Elmhurst Man Writes About Mental Illness And Drug Abuse

ELMHURST, IL — What started as Batman fan fiction is now a book meant to educate young adults about mental illness and substance abuse.

“The Behavioral Disordered” tells the story of 17-year-old Jay. After losing his friend, Zero, to a heroin overdose, Jay and his friends try to stop the drug epidemic in their fictional hometown of Sunnyslope, Illinois.

The author of the book, Elmhurst resident Jason Cooney, graduated from York High School in 2012.

The title of the book is based on the behavioral disorder classes that Cooney was placed in at York. His mother, Atha D’Antonio-Stolarz, said students were placed in those classes for various reasons, including mental illnesses or learning disabilities

In real life, Cooney (whose pen name is Jason D’Antonio) lost his friend Matt to a heroin overdose. Matt was in behavioral disorder classes with Cooney and served as the inspiration for the character, Zero.

Cooney said after his friend died, he went to his brothers and a couple of friends and told them they should find who was selling drugs and stop them. Cooney’s older brother talked him out of the idea.

Cooney began working on the book in 2013. He said it goes into the possibility of confronting the drug dealers.

He said the setting of the book, Sunnyslope, Illinois, is a mixture of Elmhurst and the Phoenix community of Sunnyslope. Cooney moved to Elmhurst in 2005.

He said the novel, “The Outsiders” was a big inspiration for his book.

“I could always feel like we could relate to them,” Cooney told Patch. “I guess just felt like kind of outcasts.”

Cooney says the film adaptation of “The Outsiders” is one of his favorite movies.

His mother said Cooney had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder growing up. He was diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses, including anxiety, depression, PTSD and OCD, but not until after he graduated from high school. Cooney tackles the stigma behind mental illnesses in his book – stigmas that he often had to deal with growing up.

“When other people think you’re dangerous and then you think you’re dangerous, that’s a very scary and depressing thing to deal with,” Cooney said.

D’Antonio-Stolarz said she’s proud of her son.

“It's a big accomplishment,” D’Antonio-Stolarz said. “The fact that he pushed himself and went outside of his comfort zone.”

Cooney said he enjoyed writing the book, and he’d like to keep writing and hopes to try something new. Recently, he had an idea for a screenplay.

His mother said Cooney has also mentioned writing children’s books in the future.

“The Behavioral Disordered” is available in e-book and paperback versions on Amazon.