7/30 Mental Illness in the Media

Mental Illness in the Media
July 30th, 7pm Ellis Library 3G61

Please read the NAMI article, and then pick a few articles from each category.

Facts:
**What is mental Illness – NAMI

Half of Us (Specifically aimed towards college students)

Stigma:
Called Manic Depression or Bipolar Disorder Stigma Persists

No Halloween Psychos

Black Men and Depression (video)

ZAMBIA: Mental illness sufferers shunned and isolated

Parallels Between Mental Illness and Sexual Violence Advocacy

Pop Culture/Media:
Target Women: Medicine (video)

Blogging Against Disablism: Bloody Torchwood

Harry Potter & Mental Illness

Britney Spears, Mental Illness and the Tabloids

Just Watch (pop culture):
Wednesday July 29th, 6pm-11, Amy's Apartment
This is a list of episodes I think would be good examples, all are about an hour long. We don't have to watch everything, whatever people are interested in or what we have time for.

Torchwood: Adrift

Monk: Mr Monk Takes His Medicine

Mental: Manic at the Disco

The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive (Stephen Fry)

House: Simple Explanation


Discussion Questions:
1. What are the stereotypes you have heard associated with mental illness? Does society have varying levels of “acceptability” for different mental illnesses? In what ways is this stigma perpetuated?
2. What are common themes about mental illness in the media? How realistic is it? How do these portrayals increase/decrease stigma?
3. Telling real life stories of mental illness is theoretically one way to combat stigma. How important/effective do you think this approach is? How does it change your perception of someone to learn that they have a mental illness?
4. How might these stereotypes affect people's willingness to seek help?
5. What role does mental health play in our individual fields? How does it related to education, feminism, genocide, sustainability, etc?
6. Working with social justice issues can take an emotional toll, or cause burn out. What can we do for self-care?