The Alien Says Don't Take Your Meds by Tansy Raynor Roberts

http://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-alien-says-dont-take-your-meds-neurodiversity-and-mental-health-treatment-in-tv-sff/

I love this article. It articulates an issue I've been peripherally aware of, but couldn't quite put my finger on. The metaphor of magical people (generally women) being diagnosed as crazy and locked away is relevant metaphor, because sadly that did happen back in the day when someone was an embarrassment or inconvenience.

However these days when attitudes to mental health issues are so different, we need to have more than one kind of interpretation - particularly when the above metaphor implicitly implies that these issues don't exist. Frankly it's dangerous for kids that absorb this idea and disrespectful for the people who live with these issues day in and out. Few things enrage me as much as seeing the 'powerful' moment onscreen when a character throws away their medication, like Erik Selvig in Thor 2. (In all seriousness, it can be dangerous to stop flat without a 'weaning off' period, particularly in regards to medication for anxiety or depression).

I'm not saying the supernatural can't be an interesting story-telling device (otherwise I wouldn't be working on this blog!), just that there's on over-abundance of the supernatural-diagnosed-as-crazy metaphor. Try something new. The British Being Human series is a perfect example, where vampirism is a metaphor for addiction, the werewolf faces the same issues as a person with HIV, and the ghost behaves like an agrophobic just coming out of an abusive relationship. It doesn't always work perfectly (I can see where critics of Mitchell's third season storyline are coming from) but it delves into the very human question of how you move forward after a horrific, life-changing event.

I love Tansy Raynor Roberts for her Mocklore and Creature Court series, but this is the first I've seen of her work that isn't straight-out fiction. I think I'll find out what else she's written...