Mental health

Overview "Blackbird Rising captures the experiances of a family through the lens of their youngest member, Alice. As Alice works to navigate the complications that had become her home life since her brother's return from Vietnam, she is also forced to face the reality of the social and political changes happening during the Civil Rights movement. This story has a focus on mental health, greif, and includes some violence. The aim of this thesis is to provide insight on not simply another area of the...

Overview "Chasing Shadows in Borrowed Light is a work of fiction that deals with friendships and mental health across countries. A group of four friends who went to school together separate following a painful event, are thrown far apart from each other. In an attempt to disengage, three leave the country, while one stays back. The story begins when one of them reaches out to another announcing she would not be around any longer. The novel deals with complex issues such as molestation, childhood...

Overview "A collection of essays describing the various anxieties that I have had in the past, some of which I continue to deal with in my life. Many of the essays reflect upon past scenarios where my anxiety and eccentricities had me handle conventional situations in unconventional ways. Some essays are focused on observing, and seen through that lens. Present throughout the essays are many strange characters that have become fixations to me in some ways. Essays also deal with changes in life and...

Overview "My thesis marks the beginning of a memoir about the mental, physical, and spiritual growth that stemmed from my experience as a competitive distance runner in high school and college. Running was both poison and antidote to my natural anxiety, teaching me to cope with my fears even as it brought a host of mental and physical issues: anxiety attacks, iron deficiency, mysterious collapses, and, in the end, an unexpected hip surgery that stripped me of my ability to run. Why did I keep...

Overview "Heart on the Ice is Book One in the Ballston Blackhearts tetralogy. This series follows a minor league hockey team based in Washington D.C. and each book will follow a different narrator on the team. There is a streamline focus on mental health throughout each plot—it is an intergyral piece in each story. Heart on the Ice follows Quinn Marley, who was recently traded to the Ballston Blackhearts after playing college hockey in Durham, North Carolina. Fresh out of college and new to the city,...

Overview "'Miss February' consists of several chapters from a potential memoir with the same title. The memoir follows a young girl's journey through the tribulations of grief and early-onset mental health issues. The project is divided into three central parts, "Past," "Present," and "Future," and this thesis contains a majority of the content for both the "Past" and "Future" sections. In "Past," we see the protagonist grow up around their similarly affected mother and in the wake of many...

Overview "Painted Smiles is an upper YA novel with potential for New Adult crossover that follows beauty guru Randy McKnightly who – after having a viral meltdown while hosting a livestream for a prestigious makeup line release – leaves LA and returns to her small childhood hometown in Massachusetts in order to stay out of the spotlight until things cool down. Surrounded by self-doubt and anxiety, Randy has to rediscover who she is without the beauty industry. She's also trying to rebuild the...

Overview

"Still Waters is a short film exploring the ideas of mental health, unresolved childhood trauma, and the relationships we have with others and with ourselves. The story follows a distressed man when a mysterious boy appears in his home after a recent breakup triggers him to relive memories of the past. In order to save the boy, the man must find a way to confront his inner demons before they consume him." -- Abstract

Overview "This speculative Gothic Sci-fi project is meant to analyze the psychological consequences of generational and familial trauma and critique the state of contemporary mental health when dealing with repression and inner conflict through perceived and speculative spirituality, with themes and concepts derived and inspired by notable psychologist Carl G. Jung. The narrative follows Sophia, who is introduced to groundbreaking therapeutic technology and chronicles her and her family members'...

Overview "Trannifesto is an creative nonfiction essay collection which focuses on issues of gender, sexuality, mental illness, and belonging. These essays range to the extent which they discuss each of these issues: some focus more on gender identity, while others focus more on mental illness. However, tying them all together is the theme that, no matter how marginalized or alienated a person may feel, connection with those around them is always possible -- and, this connection is vital and necessary...