forum Does my character fall into any harmful stereotypes about depression

Started November 21, 2020 by @LilMeme group

tune

Long story, short, my character, Kage representative of despair, his life, for the most part, has been pretty awful and as a result, he kind of just gave up on life and grew a sort of edge to him, I'm kind of worried he may come off as the stereotypical "uwu sad bad edgy boi", so can one see if he is or isn't if he is that how to fix it

Saying "stereotype of depression" without further context or explanation makes it hard to judge. The symptoms of depression listed are common in a lot of people who have experienced trauma or other stress.

Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with having a stereotypically "edgy" character with a rough background. As long as they have enough interesting character traits to tell them apart from characters with similar personalities, you should end up with a fairly interesting character.

From what I gathered from Kage's profile, he's rash and pessimistic on the outside, but it's hinted that he can be sensitive, empathetic, and even protective on the inside. To me, it feels like he's using his negative attitude as a mask to cover his true self. Maybe his depressing outlook on life is what protects him from getting hurt emotionally; after all, you can't feel disappointed with your life if you never had any expectations to begin with.

I think that this is a really interesting narrative that a lot of people can relate to, especially if they've experienced depression themselves (which I have, many years ago). What a lot of people don't like about stereotypically depressed/edgy characters is the fact that their negativity is very obvious and almost shoved in the viewers face like "Wow, look at how depressed and sad this character is". But that isn't the case with Kage! He has a lot of depth to his personality that can be written about, and there's a lot of room for him to grow as a person throughout your story.

I have a few ideas for his character arc if you don't already have one for him. Maybe, as the story continues, he learns that he doesn't have to hide his sensitive side, and that it's okay to show his emotions once in a while (perhaps with the help of a friend or love-interest). Maybe his protective trait shines through when he finds himself having to guard someone he cares about from incoming danger.

But at the end of the day, this is all just advice and not mandatory rules for your character. Whether you change Kage or not, it's your decision alone. But relax knowing that there are a lot of directions you can go with this character, and the profile he already has is a good start! Sorry if this is a little lengthy, I wanted to make sure all my points were clear. I hope that my advice helped you brainstorm a few ideas for him. (By the way, I think his design is very cool!)

Saying "stereotype of depression" without further context or explanation makes it hard to judge. The symptoms of depression listed are common in a lot of people who have experienced trauma or other stress.

Ok, I'll change the title

^^^^^^^^ to what burrstone said!

Also, everyone deals with and handles depression differently, so keep that in mind too!

Yeah, everyone experiences it differently, but there were a few little things that were like "okay, maybe tone this down a little bit"? Second opinions would probably be best though, because this is primarily based on my experience and what I see and know from loved ones.

• Depressing presence: most depressed people don't get other people down- in fact, they actively avoid it, because in many, it sparks feeling of guilt. A little gloom and pessimism is fine (and perhaps even accurate), but I've never even met anyone who's all doom and gloom.
• Less of a stereotype and more of a discrepancy, I noticed he can be manipulative but also experiences emotional pain of others somewhat. It's hard to have both if you're depressed, because usually guilt will stop you from manipulating people, or apathy will stop you from caring about others' pain.
• Also not sure what you meant by sanity: low. Maybe there's a scale that helps you somewhat, but it almost hits the wrong way.
  Aaanyway, there's nothing that is blatantly like "oh no, don't do that," because everyone's experience is different, but those are just my observations. The most harmful stereotypes and tropes are usually those that involve recovery rather than the mental illness itself (looking at you, love cures depression). So as long as you don't pull any of that, you should be okay.