I have schizophrenia. Fiction on this subject is lacking to say the least. I generally don’t like people’s way of showing it literally. However, there are a couple exceptions to me. One, the artists were aiming for, the other was completely unintentional.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a game for the Xbox One and PS4 that shows psychosis in a very interesting way. The sound design in the game is particularly good. Playing that game with headphones can be pretty uncomfortable because of just how right they got psychosis sounds. It’s also shown as a generational curse, where some people view it as a gift while others do not. People get killed for dealing with psychosis too openly. Senua will also assume that things that happen in the world are because she is cursed, and it’s her fault, reflecting a very common thread I find in people with schizophrenia.
The second one was definitely not intentional by the creators, as only one of the characters in the show ever get an official diagnosis. King of the Hill has amazing neurodivergent characters. Our schizophrenic character in this series is Dale Gribble, who I’d consider the best written Schizophrenic character I’ve ever seen. Dale is paranoid and delusional, he can quickly synthesize a delusional worldwide conspiracy. However, Dale is also infinitely trusting towards the people he loves. The episode Dog Dale Afternoon is an amazing episode for this. Dale is being an asshole over getting a new lawnmower, so his friends steal it as a prank and start sending him “evidence” to make his delusional side come out. Dale cannot even conceive that someone he trusts would lie to him. It is easier for him to think his lawnmower was stolen by the Cubans to power Castro’s submarine than it is for him to think that his friends aren’t being honest with him. The episode ends not faulting Dale for being played, but criticising the friends that thought messing with his mental condition was funny. Or his son is very obviously not biologically his, but it’s easier for him to think that aliens impregnated his wife to get Dale off the conspiracy trail than to think that his friend that was with his wife the week he was gone is sleeping with her. Dale’s paranoid but loving nature in the show is often used for comedy, but not to make Dale look like a jackass. There are times in the show where his paranoid thought process solves the issues at hand, like convincing Hank that his family is indeed with a cult now, or giving John Redcorn (the guy who fucks his wife) the information needed for Redcorn to get indigenous land back. He’s simply shown as a flawed person, where sometimes his thinking works and sometimes it doesn’t. Even with all his flaws, he is still shown to be one of the most dedicated fathers and husbands on the show. Dale is a flawed person, but really it’s the world around him that’s so fucked up.
King of the Hill is a great neurodivergent show btw. I could argue that pretty much the entire main cast is neurodivergent.
Nimona captures the essence of ADHD and the emotional turmoil and pain it can bring. The sense of alienation and being The Other is in there too.
Beckett Mariner from Lower Decks is also ADHD even if she’s not explicitly stated to be such. She’s shown to be an extremely conscientious and loyal person even though she has problems with structure and authority.
Harry Du Bois is perhaps the most compassionate and realistic depiction of depression I have ever seen in any piece of media. Depression has absolutely destroyed Harry’s life by the time we meet him. It’s driven him down rabbit holes of addiction and violence. He has retreated so far inside of his own head he literally talks to himseld way more than he does anyone else. He’s transfixed by the horrific tragedy of life, overwhelmed by the pain in his own life and the pain that surrounds him, slowly being driven mad by the knowledge that the world is ending. Depression is why his fiancee left him. It’s why he destroyed his memory with alcohol and Pale. But still he carries on, with a smile plastered to his face, driven obsessively forward by the few things he has left to cling to.
Beckett Mariner from Lower Decks is also ADHD even if she’s not explicitly stated to be such
Tilly from Discovery isn’t too far off the mark, either – she has zero impulse control, can not stop from blurting out every thought in her head at a rate that probably has its own warp factor scale, goes off on bizarre tangents, practically climbs the walls half of the time, and so forth. I don’t know if they intended for the character to be written like she has adult ADHD, but god damn, I identify pretty hard.
King of the Hill is a great series. Growing up along side the show, I identified heavily with Bobby. I was diagnosed with Asperger’s when I was 12. Though I guess that’s an antiquated diagnosis since it all just falls under ASD now.
As far as the show goes, my dad is a carbon copy of Hank Hill. Former highschool football star, worked his whole life selling a single thing, and a huge outdoors type person. Then there is me, a goofy, unathletic, weird kid who uses humor as a coping mechanism to diffuse difficult situations.
My dad and I never really had anything in common. That causes us to have a strained relationship even to this day. But, he loves and supports me through it all.
If I had to pick a show other than king of the hill, it would have to be bobs burgers. Gene Belcher is exactly how I was as a young kid. Obsessed with making music, and honestly pretty annoying about it. I also love Bob and Teddy. Every time that Teddy has a freakout when something in his routine changes, I feel that. I’m much better at coping with it now, but it’s still one of the largest sources of stress in my life. I do not like when plans change even a little bit because I had to do a lot of mental prep for whatever it is that I’m doing and changing plans messes all that up.
King of The Hill is really great and special because of how relatable the characters are, and how they’re really great for discussion because of the nuance in the show. I’d actually argue that the most important difference between Hank and Bobby are their parents. In flashbacks, Hank is shown to be more similar to Bobby in his younger years, like it was essentially browbeaten out of him by his father. Hank and Cotton only share superficial similarities, products of Cotton forcing Hank to be more like him. Hank and Bobby’s differences are the result of Hank trying to break some cycles from his father. Hank’s worse moments with Bobby are typically a result of Hank trying to do what Cotton did but better imo. Sometimes he realizes he’s repeating Cotton, sometimes he doesn’t. I also love how Hank and Bobby will regularly try to meet each other where the other person is at. This is the reason that Propaniacs is one of my favorite emotion driven episode.
Bob’s Burgers is also great. I like how they manage to carry forward a lot of the family dynamic from King of the Hill that made it lovable. It usually doesn’t have any episodes as nuanced as King of the Hill’s truly hard hitting episodes like Propane Boom or The Turtle Son, but I also think that the generation it’s focused on has less to comment on than King of the Hill.
Not really my personal condition but the game Milk Inside a Bag of Milk Inside a Bag of Milk is one of the best depictions of mental illness I’ve encountered
Night in the Woods is also very good
There was a great short story in the New Yorker recently with a schizophrenic protagonist: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/04/10/the-ferry-fiction-ben-lerner
I liked Bojack Horseman, especially the penultimate episode “The View from Halfway Down” addressed suicidal depression in a way that I really needed to hear when I saw it.
i have DID, and ENA is a great representation of this peculiar and often absurd disorder. ENA is better off watched than explained, and most explaination videos of ENA miss the mark.
I think I’ve also heard ENA described as a discussion of autism, since there are so many rules that Ena is often unaware of. But pointing out DID is super real for that series. Excited for the visual novel
Not to do a “just like me FR” but but I watched True Detective recently and I definitely identify with Rust. Severely depressed among other things. I even keep a cross hanging from my rearview mirror despite not being a believer. I’m bad at parties and generally bring the vibe down no matter where I go lol.
I really like Otherside Picnic’s depiction of autism (and like abusive relationships, queer identity, and to a lesser extent trauma). It’s a series of light novels that has gotten a manga adaptation and an anime adaptation, but only the light novels really maintain the protagonist’s really weird internal monologue. There’s a lot of focus on accepting being weird as the main couple handle classic Japanese creepypasta and web horror. I would definetly say that there’s a serious intersection between the queer themes and the autism, as (spoilers lol) the protagonist Sorawo is really uninterested in a ‘traditional’ relationship and traditional relationship label. Having a super non-normative sexuality (while of course being a lesbian
) goes hand in hand with the autism.I felt very similar to the bouts of intense self-hatred Konstantin Levin has Anna Karenina and his issues interacting socially with people prior to his marriage.
Young Sheldon.
Something of a less serious example, but Azumanga Daioh features three characters that are neurodivergent and while some of their traits are played for laughs, the show always treats them with love if it makes sense
