We talked a lot about social justice this semester, so I thought I'd pick a particular issue that is important to me: mental illness, and the stigma that often surrounds it.
First, a disclaimer: I myself am considered mentally ill.
How does that statement make you feel when you read it?
Does it scare you that you are reading words written by a mentally ill person? Maybe you feel uncomfortable. What images do the words "mentally ill" conjure up?
It's okay to admit that you have a negative reaction to that statement. Many, many people do. For a very long time, I was scared of the thought that there was something wrong with me. That I might be "crazy", or "psycho", or "insane".
Turns out, I'm just severely depressed and have horrible anxiety.
Maybe that makes it less scary for you to hear that I'm mentally ill. "Oh, it's just depression, no big deal".
Except it is a big deal, and it can be very frustrating when depression is depicted as something that people just need to "get over", or like it's something simple, that can be fixed with a pill. You see commercials all the time for various anti-depressants, and how depression is just a "chemical imbalance" that can be easily corrected.
Well, let me tell you from experience that it is not that easy.
So, since I am a big movie and TV buff, I thought I'd start off with some links to articles that discuss mental health in the media:
Media's Damaging Depictions of Mental Illness
Media Fuels Mental Illness Stigma
TV's Split Personality
No comments:
Post a Comment