Mental Health Humor and Cartoons

This post is about Chato B Stewart’s DBSA (Depression, Bipolar Support Alliance) Facing Us Video to tell as, Chato calls it “My Story For My Mental Health”.

I just wanted to share this with you. As many of my readers might remember I entered a national video contest for called “Facing Us Recovery” from the DBSA.  The contest asked us, people living with bipolar disorder and  depression to tell our own recover story or “My Story”.  I won 1st Place in the 2009 DBSA Facing Us Video Contest. This video was not  my first time stories , no, I’ve written about “my story” and I also did a post with a ruff cut of the winning video.

Here is the link to the full video.  I am going to upload it to my youtube account in a week or so.  For now please support the Facing Us site and check out the vidoe there.  Also, feel free to join the page too, it’s free and full of great resources.   The video is about me using my cartoons to tell the story.

Personal Story: Chato Stewart, Punta Gorda, FL

Topic:Facing Recovery – Title: “My Story” – 1st Place Winner in the 2009 DBSA Facing Us Video Contest

Do you have questions? Like, what is mental health? Or Why there is so much stigma about mental illness?

Well, your questions and many more might have your answers a click away. I want to tell you about what my friend Mark Pines .  He treat clients based on psychoanalytic theory. This is a way of understanding how a person relates to others based on the patterns learned in their most significant relationship experiences - usually their relationship with their parents.

Not to mention he has tons of great articles and here is a link to a free E-book.

Remember, we always need to educate our self’s about mental disorders.  We need to keep up to date and using our mental floss to get in between the lines too.

Goals for 2010 Mental Health humor

Our goals and our mission is to educate about recovery!  Over the next few months, I will take time to talk to many of The Mental Health Humor readers and FaceBook friends.  We want to hear from you.  How is your recovery going?  Are you able to use humor as a coping tool? Or as a way to break the ice to talk to someone about mental health?

For many, this subject is hard to start talking about, they might feel anxious and worried about how others might look at them if they knew they have so-called “mental disability”.  While others can scream it from the roof tops about mental health… Granted they might end up in the psych ward.  Needless to say, both are not always easy and both take courage to do.

Right now we live in a time of great distress.  Never before in the history of man has so much stress from so many different areas in our lives attack our minds and sanity.   Whether it is from war, earthquakes, economy, family or our health, it seems like we are being bombarded with things causing sighing and groaning.  Is it a real surprise to anyone that our mental health system is being overloaded with people looking for help in any way, shape or form they can get it?

We peers who have found balance in our own recovery….  If that be through medications, herbal or cognitive therapies … staying in recovery is crucial.  How can we fortify ourselves to make sure we can stay there?  It can be as simple as just getting involved.  Involved how?

Today, we have so many venues that did not exist 15 years years ago.  Social Networks such as FaceBook, Twitter and such, can give you opportunities to meet positive like minded people.  But, Caution must be shown.  The Internet can be dangerous.  Make sure you never share personal information on public places.   With the right amount of caution you will have at your finger tips a plytheroa of information and resources.

What else can you do?

Get involved with your local DBSA Depression Bipolar Support Alliance, NAMI  National Association on Mentally Illness, or other groups that are peer lead and focus on recovery.  We should never feel like just because we are in “recovery” that we don’t need to go to groups.  Yes, I do understand that not all peer support groups are created equal.  Some can be pity parties while others might feel too opinionated.  If a group does not fit your needs or the needs of the community, why not just start your own group?

Hey, that’s what I did.  I just started the DBSA Port Charlotte Group that meets now every Monday from 6:30 to 7:30 at the Haven Drop In Center.   I like to use information from all sorts of organations in the group. One piece nami, a few parts of DBSA and such.  Last night the groups attendance was just me.  Am I discouraged? Not at all! I know it can take a while to build a core of group members so I will just keep at it every Monday.  Hey, if no one shows up next week, I’ll just use their pool table and shoot a few rounds then lock up.

The point is to be active in our recovery.

What about peers who are not at the same point of there recovery as ours?

If this describes you, and you are searching for answers, looking for help, feel like you’re at a point of total melt down….  Search out professional help. Many communities have peer groups, out patient or other places where you can get help.  You’re NOT ALONE!  There is HOPE!

Mental Illness is not the end.  It’s just a “illness” that can be treated.

I know it might not seem so right now but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

As 2009 ends with this beautiful Blue Moon, I say welcome to 2010… I still can’t…can you? believe it - 2010!  What a year!  This has been what I like to call my re-group year.  Sooo many hurdles and obstacles in my way! At times, I felt I was going to give up…  Well, I did a few times, but you know what, we all feel that way from time to time.  The point is  - I never gave up hope!  Even when I wanted to, my wife stepped in an carried me along.  I’m fortunate to have her and when I’m balanced, I tell myself that over and over again… Oh, and I tell her to…  I LOVE YOU BABY!

This year I wanted to teach myself how to draw caricatures.  Let me show you the caricatures in chronological order so you can see my progress.

I started with Michael J. Fox in full color pastels.

Then after a few peers told me they liked it,  I thought why not draw them. I feel bad for them but since they told me to do my best, even if it looks bad, they don’t care.

They came out better then I thought and they did like the caricatures.  So, I kept going. My color work with pastels was weak -  so, I did some black and white drawings.

Once I was happy with them, I started to play with the digital coloring.   I held my Words Of The Wisdomless Contest and gave away caricatures to the winners from my FaceBook friends.

I loved the way they came out.  I did some research on adding depth to the work.  One cartoonist told me one very simple but effective suggestion.  (Add shadow and keep some white.)  With my next three toons, I made application and it made such a huge difference.  Check it out! What do you think?

On my next four, I started out doing them all in pencil.  I was happy with them but with out black ink the images got lost.  I went back and inked them and scanned them and they are by far my best work to date.

This is my Favorite and I think it looks just like him!

My focus this year was also my networking on Facebook.  If you have an account there, make sure you friend me and join my Fan Page… LOL.  I mean join the fan page, I am going to make.

Actually, caricatures were not the only thing I’ve been working on this year.  I also started writing my own “silly” mental health quotes I call my “Words Of The Wisdomless.”

Here is an example -  today’s quote:

Words Of The Wisdomless: -

“If I could sum up 2009 in one word, I’m sure it would be a 4 letter one… hope!”

- by Chato B.  Stewart

This year our blog and Cartoon-A-Thon  site has reached over 200,000 unique visitors! With 30,000 peers visiting the cartoon-a-thon page for Mental Health Month.  It’s because of you, my peers, I continue to draw the cartoons.  You have told me time and time again about the small joy they bring you.  To me, that alone makes it a success. Thank You Peers!

I also had the privilege of WINNING the 2009 Facing Us Video Contest.  The cartoons were used in the video to tell my story.   I posted part of it here a while back, but the video that won the contest is a bit different.  Once they post the video on their site, I will embed it here for every one.

Yes, Yes, I did draw some Mental Health Humor cartoons, too.  It was nice not to have the deadline to come up with a cartoon every day.  I think it made for better content… I.E. the cartoons did not suck.  As I leave you this year of Two Thousand Nine, I want to reinforce the need to… “live life like a cartoon and always bring an eraser!”

“I am only what I think I am , and at that, I think I am nothing less normal in this make-believe world. That which is your reality is not mine and for that, I take joy. For I am unique!“  This was today’s FaceBook Words Of the WisdomLess quote.  When you think about it, it kind of makes sense.  Well, maybe as much sense as my cartoons for mental health humor do.  Like this OCD cartoon, I call it my Obsessive-compulsive disorder To Do List.  I drew this back in April 2008 after talking to my Wife’s cousin about OCD.

Cartoons and drawing is a great way to bring a little humor in my life. When I AM depressed I draw depression cartoons.

Depression cartoons

 Permission granted for non-profit use by artist: Chato B. Stewart.

 Permission granted for non-profit use by artist: Chato B. Stewart.

 Permission granted for non-profit use by artist: Chato B. Stewart.

 Permission granted for non-profit use by artist: Chato B. Stewart.

 Permission granted for non-profit use by artist: Chato B. Stewart.

For more bipolar disorder cartoons and images check out “bipolar”on the above menu.

Mental Health Humor by Chato B Stewart is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative 

Bipolar Disorder and Manic Depressive Cartoons

 Permission granted for non-profit use by artist: Chato B. Stewart.

 Permission granted for non-profit use by artist: Chato B. Stewart.

 Permission granted for non-profit use by artist: Chato B. Stewart.

 Permission granted for non-profit use by artist: Chato B. Stewart.

Permission granted for non-profit use by artist: Chato B. Stewart.

Permission granted for non-profit use by artist: Chato B. Stewart.

Permission granted for non-profit use by artist: Chato B. Stewart.

Permission granted for non-profit use by artist: Chato B. Stewart.

See more cartoons on our Bipolar Page