How Mad Are You? A Search For Insanity: Film Analysis

The short documentary Crooked Beauty, directed by Ken Paul Rosenthal, narrates Jacks Ashley McNamara’s experience in a psychiatric ward and how her time in the facility shapes her new appreciation for her mental illness. One controversial issue has been trying to identify the true cause of mental illness. On the one hand, most people may think mental illness is simply a biological disorder that can be cured with a combination of medication and doctors demanding appropriate behavior until it sticks in the patient’s mind. On the other, McNamara contends that mental illness is a misconception with a patient’s oversensitivity, where it is harder for the patient to ignore certain events than “normal” people, and their doctor’s textbook knowledge. In McNamara’s mental institution, the psychiatrists simply trap her in a padded room and prescribe many different pills to suppress her mental illness instead of embracing her differences or showing her how to use those differences to her advantage. In attempt to prevent those who are mentally ill from feeling the same anger and frustration she felt, she demands a change in the line psychiatric treatment when she says:

exaggerating symptoms and stereotyping individuals with a mental disorder. For example, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Psycho, in which man with schizophrenia murders guests in a hotel, influences viewers to believe that all individuals suffering from schizophrenia are dangerous. However, that is rarely the case (Polatis, 2014). Therefore, it is refreshing to find a movie that accurately portrays the true personality of and individual living with a mental illness. The movie Silver Linings Playbook chronicles the experiences of Pat Solitano, a man suffering from undiagnosed bipolar disorder who was recently released from a psychiatric facility. Although this paper focuses on Pat’s experiences, it is important to note that the film not only takes on the task of portraying bipolar disorder, but also mental illness in general with other major characters suffering from a mixture of psychological or personality disorders. The film opens with Pat at Karel Psychiatric Facility in Baltimore, Maryland. We later learn that Pat was institutionalized for nearly beating to death the man with whom he caught his wife Nikki cheating on him. The rest of the film details

Consequently, mentally ill patients as well as those placed in psychiatric facilities are often branded as zombies (Hochwälder, 2013). Therefore, the recovery process of such people is often difficult because they face humiliation verbally or physically from others. As such, this website is very useful to people who are trying to liberate themselves from the stigma that comes with being a psychiatric patient. The design of the “Antipsychiatry Coalition” website is such that it makes use of links to provide information on various issues that revolve around mental illness and psychiatry (Antipsychiatry, 2015). For instance, the link on “myth of psychiatric diagnosis” enables the reader to read and learn about the things that people believe about psychiatry yet they are false.

On Being Sane in Insane Places is an essay written by David L. Rosenhan regarding experiments in which he and a team of others participated. These experiments were conducted in psychiatric wards of hospitals throughout the United States of America. In the experiments, a member of Rosenhan’s team would ask to be admitted on the grounds that they were hearing unfamiliar voices of the participant’s sex saying “’empty,’ ‘hollow,’ and ‘thud.’” (Rosenhan, 1973). All were easily admitted with the diagnosis of schizophrenia save for one, who was seeking admission to a private hospital, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a more desirable diagnosis. The team would then give only a falsified name and career; the truth about their pasts and relationships

The diagnoses, treatment, and overall understanding of mental illnesses have progressed greatly from when “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written. In those times the classification of a mental illness for a woman was madness. Women were treated accordingly, and not just by their doctors, but by their families and communities. Today, many facilities and medications exist to help individuals recover from a mental illness as best they can, and there are trained physicians and psychologists who can properly identify their illnesses. The only aspect that has not been completely altered since then is the way someone

Throughout the ages the view upon mental health has changed along with how we deal with those who possess mental illness. Many different names and labels have been placed on the mentally ill. Whether the label is simply ‘crazy’ or a fancy name for a specific type of disorder, they are looked upon with the same attitude: they are different.

The portrayal of mental illness to the public has a very important part in the discovery, understanding and treatment of them. Common misconceptions and assumptions can be damaging to people with such illnesses by the development of social stigmas and creation of outcasts in situations where support is needed. In modern times communication to the public about mental illness comes in a variety of ways, some accurate and some not. Movies are an example of a medium which has high potential for erroneous depictions of these and are also widely publicised. This essay will look at the movie The Bourne Identity (Liman, 2002) and whether or not the depiction of mental illness in the protagonist has accuracy, or is an example of misinformation about the reality which many people suffer through.

Students who attend this seminar will witness a lecture about how the common ideas surrounding mental illness and the way in which is is described in the media are rarely factual. This includes a presentation detailing recent films and tv shows that are guilty of misrepresenting the mentally ill. What was the cause for these people to be portrayed as unusually violent when that could not be farther from the truth? Psycho and American Psycho are similarly titled films with similar messages: if you’re “crazy”, you’re also a homicidal maniac. With so few prominent works truly capturing what it means to be mentally ill, what can be done to rectify the error in the future? The

During the last few decades in North America mental illness has finally started gaining the recognition it deserves. Yet the mentally ill still suffer from negative stigma and stereotypes. One of the sources of this stigma are films like Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Experts praise Psycho for the brilliant film it is and the new genre it created: psychological horror films. Many times when someone says “psycho,” Norman Bates is the first name that comes to mind (Kondo, 2008, p.250).

The role provided to mental health professionals is vital in improving mental health, as well as for providing understanding to family members and other agencies. These professionals are mental health practitioners whom practice includes supporting clients who are experiencing mental illness. These have been identified to fall within five main categories relating to the mental health field, however, this essay shall take a focus on social workers as the professional context. Social workers within a public and community mental health sector possess a well-established expertise in assisting individuals with mental illness and any associated problems (Australian Association for Social Workers, n.d.).

Understanding mental illness for the average person can be challenge or even unattainable. Unknown aspects from each individual illness grasps differing urges that are unrelated to the majority of people. The film industry, however, is used as a productive machine of creating empathetic relationships between its audience and the people being portray in the film. A combination of the film industry and the implementation of characters struggling with mental illness delivers a provoking message to an audience of people willing to learn the situations of all people. The movie A Beautiful Mind manages to fulfill the dramatic effects of a film and the realities within an individual suffering through mental illness.

Last fall, British television broadcast a reality program called “How Mad Are You?” The plot was simple: 10 volunteers lived together for a week in a house in the countryside and took part in a series of challenges. The amazing thing was that there were no prizes at the end of the challenges. There was a very interesting concept to the reality show. Five of the volunteers had a history of a serious mental illness, like obsessive compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder, and the other five volunteers did not have any mental illness. The challenges that were

In the world today, there are billions of people and every day we have the ability to encounter a handful of the billions. Every person we encounter comes from a different walk of life which can include different standards, lifestyles, and even health. In my life so far, I have encountered thousands of people, many who I no longer remember and but many I still do. When asked to right a report on my encounters with a “mentally ill” person, I knew just who to write about.

The depiction of mental illness changes depending on how it has touched different people’s lives. One

Experiencing mental illness along with abuse and neglect has been almost a gift to me. It 's also been a major curse. I’ve learned a lot on my journey and I want to share it with others who may be afraid of the stigma. People don’t talk about it. we need to talk about it with more than just counselors.