How can I show why certain things trigger a character's mental illness, without going into an info dump or lecture about mental illness? I've got some ideas, but they haven't worked out as well as I'd like, because it's usually my POV character eavesdropping on other characters as they discuss his mental problems. Any constructive input would be helpful.
I think you can just portray it as it happens, and if there's an opportunity for elaboration later, go with that. I have this character who's freaked out by the smell of pine smoke and this particular forest, because it's where they almost burned to death like three months before the start of the story - early on they react really strongly to even the idea of going back there, and they have several full-fledged panic attacks over it that absolutely seem irrational/hysterical. So I let them seem irrational/hysterical. I think that's fine? Maybe not the most popular thought process, I dunno. But I let their behavior go unexplained and let the surrounding characters go "what in the entire fuck was that" for a while before an organic means of explanation comes up, because to me that's realistic. I do a lot of research and do my best to understand whatever I'm writing about, but that doesn't mean that people in-universe understand it well enough to infodump, and a lecture is rarely going to come across as realistic, I think, rather than preachy. If it's other people talking about it, maybe they only know fragments about PTSD if that much, so they can only comment on his behavior as they see it. The important thing imo is that the portrayal of the illness is accurate, so that what your characters think of the symptoms isn't mistaken for what you think the illness is. Maybe they think he's just freaking out for no reason, or they have a somewhat convoluted concept of what PTSD is and get some stuff wrong, but as long as what the pov character is actually experiencing comes across as real and genuine and complex, I think you're good. Just focus on the symptoms and how they affect him, how he perceives them. My nerdy ass, at least, will be nodding along in my little reading glasses and going "this dude's clearly got that PTSD".
I couldn't have said it better myself, @izzybot! You don't have to preach about the illness to your readers- just let your character show it. If people don't know what PTSD is, that's okay- they'll still understand its effects and how it plays out in your story. Before I knew about PTSD (mind you, this was a while ago) I read a story with the MC who had PTSD. When I later learned about the illness, I recognized the signs that the author had given us (the readers). Simply let your character "act out" the illness (things like panic attacks, flashbacks, nightmares, triggers, depression etc.). I hate when I get told to "show not tell" but I believe that, in this case, that is what you must do. You can have (as you mentioned above, I believe) two others talking about your MCs illness and saying that the MC has PTSD, but I would advise you strongly against listing all the symptoms/effects of the illness or even having them saying "this is an indicator of PTSD…people who have PTSD are ____, _____ and ____. The Marriam-Webster dictionary Definition says that PTSD is _____, ______ and ______." …Or something like that, if you get what I'm saying. I wish I could be more coherent but apparently I save that for my novel-writing. Anyway, best of luck!
I second what they say. One of my MC's has panic attacks and her panic attacks, never in the story though do I say the words panic attack or even anxiety. She just has her attacks and the reader is able to pick up after the first or second one that she has them when she is faced with the idea that she actually cares for people.
