Warning Spoilers for Celeste (if you haven’t played it go do it you will not regret it)
I am going to be talking about some really serious topics such as mental health and suicide that may upset some readers so read at your own discretion.
This is going to be part 1 in a trilogy of articles based on how Celeste deals with mental health and how it teaches us about mental illnesses, this article will discuss how Celeste teaches us about mental illness whilst the second article will discuss how Badeline is involved (there is so much to talk about when it comes to Badeline (the physical representation of Madelines anxiety and depression) that I had to give her, her own article). The third article will be talking about how Celeste goes against the tradition ‘mental health’ narrative that the media normally presents us with.
I don’t personally suffer from anxiety or depression but I do have severe ADHD to the point where my own mind overwhelms me with thoughts at times. So yeah I do know what it’s like to have a brain that people consider unnormal, and I know what it’s like to fight against yourself to have the desire to be normal.
So why did I bring this up? Well it’s important to know where I’m coming from when talking about mental health. I recently played Celeste and this game presented me with the best example of mental illness I have seen in any media product I have ever consumed. Celeste is one of the best games I have ever played. When I started playing it I assumed it would just be a super difficult platformer similar to Super Meat Boy but it ended up being so much more. The story that Celeste presents follows a young lady called Madeline who suffers with anxiety and depression. She decides to climb the mountain known as Celeste to prove to herself that she can do it.
I have got 10 different lessons that Celeste teaches about mental health to present to you (excluding Badeline she’ll be in the next article) so without further ado let’s go.
Celeste, Mental Health And The Lessons It Teaches
1. Mental Illness Is Like Climbing A Mountain (And You Can Climb It)
Celeste compares dealing with mental illness to climbing a mountain. Every screen in the game symbolises a step towards being able to deal with your mental illness. Just like with every step in understanding and living with your mental illness this is bloody difficult. Every screen symbolises a step forward in learning to live with your mental illness. You’ll fail numerous times in every screen in Celeste, just like you are likely to fail over and over again when dealing with your mental illness but just like in Celeste you’ll get through it you just need to keep on trying, don’t give up.
2. Mental Illness Can Be Hidden
Other than the fact that we don’t know that Madeline has any mental health issues at first there is a point later on which really phones home the idea that you can’t tell if someone is suffering with a mental illness from just looking at them. The track ‘In the Mirror’ which can be heard in the mirror temple chapter has a hidden message when played backwards “Sometimes I don’t really know what’s going on anymore, I, I don’t know who I am, I just look in the mirror and I don’t know who I’m looking at, or… who’s looking at me. I think a lot about, where my train of thought is going, and it’s not always a good place, and that scares me. I don’t… like… scaring myself. I don’t *sobbing*”. When listening to the track in the game you can clearly hear a human voice but it’s only when you make the effort to reverse it (or go on YouTube :P) where you can see what is truly wrong with this person who seems to be fine on the outside. Basically make an effort with people they might not be as happy as they seem.
3. Mental Illness Is A Real Problem Which Causes Many People To Take There Own Life
In Chapter 1: Forsaken City a gravestone is found at the end of the level reading “This memorial dedicated to those who perished on the climb” seeing that the mountain is a clear metaphor for dealing with depression and anxiety, this gravestone dedicated to those who perished on the climb is a clear metaphor for people who didn’t feel like they could continue the struggle and sadly took there own lives.
I’ve linked below a page with links to every countries suicide prevention helpline, there’s always another way, taking your own life is never the answer.
http://suicideprevention.wikia.com/wiki/International_Suicide_Prevention_Directory
4. Every Step Forward No Matter How Small Is Still A Step Forward (Not Doing Everything Perfectly Is Still Fine)
In Celeste there is so much collectables and things to do after the credits role (the post-game content is actually bigger then the main game content), every stage has numerous strawberries to collect, a singular B-Side tape per level (which will unlock an even harder variant of the level for you to play afterwards) and a singular heart to collect per level. These are very difficult to get but are not essential to getting a very satisfying ending, you can always go back and collect them later when you feel comfortable doing so anyway.
When dealing with a mental illness doing the little things is great and means your progressing up your own mental mountain, don’t worry if you don’t do as much as you would have before the illness surfaced, everything is a step forward, doesn’t matter if you don’t collect all the strawberries ;).
5. Some People Will Not Understand You
Some people will laugh at your goals, some people will not understand you, an old lady at the beginning of the game mocks you for your goal to climb the mountain. People who don’t understand are not necessarily bad however, this lady does eventually end up helping you deal with your mental illness later in the game and becomes your friend, talking about friends…
6. Your Friends Are There For You
Just as Theo is there for Madeline whenever she needs him, you will always have friends who will be there for you. Talking to them just as Madeline does with Theo in Chapter 6: Reflections will really help you just as it helps Madeline. When beating the game even if you fail to get much strawberries and make a bad strawberry pie your friends will be accepting of you, your friends are always there and will understand you no matter what.
7. Everyone Has Problems
When Theo enters the mirror temple his desire to be recognised, his drive for attention is reflected. He is crystallised doomed to be watched by eyes for all of eternity which is a clear metaphor for his desire to be watched and recognised (luckily he is saved).
8. It’s Never Too Late
In Chapter 3 – Celestial Resort you meet Mr Oshiro, a man who at first it seems like his mental illness has beaten him but nope at the end he starts to make progress leaving his hotel which has haunted him even into the afterlife and goes to the party at the end of the game.
9. Failure Isn’t The End
The game tells you “Be proud of your death count, the more you die, the more you’re learning. Keep going!”, trying and failing is still trying and even if you don’t realise it you’re learning. Just keep trying. Just take a rest which is portrayed in the gameplay, if you ever run out of stamina just go onto the floor and now that you are rested, you are ready.
10. Dealing With Panic Attacks
When Madeline has a panic attack in Celeste, Theo tells her to close her eyes and breath, telling her to focus on a feather and informs her that her steady breathing will keep this feather in place, whilst I couldn’t find anywhere that this is an actual method to deal with panic attacks, there is a lot of traits with this technique that fits with actual techniques used to deal with panic attacks (although when looking through the internet the technique that Celeste presented did seem to help some people which is amazing). The NHS states this as a good method to deal with panic attacks.
- Breathe in as slowly, deeply and gently as you can, through your nose.
- Breathe out slowly, deeply and gently through your mouth.
- Some people find it helpful to count steadily from one to five on each in-breath and each out-breath.
- Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.
Now the method presented in Celeste is quite similar to this method, both involve the fact that you have to close your eyes and focus on your breathing, and that it’s a good idea to breath slowly and gently (if you breath to fast in this section of the game you will fail).
This idea is kinda flipped later on in the game with Badeline but we’ll talk about that in part 2 :P.
Part 2 is out now check it out here 😛
Mainstream404 
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