Serious Need Help With Writing Tips/expressing Mental Health

I've been trying to write a small novel (sounds pretentious, but good practice nonetheless), and I want the book to have heavy tones of depression and other mental health illnesses. Since it's played a major role in my life, I really want to express it in a way that is universally recognized and empathized with. However, I also want it to avoid the social stigma, as well as avoid sounding pretentious while simultaneously addressing and dissecting those societal "side-effects" of having a mental illness.

On one hand, I want to use heavy metaphors and figurative language, but it'd only contribute to being pretentious.
On the other hand, I don't want it to be devoid of thinking and meaning.

Any suggestions?

 

idk sounds way too sophisticated for me but gl

edit: thought abt it a lil more, and have concluded that you should try to hold a 10 pound weight in each of your hands. (if that wasn't already obvious that is.) (idk maybe its not at least it is for me) (prob cuz ur the one giving the advice elephat u dumb thottie)
(gl decoding that cryptic, metaphorical advice [shouldn't b 2 hard lol {y don't i just give u the advice? idk.}])

edit 2: just read what i wrote and ur prob gon think i was hella high when i wrote all this. idk i dont remember taking anything weird but by the way im talking im starting to assume it was so powerful it knocked the memory of taking it clean away...

edit 3: holy fuck i sound insane ;-; srry bout that i need to go to bed

edit 4: read edit 1 and 2 for the second time and im starting to scare myself help

 

Why are you typing then?

Anyway, two things: you need to develop your purpose more and figure out the story before you start thinking about metaphors and all of the other little details. What exactly do you want to say about mental health? Once you figure out that, you need to build a story and characters around the themes. If you don’t, then it will be unfocused and will have little interesting about it. I have no ideas for a story, but I’d start there before anything else.

 

Fantastic advice. (Also, random compliment, from all i've heard you say, you seem to be a pretty darn smart guy. :P )

Also, what I was trying to say last night when I was evidently *this* close to overdosing on something, was that you should try to balance out the figurative language and the lack of thinking and/or meaning. I also mentioned after that that that (woah 3 thats in a row cool lol never seen that happen) was prob already obvious. Then, for some reason I decided to make the whole thing so confusing that even when I reread it I couldn't follow what I was saying.