Ned Vizzini is one of the writers who had openly admitted his fight against mental illness. It is common for writers to experience depression and anxiety and most of them in a very severe way. Ned Vizzini lost his fight against clinical depression but has managed to write novels that would help people understand the daily and general problems of a person who is experiencing struggles with their mental health.
Vizzini’s candidness about his own battle with mental illness resonated deeply with many of his readers. His works provided a window into the complex world of mental health, offering solace to those who felt alone in their struggles. Through his writing, he broke down stigmas surrounding mental illness, fostering a sense of community and understanding. Vizzini’s legacy extends far beyond his novels; it is a testament to the power of words in shedding light on the often misunderstood realm of mental health. His impact serves as a reminder that even in the darkest moments, there is the potential for connection and healing through art and storytelling.
As a writer, we can learn a lot from Ned Vizzini in terms of expressing even the hardest situations in our lives or our rock bottom.
Here are some quotes that Ned Vizzini gave us to remember him:
“Its so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself. That’s above and beyond everything else, and it’s not a mental complaint-it’s a physical thing, like it’s physically hard to open your mouth and make the words come out. They don’t come out smooth and in conjunction with your brain the way normal people’s words do; they come out in chunks as if from a crushed-ice dispenser; you stumble on them as they gather behind your lower lip. So you just keep quiet.”
― Ned Vizzini, It’s Kind of a Funny Story“Sometimes I just think depression’s one way of coping with the world. Like, some people get drunk, some people do drugs, some people get depressed. Because there’s so much stuff out there that you have to do something to deal with it.”
― Ned Vizzini, It’s Kind of a Funny Story“I’m not better, you know. The weight hasn’t left my head. I feel how easily I could fall back into it, lie down and not eat, waste my time and curse wasting my time, look at my homework and freak out and go and chill at Aaron’s, look at Nia and be jealous again, take the subway home and hope that it has an accident, go and get my bike and head to the Brooklyn Bridge. All of that is still there. The only thing is, it’s not an option now. It’s just… a possibility, like it’s a possibility that I could turn to dust in the next instant and be disseminated throughout the universe as an omniscient consciousness. It’s not a very likely possibility.”
― Ned Vizzini, It’s Kind of a Funny Story
So if you ever are suffering from depression or anxiety, ask for help. You don’t need to create a novel like Ned but you sure can express yourself even in the smallest form.
