Mental Illness in a Movie - It Ain't Easy

I knew when I started to write Surviving Family that I wanted to incorporate the subject of mental illness.  It's something that affects many families including my own (see stats from the National Institute of Mental Health HERE).  Treatment has improved markedly in recent years, but the issue still struggles to emerge from the shadows.  It took numerous re-writes to come up with something that was reasonably accurate (keeping in mind that it's fiction) while still being (I think!) entertaining.

A wonderful aspect of the millenial generation is that they are far more upfront, accepting, and honest about many things that were taboo in the past - this has been the subject of much discussion lately regarding their overwhelming acceptance of the GLBTQ communities.  But it's true with regard to mental illness as well - I've seen it within my own family.  That's something I wanted to highlight:  young people are often far more comfortable acknowledging and dealing with mental health issues than their parents and grandparents are. 

In the clip below, teenager Lily Malone (played by the terrific Katherine C. Hughes) tells her aunt (Sarah Wilson) about her diagnosis while Lily's mother (Tara Westwood) squirms uncomfortably.   Joining in them in this scene are Billy Magnussen as Terry's fiance, Bill Sage as Jean and Terry's dad,  P.J. Sosko as Terry's step-father, and Sophia Parra as Helen.