- How to talk about depression lightly? Bipolar disorders with clarity and delicacy? BD seems to have become a particularly suitable tool for drawing the contours of these little-known and frightening mental illnesses.
- In recent years, and especially in recent months, we have seen flowering in bookstores, graphic novels and comics that address these disorders of the mind.
- They participate in the fact that these diseases, which patients and their loved ones find it difficult to address, are no longer a taboo.
This is how I disappear * . Mirion Malle's new comic strip, released on January 17, addresses a mysterious and stigmatizing disease: depression. And she is not the only one interested in disturbances of the mind. On the occasion of the Angoulême festival (which moreover awarded its Fauve Révélation prize to Ted, funny coconut, on autism in 2019), 20 Minutes plunged into the mental illnesses seen by the ninth art.
Because far from the clichés of a comic strip confined to light subjects, we have seen the flowering in recent years of books that bubble bipolar disorders ( Goupil or face **), depression ( Free fall ***, Everything is fine * *** and I'm better, thank you ***** ), schizophrenia ( These days that disappear ****** ), or the addictions with Lisa Mandel's daily boards on Instagram. "It is certain that there are more and more comics on mental illnesses," confirms Alan, salesman at Bulles de salon, comic bookstore in Paris. A particularly beneficial interest for patients and those around them.
Lift a taboo
Talking about these diseases, which in general do not guess and do not warn of their arrival, is of course breaking down a taboo. If a number of films, novels, plays highlight these widespread evils, which we speak more and more, the 9th art has a wide range of assets.
"It is not the comic strip that comes out of psychiatric illness from ignorance, but it participates in it and proves to be very competent", introduces Grégoire Seguin, editor of Mademoiselle Caroline ( Chute libre ). Each work brings its stone to improve the understanding of these evils. Mirion Malle describes the lack of desire, the pervasive fatigue, the isolation of Clara who is going through a depressive episode. Lisa Mandel, who sets out to fight her addictions, recounts her unexpected discoveries: “I thought I would free myself from all my addictions, tobacco, alcohol, sugar, games. In fact, I have developed a new addiction to social networks, ”sighs the author.
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Often fun, concise, poignant, these stories, autobiographical or fiction, allow patients to learn via a more accessible medium than a 500-page essay. "Especially since bipolar disorders often occur at the end of adolescence," recalls Jean-Michel Delile, psychiatrist. A period when comics is a widespread leisure activity, whatever the socio-cultural environment.
In addition, by drawing, we can describe and transmit a lot of emotions. "It is easier to describe what a patient imagines or experiences with drawings than with words," says Alan, the comic book seller.
Fighting clichés
Readers can easily identify with these women and men, and thus break their isolation, characteristic of mental illness. " Goupil or Face , it's scientifically robust and artistically elegant," says Jean-Michel Delile. And that describes well how to help yourself ... and get help. From time to time, patients bring us comics that could help them because it reminded them of their situation, but in a positive way, with an outcome. "
A key point for Mirion Malle. “From the start, I did not want to talk about suicide, but to make a fiction about everyday life, to show that the intensity of depression does not always lead to a fall. "For Lisa Mandel, these works" show that one can work, have a family and have a mental illness. Before, we were a bit doomed… ”
"One of the major problems of people who suffer from psychiatric disorders, whatever they are, is that they do not identify the problem as a disease, but a personal defect," adds the psychiatrist. This kind of comic can help get out of this cliché. In addition to making you feel guilty, it means you can fight the disease. "It is perfectly in harmony with what we are developing in psychiatry: co-construction so that people are involved in their treatment", welcomes Jean-Michel Delille.
Highlight the difficulties
These drawn stories can also help loved ones, often destitute and clumsy, to better understand these disorders. "I wanted to emphasize the difficulties that we encounter with those close to us, without a manicheism," admits Mirion Malle. Since we don't talk about these diseases, we don't know how to talk about them. And the psychiatrist to confirm that the entourage is not always a help. "When we say" it's a matter of will ", it only makes things worse ..."
Mirion Malle also insists on his wish to point out the difficulties of the psychiatric environment today. “To treat yourself, it's not just a question of will, there is a cost and the waiting lists are long… Being in depression is as disabling as breaking your leg, but you don't is not taken seriously! I'm not saying that the BD will change the system. But speaking on social networks, in movies, in comics, I hope that this lack of means will be pointed out. "
This recent interest in the 9th art is part of a more global phenomenon. Far from the caricatured image of a minor art reserved for the youngest, the comic strip is more and more essential in order to understand our society. "In recent years, comics have taken hold of reality and are addressing societal concerns (health, migrants, etc.), which were previously reserved for journalism or documentary," analyzes Lisa Mandel. This trend is confirmed by Grégoire Seguin, publisher: “Comics were not considered an educational element, even though they were always used for this, especially during the Second World War. A good sketch is better than a long speech! We are only at the beginning of the exploitation of this virtue… ”
* This is how I disappear, Mirion Malle, La ville Brûle, January 2020.
** Goupil ou Face, by Lou Lubie, Warum Editions, 2016
*** Free fall, abyss book, by Mademoiselle Caroline, Delcourt, 2013
**** Tout va bien, by Charlie Genmor, Delcourt March 2019
***** I'm better, thank you, overcome depression, Tchou June 2018 edition
****** These days that disappear, Timothée Le Boucher, Glénat, 2017.
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