One Artist is Raising Mental Health Awareness by Drawing Medical Conditions as Monsters

A UK-based illustrator is creating a series of drawings that aim to raise mental health awareness by depicting different disorders and conditions as monsters.

Toby Allen’s Real Monsters series is a collection of 16 illustrations (with another eight in the pipeline) that tackle everything from depression and anxiety to schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Allen told Mashable;

“The idea for the project came from dealing with my own anxiety,” . I found that drawing my worries and fears as little monsters would help me think about them differently and make my anxiety feel more manageable. I imagined that my anxiety could be overcome by giving it a physical from, giving it a visible weakness that I could learn to exploit.”

After receiving a positive response online, Allen decided to tackle a variety of other conditions as part of a larger project.

“I also wanted to try and educate people…