real. Such a cruel life wasting illness.
Load More Replies...This is my son 100%. There is something called a hyper-religious experience. From my son's first truly identifiable break with reality this is how it is. Lots of demons & he's frightened!
Excellent artworks. They're a great exercise, with a powerful message.
Exploring mental illness through art can be a powerful way to convey emotions and experiences that are often hard to articulate. Shawn Coss's work during Inktober is a prime example of how these themes can be expressed creatively.
If you're intrigued by artists who illustrate mental disorders as haunting personas and wish to delve deeper into this compelling subject, consider checking out how other artists also depict mental health issues as haunting creatures.
Brilliant art work & building great awarness for this hidden yet crippling mental disorders <3
Yep, social anxiety and agoraphobia are linked to it, but still misses general anxiety disorder with panic attacks, by which I mean we're not necessarily having it in social situations.
Load More Replies...I'm a student in psychology, and your drawing really fit with all the description that we can see in class. That's an amazing work !
I'm always curious why society has selected a hand full of mental illnesses that should be taken seriously and the small handful of ones that people can "just get over" things that are though to only effect a small group of people like children so when an adult has it they need to just grow up. ADD doesn't go away when you graduate and it isn't just a learning disability. It's there when you try to drive, when you spend five minutes trying to get that word back that you had in your head and you couldn't spit out. When you can't remember a simple task you've been given seconds ago or when you just can't stay on task even if it's a task you want to do and you love to do, sometimes your brain holds the leash and you can't pull it free. It's a deafening silence in your head begging for your attention. It'd be nice if people would stop calling it just a learning disability, it sucks all the time not just in school.
I didn't know I had it until I tried to hold down a job in my field and couldn't manage multiple tasks with differing priority levels and a very rapid paced and stressful worm environment. I always just assumed I had a horrible attention span and ability to focus and stay on task while in college.
Load More Replies...How would you portray ADD? I'm forever told that "oh I know just how you feel" and "I'm just the same" or "you don't run round lots?" And it's infuriating as they don't see that it's not just one little thing but lots,constantly and endless energy in your head or the need to disconnect and having to scratch and bite yourself to stay engaged and stimulated or the way it destroys friendships. Never being able to achieve a dream or idea as its too big or quickly too dull. Held in place by your own enthusiasm and ideas.
These are all very spot on, but on anorexia, I know a lot of people, including myself, it felt like a voice in the back of your head, so a figure behind them like whispering in their ear would have completed it
These are insanely dope!!! How can I get in contact with the artist?!
He's on Facebook, his page is Shawn Cross - Artist
Load More Replies...Brilliant art work & building great awarness for this hidden yet crippling mental disorders <3
Yep, social anxiety and agoraphobia are linked to it, but still misses general anxiety disorder with panic attacks, by which I mean we're not necessarily having it in social situations.
Load More Replies...I'm a student in psychology, and your drawing really fit with all the description that we can see in class. That's an amazing work !
I'm always curious why society has selected a hand full of mental illnesses that should be taken seriously and the small handful of ones that people can "just get over" things that are though to only effect a small group of people like children so when an adult has it they need to just grow up. ADD doesn't go away when you graduate and it isn't just a learning disability. It's there when you try to drive, when you spend five minutes trying to get that word back that you had in your head and you couldn't spit out. When you can't remember a simple task you've been given seconds ago or when you just can't stay on task even if it's a task you want to do and you love to do, sometimes your brain holds the leash and you can't pull it free. It's a deafening silence in your head begging for your attention. It'd be nice if people would stop calling it just a learning disability, it sucks all the time not just in school.
I didn't know I had it until I tried to hold down a job in my field and couldn't manage multiple tasks with differing priority levels and a very rapid paced and stressful worm environment. I always just assumed I had a horrible attention span and ability to focus and stay on task while in college.
Load More Replies...How would you portray ADD? I'm forever told that "oh I know just how you feel" and "I'm just the same" or "you don't run round lots?" And it's infuriating as they don't see that it's not just one little thing but lots,constantly and endless energy in your head or the need to disconnect and having to scratch and bite yourself to stay engaged and stimulated or the way it destroys friendships. Never being able to achieve a dream or idea as its too big or quickly too dull. Held in place by your own enthusiasm and ideas.
These are all very spot on, but on anorexia, I know a lot of people, including myself, it felt like a voice in the back of your head, so a figure behind them like whispering in their ear would have completed it
These are insanely dope!!! How can I get in contact with the artist?!
He's on Facebook, his page is Shawn Cross - Artist
Load More Replies...
