My Mad Fat Diary

By: Sharmila Dass

Media and mental illness can either be a recipe for disaster or a perfect combination that can shed light on the serious of psychological disorders and illnesses. Many television shows, books, or movies can inaccurately represent mental illness; sometimes glorifying it, romanticizing it, or ridiculing it. My Mad Fat Diary, a British teen TV drama centers on Rae Earl, a humorous, overweight, music and boy crazy 16-year-old girl who has just been released from psychiatric ward after attempted suicide. She suffers from severe depression and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. My Mad Fat Diary does an exceptional job at portraying Rae and her mental illnesses while simultaneously being humorous and relatable. Rather than portraying Rae as a character to be pitied, one can relate to her, laugh with her, and cry with her. Her OCD is depicted by a range of actions from her persistent need to shut off the light switches repeatedly to make sure the light is completely off, to her constant worry of when someone will stop loving them, or if they even love her at all. Her constant doubt of the genuineness of her loved ones frustrates audiences. How can a person as funny and kind as her assume that everyone hates her? A mental illness has the capability of distorting one’s image of them selves so severely that one truly begins to believe that no one loves them.

Depression can sometimes feel unreal, intangible, something that cannot be fixed or healed. To feel real or to handle a stressful situation, people self harm. Every burn, scar, and mark of self-harm that Rae inflicts upon herself, resonates with the audience. The emotional pain that a depressed person feels is physically inflicted upon themselves is well portrayed when Rae bathes in extremely hot water as an unhealthy response to a situation she could not handle.

By not solely identifying Rae by her mental illness, and instead identifying her as a person with mental illness in the most realistic way possible, is why My Mad Fat Diary did such a wonderful job portraying mental illnesses. Rae was still able to have fun, laugh, crack jokes, party, have a boyfriend, and an exceptional group of friends who supported her. Yes, she did have severe mental illnesses that caused her immense sadness and distress, but she was able to be strong and move past it. She was able to not use her illnesses as an excuse to be selfish and hurt those around her. She was able to realize that it was up to her to overcome it.  Now, the ending of My Mad Fat Diary wasn’t a “happily ever after”. Rae’s mental illnesses will never go away, but the show did end with the idea that Rae was able to defeat her demons whenever they overcame her. My Mad Fat Diary is an inspiring show to anyone with mental disorders that gets the message across that there will be those bad days, where it will feel like no one is there for you and that you’re all alone, but it is up to you to realize that you are not your illness, and that you can defeat it.

Bibliography

 "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder." NIMH RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.