Public Opinions About Mental Illnesses

The social problem I have chosen to write about is mental illness. This problem is important to talk about “because of the number of people it affects, the difficulty of defining and identifying mental disorders, and the ways in which mental illness is treated” (Kendall, 2013, p. 227). “About 57.7 million people, or one in four adults, in the United States suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder” (Kendall, 2013, p. 229). “Many of these illnesses begin in childhood or adolescence, with the most common problems being anxiety disorder, mood disorders, impulse-control disorders, and substance abuse disorders” (Kendall, 2013, p. 229). I chose this topic because I wanted to learn more about how mental illness is a social problem and I have been interested in learning more about mental illnesses and how to help people with mental disorders.

In the film, the mental health professionals acknowledged this irony, however they misdiagnosed three of the five participants with a mental illness. I valued the mental health professional’s credentials and felt their status would lead to a high percentage of proper diagnoses. The result of the professionals mislabeling two of the ten participants with a history of mental illness, made me aware that a certain amount of experience, education, or status does not prevent

The disparity in treatment has been attempted to be remedied over the eras. Bills and Acts put into place in the 20th and 21st centuries have seeked to improve care and reduce stigma around those with mental illness. This began in 1942, when Harry Truman signed the National Mental Health Act, which requested the formation of a National Institute of Mental Health. Shortly after this, in 1949, the National Institute of Mental Health was established (“National Institute of Mental Health”). During the company’s 60 year lifespan they have focused on research about mental illness, educating the public, and improving the lives of the mentally ill by working to pass laws. One law that seeks to reduce the stigma of mental illness is the Mental Healths Service Act of California. "California 's Historic Effort To Reduce The Stigma Of Mental Illness: The Mental Health Services Act" from the American Journal Of Public Health illustrates how the Act will make improvements. Families and individuals who have experienced stigma had a big role in the process, specifically with developing a 10 year plan, the California Strategic Plan on Reducing Mental Health Stigma and Discrimination. One component of the Act discussed is the work plan developed by California Mental Health Services Authority, which has three components: stigma and discrimination reduction, student mental health, and suicide prevention. Organizations such as the NIMH have made efforts resulting in the evolution of mental

When the phrase “mental illness” is spoken, the immediate thought that pops into the individual’s mind is the extremes such as Schizophrenia, or Bipolar Disorder. However, the majority of mental disorders fall into the spectrum of quite common disorders such as Depression, Anxiety, or Obsessive Compulsion Disorder (OCD). Why should the first thing that people think of be negative? What makes people think this way? Society has a negative view of mental illness because of media portrayal, the attitudes of individuals, and skepticism, and the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, makes a connection to these views of the world.

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

We have a tendency of shadowing out individuals who have been diagnosed with a mental illness. Despite our human nature of caring, we place those individuals in prisons or understaffed psychiatric facilities, leaving them to be the burden of others. People with mental illness may not be able to hold employment and may not have that family support. This public perception (stigma) “limits opportunities for individuals with mental illnesses and often prevents them from seeking appropriate help”. (Jeglic, 2015) How is it that the public perception is so strong when most people do not have expertise within the field of abnormal psychology?This perception is influenced by the media. “Information presented in the media can be

How would you react if you found your wife in the shower with another man? Any sane person would furious, but would you lose control and beat the other man senseless? Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of bipolar disorder in The Silver Linings Playbook how untreated the disorder can take control of a person’s life giving them manic episodes and major depressive episodes. This film aims to accurately display the struggles any person with bipolar disorder will deal with in their daily life while trying to manage the extensive mood swings they experience. The intended purpose of this paper is to analyze not only in what ways the director and cast accurately display the everyday life of an individual with bipolar disorder, but also the quality of the film. Throughout the movie themes of divorce, medications, the need for social support when dealing with mental disorders and a person’s unwillingness to accept help, will all be brought up in order to help an individual manage their disorder.

Pat was diagnosed with Bipolar one disorder shortly after arriving at the mental institution. I agree with this diagnosis for many reasons. I believe that it would have to be Bipolar one because Pat displays manic episodes. With Bipolar two disorder, there has never been a manic episode. Bipolar two disorder also must display at least one major depressive episode. From the information from the movie, Pat didn’t really display a depressive episode. Pat demonstrates several symptoms of Bipolar one disorder, many falling into the mania category. His manic episodes cause a great deal of distress in his life. Before the incident with his wife’s lover even occurred, Pat was having severe delusions. He told the school board that his wife and the history teacher were plotting against him. The delusions did not stop once he was out of the mental institution. When pat caught, his wife cheating on him their wedding song was playing. Now every time Pat hears the song he goes into some kind of psychotic episode and puts everyone around him in danger of becoming his next victim. As I mentioned earlier Pat does not take his medication as it is prescribed. He said it makes him too foggy. This could be due to the fact that he enjoys how his mania makes him feel. Throughout the movie, Pat refers to his ex-wife as his wife. He is obsessed with this delusion and honestly believes that he will win her back over. Even though she has made it perfectly clear

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

In the movie, Pat was diagnosed with bipolar disorder before the start of the events depicted in the film. He is shown to have a lack of understanding or care of other’s needs, violent tendencies, lack of social skills, and a constant state of hyperactivity. He acts on impulse and jumps from one thing to another with ease. These characteristics of Pat help support the movie’s claim of him having bipolar disorder. A scene that starts to give you a sense of his disorder is when he is reading a novel on his ex-wife Nikki’s list of books. At some point in the middle of the night he tosses the book out of his window then proceeds to barge into his parents’ room and wake them up. He rambles about how terrible the ending of the book is and how he

Mental illness is heavily stigmatized in mainstream media sources, such as articles, books and movies. The character who is suffering from a mental disorder, which is stigmatized is often exaggerated for the sake of entertainment. The stigmatization of mental disorders is unfair to those who have mental disorders. The viewers of media are viewing those suffering from the disorders as “psychotic” or “crazy”, which is inaccurate and unjust to those affected. The media representation of the disorder provides vague and inaccurate causes and treatments. In the movie series “The Dark Knight Rises” and television series “Dexter”, the characters Joker and Dexter are afflicted with the mental disorder antisocial personality disorder; in which it creates

While “movies, newspapers, magazines, television shows, books, radio programs, and advertisements have all been vehicles for communicating the experience of…mental illness” it usually “[tends] to be a misrepresentation of the experience” (Corrigan 201). This has a major negative impact on people suffering from mental illnesses because they feel sentiments of “societal scorn and discrimination” which ultimately “leads to diminished self-esteem, fear of pursuing one’s goals, and loss of social opportunities” (Corrigan 201). There seems to be a revival in the world of movies and television of depicting forms of exploring the minds of serial killers which started in the 60s with the creation of the Horror film genre. There is almost a strange fascination amongst audiences to know more about the minds of murderers and those who are too sick to see the wrong they are doing. Films depicting mental health have a great impact on the lives of those suffering from mental illness and also the perceptions of those who do not suffer from mental illness. The mostly negative stigma surrounding those who suffer from mental disorders gives them a bad reputation that impacts most aspects of their lives.

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 most cases, people who are portrayed with mental illnesses are commonly exhibited as being violent and/or aggressive, but are also frequently depicted as eccentrics, seductresses (in the case of women), self-obsessives, objects for scientific observation, simpletons and/or failures. One or more of these such labels can reasonably be applied to the characters examined in both The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Holy City... As such, a skewed, and ultimately rather unsavoury, picture of mental illness is often presented to the public. There is plenty of evidence that these pervasive negative portrayals can have harmful effects, particularly effects they might incur through perpetuating the stigma associated with mental illness as well as potentially reducing the likelihood that those with mental illness will seek out the appropriate help. In April 2005, a psychological review put together by Jane Pirkis, R Warwick Blood, Catherine Francis and Kerry McCallum examined the effect of fictional portrayals of mental illness. They made reference to studies that have employed surveys and focus groups to examine the sources of community attitudes towards mental illness, having found that the media in general are perceived as the root of such

Often in our lifetime we come across someone with mental illness but do we actually know how they feel or what they are going through. In the film “The Dark Horse” directed by James Napier Robertson, we go through a journey with Genesis Potini who suffers from bipolar disorder. The film gave me an insight on how society often puts down people with mental illness, which results in self-doubt, but with the support of people who look beyond your illness and the right type of medication we can see how this man truly goes through the obstacles that come along with bi-polar. My hypothesis is that people with bipolar often are discriminated in society and feel different from others, also the most effective types of treatments are prescription medication . To test my hypothesis I researched the following questions. How do people with bipolar feel about themselves? how does society view people with bipolar? and what are the most effective treatments when coping with bipolar.