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• 1 2023-11-29T19:59:41+00:00 Adventures with Anxiety 11 Page 1 image_header 2023-12-03T20:01:57+00:00
  

  Trying to describe emotions and feelings is known to be hard as they are often felt in ways that can not be described in words. To take that one step further and try to depict mental disorders is a whole different beast, literally; Case depicts anxiety, one of the most common mental disorders, as a skittish yet caring red wolf as seen in the image to the left. Why a wolf though? Why not a whale, monkey, or even a cat? Well according to Living with Wolves, an organization dedicated to wolf research and education, some wolves go through a time of solitude where they are without a pack or partner. That is not to say that that wolf doesn’t want to find a pack to live with and protect, they just haven’t found the right one (The Social Wolf). Similarly, the wolf in Adventures with Anxiety is a lone wolf in a sense. The wolf and the girl sit alone at lunch and haven’t found their people, or pack, yet. So despite both the girl and the wolf wanting to find a pack, the wolf wants to make sure it is the right one. Building on that, wolves are also known to be protective of their packs and loyal to their partner. Since the wolf and the girl only have each other and are partners in a sense, the wolf doesn’t want to lose its human to another pack, partner, or something dangerous which is seen throughout the game. This therefore makes a wolf an excellent depiction of anxiety as it simplifies the complexity of the disorder and doesn’t require the player to have any previous knowledge about anxiety. Additionally making something like anxiety that is normally invisible into something that the player can see and interact with makes what is normally a complex idea, a little more understandable