A character of mine, Jesse, lives in a world in which violence is extremely prevalent in every day life. He's had some pretty horrific things happen to him and I've been told that he'd likely an anxiety disorder in real life. I too feel as though he'd more than likely suffer from an anxiety disorder such as PTSD, but I've never written a character with a mental illness I didn't have personal experience with. I don't want to make him into a walking, talking stereotype, but mental illness is a big deal and it'd reasonably impact the things he does and the ways he reacts. Do you all have any tips on how to write a character with PTSD? Thanks!
PTSD… I think based off what they have gone through, they have certain trigger words/phrases, and certain actions might/will trigger the PTSD. I don't know how much else I can help besides that TBH.
Disclaimer: I don't have PTSD, nor do I know anyone who does. However, as a writer, I hope I can offer a certain amount of advice in this regard:
When I write characters with mental illness, I often have no idea they are mentally ill at first. But something bad has happened to them, and this causes their behavior and baseline mentality to change in certain ways. Later, I'm researching mental illness and I realize, oh! X character has X illness! It all makes sense now!
To put it another way, don't let the illness become the character's entire identity, and don't add too many details about it into the story or it will seem forced. It's important, I think, to represent characters who struggle with mental illness, but overdoing it is easy. If your character's actions and thoughts already line up pretty well with the symptoms of PTSD, then your writing will flow more naturally when you're addressing it.
I know this isn't really what you asked, but I hope it helps somehow ^^
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