concannon kauffman

Some backstory; I’ve been diagnosed with major depressive disorder, which was later revised to bipolar II, and also minor anxiety. I have self-harmed, taken a break from school, been in an outpatient program, and have been in and out of therapy for a couple of years.  For my senior portfolio course this semester, I’ve decided to do a series of creature designs based on mental illnesses, in an attempt to combine some very personal themes with one of my favorite things to do artistically.

So I’m beginning with a design for depression, as it’s something I’m familiar with. However, as I progress to other illnesses, I don’t want to make false assumptions - I’d like as much input as possible.

Here’s what I’d like to hear from y'all:

• Which illnesses should I focus on? Or which ones should I avoid?
• How do you experience your respective illnesses? You don’t need to get descriptive if you don’t want to, you can just send me associated words.
• If you were to picture your illness as a creature, what (if any) features do you imagine? Skeletal, obese, hairy, claws, etc?
• And anything else prevalent you can think of.

You can send me an ask on here (anonymous messages are welcome), or email me at concannon.kauffman@gmail.com. And even if you don’t feel like you can help, I would be very grateful for reblogs, so I can try to reach as wide an audience as possible.

Thank you guys so much!