Mental Health Disorders on Television


Book Description

In past decades portrayals of mental illness on television were limited to psychotic criminals or comical sidekicks. As public awareness of mental illness has increased so too have its depictions on the small screen. A gradual transition from stereotypes towards more nuanced representations has seen a wide range of lead characters with mental health disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD, autism spectrum disorder, dissociative identity disorder, anxiety, depression and PTSD. But what are these portrayals saying about mental health and how closely do they align with real-life experiences? Drawing on interviews with people living with mental illness, this book traces these shifts, placing on-screen depictions in context and demonstrating their real world impacts.




Mental Illness in Popular Media


Book Description

Whether in movies, cartoons, commercials, or even fast food marketing, psychology and mental illness remain pervasive in popular culture. In this collection of new essays, scholars from a range of fields explore representations of mental illness and disabilities across various media of popular culture. Contributors address how forms of psychiatric disorder have been addressed in film, on stage, and in literature, how popular culture genres are utilized to communicate often confusing and conflicted relationships with the mentally ill, and how popular cultures around the world reflect mental illness and disability. Analyses of sources as disparate as the Batman films, Broadway musicals and Nigerian home movies reveal how definitions of mental illness, mental health, and of psychology itself intersect with discourses on race, gender, law, capitalism, and globalization. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.




Media Madness


Book Description

From Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, Kojak, and Melrose Place, from books, music, cartoons, advertising, and newspapers, we all derive our images of mental illness. These omnipresent media portrayals are at the least insensitive, inaccurate, and unfavorable and at the worst stigmatizing and pernicious. In this important book, Dr. Otto Wahl examines the prevalence, nature, and impact of such depictions, using numerous examples from film, television, and print media. He documents the remarkable frequency of these images and demonstrates how the media has stereotyped the mentally ill through exaggeration, misunderstanding, ridicule, and disrespect. Media Madness also shows the damaging consequences of such stereotypes - stigma, rejection, loss of self-esteem, reluctance to seek, accept, or reveal psychiatric treatment, discrimination, and restriction of opportunity. The forces that shape current images of mental illness are clarified, as are the efforts of organizations and individuals to combat such exploitation.




Normalizing Mental Illness and Neurodiversity in Entertainment Media


Book Description

This volume examines the shift toward positive and more accurate portrayals of mental illness in entertainment media, asking where these succeed and considering where more needs to be done. With studies that identify and analyze the characters, viewpoints, and experiences of mental illness across film and television, it considers the messages conveyed about mental illness and reflects on how the different texts reflect, reinforce, or challenge sociocultural notions regarding mental illness. Presenting chapters that explore a range of texts from film and television, covering a variety of mental health conditions, including autism, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and more, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, cultural and media studies, and mental health.




Mental Health Issues and the Media


Book Description

This book provides students and professionals in nursing and allied professions, in psychiatry, psychology and other related disciplines, with a theoretically grounded introduction to the ways in which our attitudes are shaped by the media.




Communicating Mental Health


Book Description

Communicating Mental Health: History, Contexts, and Perspectives explores mental health through the lens of the communication discipline. In the first section, contributors describe the major contributions of the communication discipline as it pertains to a broader perspective and stigma of mental health. In the second section, contributors investigate mental health through various narrative perspectives. In the third and fourth sections, contributors consider many applied contexts such as media, education, and family. At the conclusion, contributors discuss the ways in which future inquiries regarding mental health in the communication discipline can be investigated. Scholars of health communication, mental health, psychology, history, and sociology will find this volume particularly useful.




Television and Behavior


Book Description




Social Media and Mental Health (First Edition)


Book Description

Social Media and Mental Health: Depression, Predators, and Personality Disorders presents case studies and guidelines to help policymakers, parents, educators, and criminal justice experts better understand the negative effects of social media on mental health. The book examines the direct correlations between technology and the onset of significant personality and mood disorders, criminal violence, and other dysfunctional behavior, particularly in American youth. The text addresses cyberbullying, suicide, and the cycle of abuse; Internet addiction and its relation to impaired psychosocial functioning; and the narcissistic tendencies that individuals can develop as a result of too much screen time, including attention-seeking behavior, constant self-promotion, and feelings of entitlement. Chapters are dedicated to the adverse effects of social media on dating and romantic relationships, the concept of online "friends", and the dangerous fantasies that individuals can foster online. The book closes with a timely chapter about radicalization, terrorism, and new media. Scientifically rigorous in nature, Social Media and Mental Health is also an ideal textbook for college-level courses in forensic psychology, social work, juvenile crime, and communications. It can also be used as a guide for educators, employers, and administrators, including law enforcement or corrections officials who work with schools, youth groups, and at-risk populations.




The Myth of Mental Illness


Book Description

“The landmark book that argued that psychiatry consistently expands its definition of mental illness to impose its authority over moral and cultural conflict.” — New York Times The 50th anniversary edition of the most influential critique of psychiatry every written, with a new preface on the age of Prozac and Ritalin and the rise of designer drugs, plus two bonus essays. Thomas Szasz's classic book revolutionized thinking about the nature of the psychiatric profession and the moral implications of its practices. By diagnosing unwanted behavior as mental illness, psychiatrists, Szasz argues, absolve individuals of responsibility for their actions and instead blame their alleged illness. He also critiques Freudian psychology as a pseudoscience and warns against the dangerous overreach of psychiatry into all aspects of modern life.




The End of Mental Illness


Book Description

New hope for those suffering from conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, addictions, PTSD, ADHD and more. Though incidence of these conditions is skyrocketing, for the past four decades standard treatment hasn't much changed, and success rates in treating them have barely improved, either. Meanwhile, the stigma of the "mental illness" label--damaging and devastating on its own--can often prevent sufferers from getting the help they need. Brain specialist and bestselling author Dr. Daniel Amen is on the forefront of a new movement within medicine and related disciplines that aims to change all that. In The End of Mental Illness, Dr. Amen draws on the latest findings of neuroscience to challenge an outdated psychiatric paradigm and help readers take control and improve the health of their own brain, minimizing or reversing conditions that may be preventing them from living a full and emotionally healthy life. The End of Mental Illness will help you discover: Why labeling someone as having a "mental illness" is not only inaccurate but harmful Why standard treatment may not have helped you or a loved one--and why diagnosing and treating you based on your symptoms alone so often misses the true cause of those symptoms and results in poor outcomes At least 100 simple things you can do yourself to heal your brain and prevent or reverse the problems that are making you feel sad, mad, or bad How to identify your "brain type" and what you can do to optimize your particular type Where to find the kind of health provider who understands and uses the new paradigm of brain health