Separating Mental Health Disorders from Character Flaws
Today author Katie Keridan explores the critical difference between mental health disorders and character flaws—and why confusing the two can do more harm than good. With insight from both her clinical background and personal experience, she shares how to write flawed, realistic characters without reinforcing harmful stereotypes.
Why Flaws Matter in Fiction
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as an author is that every main character needs a flaw. Whether it’s a relatively minor quirk or a major defect, flaws are essential to creating realistic characters. In fact, flaws are often what draw us to characters in the first place: we relate to some part of them or see a piece of ourselves reflected through them, and because of this connection we’re immediately invested in wanting to know what happens to them next.
Despite their importance, character flaws aren’t always easy to create. I hate making my characters suffer, which means I’ve definitely avoided giving them flaws. Out of a desire to protect them, I’ve polished and molded and shaped and edited a character until they’re absolutely perfect.
Unfortunately, I’ve also learned that a perfect character quickly becomes a boring character.
The Danger of Perfect Characters
This is because a perfect character has nowhere to go…they start out great, they do great things, and end up even greater than they already were. Perfect characters don’t grow. They don’t change. And why should they? They’re already gorgeous, wealthy, well-traveled, brilliant, accomplished, and have a loving family and tons of friends. No matter what obstacles they face, everything always works out for them…they never fail, never embarrass themselves, never feel guilty or ashamed, and never make a mistake.
Flaws Create Growth
Regardless of an author’s well-meaning intentions, when we fail to give our characters a flaw, we take away their chances to learn, which means we also deprive readers of the chance to learn alongside them. Giving your character a flaw isn’t punishing them—it’s making them more accessible and life-like, ensuring readers join them on their journey, groaning when they make a bad choice and cheering when they overcome a challenge.
Common Types of Character Flaws
So, what kinds of characteristics make good flaws? While this changes to some extent based on the age of the audience you’re writing for and the genre you’re writing in, pretty much any trait can be a flaw if there’s too much or too little of it. Some of the most common flaws include being arrogant, being a coward, lying, stealing, getting into fights/being hot-headed, excessive stubbornness, being too competitive, being a people-pleaser, being prejudiced, or harboring resentments and bitterness.
Mental Health Is Not a Character Flaw
One thing a flaw should never be is a mental health disorder.
Make no mistake: we desperately need more mental health representation in books. But that representation needs to be intentional, well-considered, and above all, accurate.
Why Separating Flaws from Disorders Matters
Separating your character’s mental health from their inherent flaw is imperative for two very important reasons. First, readers with mental health challenges do not need to be told yet again that a mental health disorder is a flaw, something bad or evil, a deserved punishment, or an inherent failing on their part. This perpetuates harmful stereotypes and contributes to prejudice, discrimination, and biases, which are the last things we want to do as authors.
And second, the point of a flaw is for the character to ultimately recognize their shortcoming and take steps to change it. In real life, not all mental health diagnoses can be changed. Every mental health diagnosis is different. Some of them (like anxiety or depression) can be affected by treatments such as therapy or medication, which means in those instances, symptoms can change and get better over time. Other diagnoses, however, are more severe, and the symptoms associated with them cannot be changed no matter what someone does or how long they do it.
Creating Characters with Both Flaws and Disorders
So, how do you create a flaw in a character who also has a mental health disorder? Prior to becoming an author, I worked as a Johns Hopkins-trained pediatric neuropsychologist who specialized in assessing and diagnosing mental health disorders in children and teens. I’m also neurodivergent and on the spectrum, so drawing from both my education and my personal experience, I recommend you ask yourself the following question:
Could this flaw exist if I took away my character’s mental health diagnosis?
Example: Sebastian from The Felserpent Chronicles
In my YA romantasy trilogy, The Felserpent Chronicles, my main character Sebastian has PTSD. This is due to a combination of childhood abuse and eventual abandonment by his father. He grows into a cold, selfish, isolated assassin who believes he’s better off alone.
Now, as an abuse survivor myself who has experienced PTSD, I knew I had to separate Sebastian’s mental health challenges from his flaw. It’s easy to look at him and think, “Well, of course he’s violent, isolated, and doesn’t trust others…he has PTSD!”
Could his behaviors and ways of thinking be due to his PTSD?
Absolutely.
But could he also behave and think in these same ways if I took away his PTSD diagnosis?
Yes!
Sebastian’s thoughts and actions can be explained by something else, something that isn’t his diagnosis. His flaw is believing that, deep down, he’s destined to be just like his vile father, capable of hurting those closest to him. This belief is what leads him to see threats where they don’t exist, to push people away, and to hurt others before they can hurt him.
And because his flaw isn’t his diagnosis, he can learn and grow and make different choices. He comes to understand he doesn’t have to grow up and become his father. Because his flaw is a belief based on fear, he can face it and move forward focused not on what he wants to avoid but on who he truly wants to become.
While Sebastian does take steps to address his PTSD, I took great pains to make it clear that, even if some of his symptoms (like being hyper-vigilant, having nightmares, and dissociating) do get better, they also might not ever go away entirely. His flaw (a fear-based belief) is fixable. His mental health disorder is a result of brain circuitry and neurochemistry and might be something he lives with the rest of his life.
Final Thoughts
There may be a lot of overlap between your character’s mental health disorder and their flaw, and at times it might feel impossible to split the two. But I assure you it is possible, and by separating mental health disorders from character flaws, we accurately depict psychological diagnoses while allowing our character and our readers to learn and grow, ensuring everyone finishes the story with new insights, confidence, and skills.
Happy writing, and here’s to inspiring and educating readers!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katie Keridan has always loved to write, whether she was stapling paper together to make her own childhood books or sharing the results of research trials in scientific journals as a pediatric neuropsychologist. While Katie enjoyed contributing to cancer research, she enjoyed creating her own stories more and slowly moved from facts to the fantastical. She is a Highlights Foundation faculty member and the author of the award-winning young adult romantasy trilogy, The Felserpent Chronicles.
CONNECT WITH KATIE KERIDAN!
Author website: www.katiekeridan.com
Instagram: @KatieKeridan
Facebook: @KatieKeridan
TikTok: @KatieKeridan
REALM UNITED (The Felserpent Chronicles Book 3)
This enemies-to-lovers YA romantacy is the last book in the popular Felserpent Chronicle series, bringing the story full circle with timely themes of sacrifice, war, and love.
Sebastian Sayre and Kyra Valorian, the former Felserpent King and Queen, thought they knew what reuniting the divided realms of Aeles and Nocens would require of them. But fulfilling their promises to stop Tallus and bring peace between those with silver and gold blood will require sacrifices they didn’t expect to make.
Furious over Kyra’s refusal to help him turn Daevals into Astrals, Tallus assumes control of Aeles and announces he’s developed a weapon capable of killing everyone with silver blood. Kyra discovers a way to defeat him, but it will require her to perform a terrible act she isn’t sure she can live with. Sebastian loathes becoming a recognized public figure, and given his dark past, there are those who don’t trust him to hold a position of power, even as he and Kyra race to reunite the realms.