REAL MONSTERS and HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM...

Viewing mental illness from a child's perspective

Antique paper texture

Description: The Binge Swallowgobble has an uncontrollable desire to eat, eat, and eat! It's enormous mouth lets it eat just about anything, at anytime. This creature can never remember when it last ate, and makes the child always really, really hungry! Danger rating:💀💀💀💀💀 Weapons to defeat: .Glasses of detection👓 .Vial of physiotherapy🍾

Description: An eight-winged, six-footed, super-charged, never-resting monster! It emits high-frequency energy waves that transfers its very restless nature onto the child. Danger rating :💀 (can be controlled, but is undefeatable) Weapons: . A treasure box of gadgets - fidget spinners, Rubik's Cube . A time spinner that helps plan and predict ⌚ . Occasional survival pills in specific situations . Spells of CBT and social skills therapy

Paper texture

A swarm, like hundreds of bee-like things that constantly hover over the the person, whispering thoughts that make the child doubt, worry and fear things. It is one of the most common and hard to remove. The monster swarm has several species as per the leader bee causing the child to have phobias, OCD, selective mutism or panic.

Weapons to defeat it: . The Shield 🛡 of positivity . The Sword of good thoughts . The Coping Sack filled with Deep Breaths , Stress Balls and Free Time

Description: Just a baby monster, yet the cunning Internet Gaming Spellbounder takes host in any device, from where it hacks the child's mind. Then it casts its evil spell so that the child and the device are inseparable. Danger rating: 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 Weapons to defeat: .Magnifying glass of detection 🔎 .Vial of CBS treatment🍾 .Exposure to outdoors and screeches of fun

Special thanks to my sister, Janani Balaji, a grade 9 student, who converted these sketches of mine into the artwork you see in this book.

Description: A smokey gaseous creature with distortion eyes all over it, blurring and ever changing victim's perception of the world , creating doubt and confusion Danger: 💀💀💀💀💀 Weapons to defeat: . Magnifying glass of detection🔎 . Doses of psychotherapy treatment 🍾 . Demystifying pills of medication

The little knight thought all these monsters looked fearsome but realized with the right weapons they could all be tamed. He was no longer scared or confused. And with the help of this trusty guide, he was ready to sign up to help tame these monsters and make a friend feel safe!

Description: A living cloak. It's super comfortable inside but very prickly to touch on the outside. It is an intelligent and sensitive being. It hates to look you in the eye and prefers to stay wrapped up. It snuggles the child and makes it hard for them to communicate or be socially sensitive. A gentle monster, it also gives special powers like brilliant visual skills and photographic memory! Danger rating: 0 (can be tame when given time) Weapons: . Vial of social skills and verbal skills therapy🍾 . Dose of patience and love . Reversing glasses that see the special skills

Description The Bulimia Hollowblob is a confused beast with a huge body , full of holes . It cannot make up its mind whether to eat or not . First it swallows the food and then vomits it out through the holes ! Yuck ! It operates in stealth mode and forces the child to run to the bathroom often and often even hoard food. Danger rating: 💀💀💀💀💀 Weapons: . Magnifying glass of detection🔍 . Vial of psychotherapy therapy 🍾 . Lance of nutritional counseling . Self image booster with dance and tai-chi sprinkles

Description: The PTSD dragon is released after the curse of trauma. A sneaky, evil one, it sometimes doesn't appear immediately after the trauma. It sucks up hope and joy and fills in the smoke of fear, doubt and nightmares Danger rating: 💀💀💀💀 Weapons to defeat: . Powder of detection . Sabre of Psychotherapy treatment . Crew of friends and family 👪

It looked just like his favourite book from the Hogwarts Library! He started to read about the Mental Health Monsters and how to face them.

Description: A massive heaving snake that coils and crushes the child and its smoky dark breath overwhelm the child and force them into a poisonous, hopeless fog. Danger level: 💀💀💀💀💀💀 Weapons needed to defeat: . Vial of anti-depressants . Spell of counseling 🍾 . Shield of hope . Sword of exercise 🗡 . Restoring Power of the Listening Ear

Can't see who but, Someone is controlling me!

Beware! Don't trust anyone! It's happening again

There was a little knight who was scared of anything new and unknown. He didn't know how to face the monsters around him, yet bravely on his quest he went. He passed through the fog of utter confusion and sliced though forests of misconceptions, and then... Shrouded in a golden veil lay a very special book!

What if you forget?

What if you look weird?

What if I can't?

The Anorexia Tormentor is one of Eating Disorder triplets! It resides in the person's mind, and has ghoulish, hypnotic, mirror-like eyes. It makes the child think they are fat and cruelly starves the the child until the child and the tormentor are almost indistinguishable. Danger rating: 💀💀💀💀💀 Weapons to defeat . Smart Glasses of early detection👓 . Truth Serum to create desire to eat . Self confidence charm

How this book came to be... I am a Grade 5 student at The Bombay International School.&nbsp;I chose mental health in children as my topic for the PYP exhibition because&nbsp;I think&nbsp;it matters how we feel and we should talk about it. I began to wonder about what we called NORMAL&nbsp;and a need to understand what it felt like to be in someone's shoes. As I studied the symptoms and treatment of disorders, I thought of monsters (with my love for Percy Jackson and Hogwarts ). Then I thought it would be a good way to describe mental illnesses.I was also inspired by illustrator<a href="https://www.boredpanda.com/mental-illnesses-illustrated-by-monsters-by-toby-allen/?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=organic&amp;utm_campaign=organic"> Toby Allen</a>. Visit his site <a href="https://www.zestydoesthings.com/realmonsters">here</a> Detailed fact sheets on these mental health disorders are available from DSM-5 <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm/educational-resources/dsm-5-fact-sheets">here</a>

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