The Mighty Logo

Feisty Comics About Mental Illness We Can All Relate To

The most helpful emails in health
Browse our free newsletters

If you live with a mental illness, Ruby gets it. The 21-year-old self-taught comic from London, who goes by rubyetc online, has been drawing about her lllxperiences with mental health issues and bipolar disorder since she dropped out of school at 17.

“At the time it was a great way for me to express difficult experiences and emotions that I perhaps wasn’t able to verbalize,” she said to The Mighty in an email. “I’m someone who loves humor and laughing, so combining those two things in comics was something that really appealed to me.”

Editor’s note: Some comics below contain explicit language. 

Her comics are honest, sometimes heartbreaking, but always funny — and always real. The language can get a little vulgar, but it’s because she doesn’t sugarcoat her experiences. She hopes if people can relate, she can get them to laugh.

“People have said it’s brave to be so open, but I’ve never felt particularly self-conscious sharing my work with others,” she said. “Often I find myself drawing about things we’re all going through. Having a mental illness may make these things more challenging or extreme, but it’s definitely not black and white.”

Check out some of our favorites: 

image-7

To check out more of Ruby’s work, follow her on Tumblr and on Twitter.

Originally published: November 9, 2015
Want more of The Mighty?
You can find even more stories on our Home page. There, you’ll also find thoughts and questions by our community.
Take Me Home