An artist has been praised for his depictions of mental health conditions by people living with the illnesses.
His monochrome images portray mental health conditions such as social anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
His Facebook page has been inundated with comments from those affected by the conditions, with many thanking him for raising awareness of mental health issues.
Many of Coss’ images have received thousands of likes and hundreds of comments and the response appears to be overwhelmingly positive.
On the depiction of borderline personality disorder (BPD), one user commented: “Wow this is perfect, I’ve been suffering with BPD for a while and couldn’t really draw what I felt. What I wanted people to understand. You captured that in black and white. Thank you.”
Meanwhile a commenter on the depiction of dependant personality disorder said: “As someone who has been diagnosed with this personality disorder I really appreciate your artwork. I want to share this with everyone that ever asks me how it feels, as this drawing is a perfect representation of how I feel. Thank you for creating this.”
In a post on his Facebook page, Coss said he chose mental health as the theme of his Inktober pictures after finding out that World Mental Health Day is marked in October.
Some of his images depict lesser-known mental health conditions, such as disinhibited social engagement disorder, which is often characterised by a child being overfamiliar with adults and having loose boundaries.
Check out more of Shawn Coss’ illustrations below or head to his Facebook page to see the new images he’ll be posting throughout the month.
Useful websites and helplines:
- Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393.
- Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI - this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill).
- Get Connected is a free advice service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email: help@getconnected.org.uk.