A friend recently introduced me to an artist called Shawn Coss, he did a collection of art about disorders and mental illnesses, I'd like to show the ones relevant to me.
The following artwork is property of Shawn Coss, I did make nor own these original pieces.
Autism can lead to selective mutism, simply put, we can go mute for a multitude of reasons. For some this is a choice, for others they can't speak until whatever brought it on passes or the effected individual removes themselves from the situation to calm down. Hence why his main mouth is zipped up and there's a new one on his head, he has alot on his mind to say but can't. I kind of do this but not for the typical reasons associated with the symptom. Rather than being overstimulated by environmental factors, it's usually if I'm too upset or pissed off about an event or with a person. Pushing out sentences can become difficult, usually just end up spewing out a few words and give up. You can say what you want or try to start an argument, you won't get anything out of me.
While I am diagnosed ADHD and have been for around 15 years. The diagnosis was quicky shelfed when it became clear meds weren't working. I never read into what ADHD truly is and the nuances to how it affects people/myself. I've recently had a mental health epiphany that's lead to me realising it's a root cause for alot of issues in recent life.
So with that in mind, my best guess on how the illustration relates to ADHD:
the character can be seen reading a book, while also seemingly having a lot on his mind, leading to distraction and being unable to complete his task or at least progress smoothly.
(Side note: Skin picking can also stem through ADHD, so wether I have a whole separate condition in comorbidity with ADHD, or ADHD is the driving force, is yet to be officially known).
Now I'm not officially diagnosed with this but I've done it for years, skin picking. Now I'm not just talking about pulling out the twirly bits of dead skin around your nails that pretty much everyone nicks off. It's far more than that. Now while it'll effect everyone differently and can occur anywhere on the body, this is how it's effected me:
- Finding dead or brittle entry points in skin around finger tips/nails, inner cheeks, lips and at one point my feet.
- Tearing, biting or ripping into the area, varying in width of picking and anywhere from surface level, to bloody.
- Messed up fingers painful to the touch, ulcer-ish risen areas on my inner cheeks where I was biting, visibly bumpy dented Lips, and feet harder to walk on.
- For most of this, I don't know I'm doing it.
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