One Social Issue That Has Not Gotten Much Attention Until

Illness is one of the few experiences that all humans have in common and generally is met with empathy. However, people who suffer from mental illness are not privy to this treatment. For centuries, mental disorders have been demonized and stigmatized even in the modern era where humans have a much better understand of the mechanisms of the mind. Before the advent of psychiatry in the eighteenth-century people believed that mental illness was actually demonic possession resulting in the ostracization and murder of the mentally ill in the name of God. The Victorian era was met with a different view of mental illness, in that it was understood that it was a malady of the mind and people needed constant medical treatment, thus federally mandated asylums were created. Since mental illness was not understood there was a lot of misconceptions and fear surrounding the field. It is no surprise that the master of macabre and the creator of Horror, Edgar Allen Poe, decided to explore themes of mental illness in his stories. Poe’s most famous story about mental illness was The Fall of the House of Usher, where the main characters are plagued with an undisclosed mental malady. Through Poe’s use of point of view, style, tone, and tropes, he painted a perfect picture of the Victorian view of the mentally ill and the mind of the artist which was believed to be different faces of the same coin.

I think that the play Death of a Salesmen portrays the life with a mentally ill

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:

Mental illness is often wrongly portrayed in the United States’ media creating stigmatization and misrepresentation. Mental illness “refers to a wide range of mental disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior” (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2015). Examples of disorders include anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Any “negative attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are called stigma” (Wilson et al., 2016, p. 2) and stigma can contribute to progression of mental illness because of its harmful effects due to misrepresentation in the media. In the recent years, the United States media has began to address the reprehension around the topic of mental illness, as it has began to develop into a rising problem in citizens across the nation. In the past, any portrayal of a figure or character with a mental disorder would be wrongly depicted, therefore, creating a distorted perception for the viewers (Stout et al., 2004, p. 1). Television shows have started to establish characters with mental illness in hopes to lessen the stigma behind ill characters due to the wrongful associations viewers may make. The way media viewers’ stereotype the mentally ill into categories can be harmful to the well being of those with disorders. Stereotypes can be so harmful that even medical professionals “contend that stigma is a major reason why one-fourth of the estimated 50 million Americans experiencing mental illness yearly will not seek

Social issues have plagued the women and minorities of our country for decades upon decades, degrading them as if emotions and morals were not evident amongst them. The article entitled "Affirmative Action" states that as representation of minorities and women became more and more necessary, a movement called "affirmative action" became an important issue. Affirmative action is not limited to the uplifting of certain genders and races, but it focuses on establishing standards of certain ethical codes. Affirmative action concentrates on a broad array of issues including equal opportunity, systematic exclusion, and diversity.

Stop and frisk. One of the most controversial issues of today's society. This dates back all the way to 1967 with the case Terry v Ohio. In this case, an officer by the name of Martin Mcfadden, patrolling his surrounding area, noticed two African American men acting “suspiciously” in front of a store on a street corner at 1276 Euclid Avenue. Mcfadden described the men to be alternately walking back and forth and conversing while taking breaks in between. He also stated that the two men later met up with another African American male one block over and soon after, rejoined him in front of the store once more.Officer Mcfadden believed he was witnessing what seemed to be a “stick up”; nuisances “casing a job”. Mcfadden stated he feared not only

Donald Trump America’s president elect has done and said several controversial statements throughout the duration of the presidential race. Some of the issues or topics that were controversial was immigration, feminism, and employment. Donald Trump believes that immigrants should not be allowed to be apart of the country he has said unbelievably disgusting things about Mexicans. One of the controversial things he said pertaining to Mexicans was they are dangerous criminals and drug dealers that is basically up to no good and they are coming here to “steal our jobs” he also discussed building a wall to block out the immigrants specifically the Mexicans. If America is the land of the free everyone should have equal opportunity to make a living even if they are coming from a different country. In this country

The book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, written by Mark Haddon, follows the story of a teenager named Christopher Boone suffering with autism. In the book, Christopher begins to search for the murderer of his neighbor’s dog, and while looking, he figures that it was, in fact, his father who lied to him and killed the dog. Christopher learns that this is not the only lie, and he learns that his dad has actually lied to him about the death of his mother, so out of fear for his safety, he goes on a journey to London seeking his long thought dead mother. Christopher, due to his autism, sees things in the world differently than other people. He has trouble feeling empathy and experiencing emotions,

What do you personally think are the major social problems/ issues facing the US today? Label each problem as personal, social, and or global.

The creators of this show have been able to display the struggles of mental illness to a society who still so strongly stigmatize it. The show puts a face to bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses through Diana and her surroundings and family dynamic. Her experience is fully shown to the audience through the use of the character Gabe. The physical manifestation of her disability comes through in Diana’s inner conflict with Gabe. This is one of the first shows to come to Broadway to fully show “madness through a contemporary medical model.” This musical shows, with brutal honesty, the difficulties of living with this illness and through the help of the contemporary medical model. Millions of Americans use this model when “they use psychiatric

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.

In this article, Rosemarie Garland Thomson mentions four ways people see disability: it is a system for interpreting bodily variations, the relations between bodies and their environments, practices that produce both the able-bodied and the disabled, and a way of describing the inherent instability of the embodied self (74). People always stare at the disabled because they couldn’t resist it and of curiosity. Rosemarie said, “ Staring thus created disability as a state of absolute difference rather than simple one more variation in human form (57).” This quote means that by staring at the disabled, it make it seem like the disabled are something else rather human. This story is valuable because it shows that people couldn’t accept the appearance

I believe that the one most serious social problem in the US is discrimination/stereotyping. I feel this way because when people discriminate, it makes people become disconnected from that certain society. In result of this, people may become anti-social or have low self-esteem. Being a black women living in the US is not easy. There have been multiple times that I have been followed around in the stores because of my skin color. I even have friends that are white that told me that their manager has asked them to follow blacks around in the store to make sure that they haven’t stolen anything. The media doesn’t help people think otherwise either. Certain groups will get stereotyped as criminals because a few people in the same category my act

The article “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Pippa Moss informs readers about what to expect when reading the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time written by Mark Haddon, and what went into making this book. The author starts the article with a summary of the book, then focuses on the main character Christopher, and how the author portrayed the character’s thinking and behavior. Next, the author explains what someone with a mental illness like the main character has would make of the story. The author then concludes the article by explaining who the target audience of this book is, and recommends it those who work with children with mental illnesses.

A social justice issue that has mostly impacted my life would be reproductive rights/health, because of how I was born and the struggles I went through growing up as an in vitro/gestational carrier baby. Other important social justice issues that I have taken a deep interest include human trafficking, violence against women, and wage discrimination. While interning for Senator Heidi Heitkamp I was able to work primarily on these specific issues. Not only do I have experience on these issues but I also have a strong desire to impact in a beneficial way on all of these issues, because I want to be a voice for women who are struggling at the hands of abuse or any form of discrimination and I want to work towards empowering women politically, socially,