Therapists, Vending Machines, and Winding Roads: Race and Mental Health in Olivia Wenzel's <i>1000 Serpentinen Angst</i>

Abstract This essay explores the damaging effects of racism on the mental health of the Black German protagonist of Olivia Wenzel's autofictional novel 1000 Serpentinen Angst (2020). Informed by close readings and decolonial trauma theory, this article shows how Wenzel forges connections on the semantic and formal levels of the text between the social conditions affecting people of color living in Germany and her protagonist's experience of anxiety and trauma. 1000 Serpentinen Angst serves as a literary contribution to discourse surrounding the relationship between racism and mental health in the German‐speaking world, while also considering the personal toll of disclosure through life writing.