For this task we were asked to create a question that we would answer through research mine was, How literature and the media help society reflect on their treatment of the mentally ill?

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Brandon Vasquez

12/6/2020

Society and the mentally ill

  As a society, both locally and globally, we have come to construct many implicated rules for conduct and behavior, society has come to label these implicated rules as normal. This set of implicated rules has become a major source for ostracizing those who are different in society, a major group being the mentally ill. Society has created its many preconceived notions through the massive influence of literature and the media, which makes one wonder; how literature and the media help society reflect on their treatment of the mentally ill? Both literature and the media are pivotal sources that greatly influence the notions of society’s rules and labels, they help us develop understandings or even misunderstandings of what it may feel like to be different or even suffer from a mental illness. From Literature like Victor LaValle’s “The Devil in Silver” and J.D. Salinger’s “A perfect day for Bananafish” to notorious films such as “Split” by M. Night Shyamalan and “A Beautiful Mind” by Ron Howard, we see how the creator of each of these respective pieces of literature and media decided to change or mold the public’s perception on the behavior of the mentally ill, even if it serves as a good representation or misrepresentation. Through the media and literature, society can come to an understanding of the behaviors and actions of the mentally ill while also rewriting preconceived notions that stigmatize and harm those who are mentally ill. The media and literature does both a good and poor job of helping society reflect on their treatment of the mentally ill. Bad, because of the violent and deranged image that they inspire at times. Good, because they are able to show the reality of how the mentally ill may be suffering from their own mental battles and also their social perception.

Before delving into the positive effects that the media has on the representation of the mentally ill the media’s misrepresentation should be observed. Especially with their effect on a very important and easily impressionable group that is heavily influenced by its misrepresentations; children. In the early stages of their lives, children are learning about the world around them through the vast ocean that is the media and also their surroundings like their parents or friends at school. Through the media, televised entertainment is one of the main sources of kids learning, a study that was done on the television coverage of mental illness in Canada quoted “‘the pre-dominant presentation of characters with mental illnesses is as violent, aggressive and fear-inducing’.” [1] This intake of the misrepresentation of the mentally ill at a young age is one of the many instances of the media’s misuse of their educative platform to teach young children the reality of how the mentally ill actually behave rather than portraying them as aggressive. It was also found that with “one complete week of children’s television…portrayals of people with mental illness were ‘blatantly negative, and served as objects of amusement, derision or fear.” [1] This poor representation of the mentally ill at a young age could lead to children developing a misconception on the behavior of the mentally ill and staying with this misconception throughout their life without any actual understanding of how they actually seem. This negative intake of the media can inevitably lead to ignorance and a closed-off society that looks down a one-way street in the way the mentally ill should be treated. This poor representation of the mentally in the media also goes hand in hand with the preconceived notions that parents teach their children, the same study also found that “a dose-response relationship between exposure to television and negative attitudes towards mental illness, with heavy television watchers being the most intolerant.” Not only are children heavily influenced by the entertainment industry’s lack of teaching in the area of representing the mentally ill but also day to day television watchers. This portrayal in the media creates a sort of cycle of parenting, while also dictating the notions a community may adhere to and can lead to parents teaching their children about the aggressive and violent ways of the mentally ill but not of their actual humanity and normal behavior. This misuse of the media often causes societies, locally and globally to be met with the educative and proper representations of those who are being alienated. This educative and proper representation often comes from organizations such as the Mental health Commission of Canada which “is a well-funded organization formed in 2007 with a mandate to raise awareness and reduce stigma. This includes a dedicated anti-stigma program—‘Opening Minds’ which has a targeted strategy to improve media reporting of mental illness.” [1] Though the influence of the media causes a lack of understanding in the behavior of the mentally ill, organizations realize that they have to step in and readjust the images being portrayed to society. This allows for a much-needed reflection of the way society brands those who are different and their treatment of them.

While the entertainment of young children may also be a major contributing factor to society’s stigmatizations of the mentally ill, a very influential media source that affects local and global societies is the film industry. The film industry provides mass entertainment for the general public and holds a relevant sway on the culture and ideas that surround local and global societies, this immense hold that the entertainment industry has can be used to, both, educate and misinform the general public. Two prime examples of the film industry’s stigmatization of those who suffer from dissociative identity disorder (DID for short), are the two blockbuster films of their respective times “Split” by M. Night Shyamalan and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.” Both films inspired and brought about that same “violent, aggressive and fear-inducing” [1] notion to the general public while using “DID as a dramatic driver or a “gotcha” twist.” [2] Psycho was a “horror masterpiece but as a portrayal of a real-life mental-health condition, it’s nonsense.” [2] and Split was “extremely damaging.” [2] Both films ultimately serve as mere entertainment and misrepresentation and not a possible moment to educate and breakdown possible stigmatization of DID. Akin to the study of television in Canada, this misrepresentation leads to the reflection of the material being put out by organizations and so, through heavy criticism proper representation of the mentally ill are at times produced. A prime example of a good representation that allows society to reflect on their notions of schizophrenia is Ron Howard’s “A Beautiful Mind.” The film realistically captures what it may feel like for those who suffer from Schizophrenia, it explores the many problematic symptoms that those with schizophrenia may suffer from, like their “delusions of grandeur” [3] or their varying hallucinations. These symptoms are brought out to shed light on the way one with schizophrenia may interact with those around them as opposed to dramatizing how one may think they will act. The film allows for the public to reflect on the stigmatizations imposed on those suffering from schizophrenia and to see a portion of the suffering they encounter, all of their “loss of experiences” [3] like “the people, places, the moments. not gone, not dead, but worst…had never been. What kind of hell would that be?” [3] tug at the viewers’ emotions and allow us to realize that the mentally ill are normal people like all of us who compose society.

The vastness of literature has allowed for the in-depth portrayal of the mentally ill to illuminate and be viewed from many different perspectives. Two pieces of literature that, I believe, have been able to bring about and inspire a great reflection of both the in-story society and the real-world society are J.D Slinger’s “A perfect day for Bananafish” and Victor LaValle’s “The Devil in Silver.” Both authors use their pieces of literature to shed light on how society stigmatizes and is careless towards the mentally ill. J.D. Salinger through this short story explores a mental illness that is new to its time; PTSD. The character who suffers from the mental illness– Seymour Glass–is presented as a lost character with those around him reflecting the actions of society, his family, and even his therapist seems unwilling and careless of what his dilemma is, his mother in law expresses the constant mistrust that society has about the mentally ill, she says things such as “By himself? Does he behave himself on the beach?” [4] Meanwhile, his wife seems to resemble the carelessness of society when she speaks of her interaction with a psychiatrist, “he asked me if that wasn’t my husband playing the piano in the other room. I said yes, it was, and he asked me if Seymour’s been sick or something. So I said–“Why’d he ask that?” “I don’t know, Mother. I guess because he’s so pale and all,” said the girl. “Anyway, after Bingo…” [4] In this instance it is seen how the wife brushes off the conversation she has with her husband’s psychiatrist as if it’s not serious or worthy of explanation. Victor LaValle’s novel “The Devil in Silver” also resembles J.D. Salinger’s reflection of society’s careless attitude. In his novel, LaValle explores the carelessness and violent stigmatization that society imposes on the mentally ill through the eyes of the protagonist–Pepper–including the other mentally ill patients that surround him, and Mr. Visserplein (the devil). LaValle provides a physical example of society’s stigmatizations, their preconceived notions of the mentally ill being violent, inhumane, and deranged, through Mr. Visserplein; making him seem like this fictional beast that had the only intent to harm others. LaValle breaks down this notion through Pepper’s realization, making him realize that this devil had “no bison’s head. [But was] an old man.” [5] and he realized that “even this man had probably shared that same kind of smile with his parents. He had been a baby in someone’s arms.” [5] and how “this man wasn’t monstrous, he was tragic.” [5] LaValle presents the humanity and normalcy that exists within the mentally ill, he sheds light on society’s notion of the mentally ill being devils and only seeing the violence that is being shown to them but not taking the time to reflect and see these people for who they are; humans just like each and every one of us.

This huge influence that the media has on society can be observed through real-life accounts. When the fear of being deemed different or as a devil frightens one so much that they simply try their best to hide their pain away until they no longer can…which in the end can possibly lead to suicide. In an interview, Loizza Aquino speaks on the realization that her relatively small community in Winnipeg “was lacking in terms of mental health…conversation, awareness, and education.” [6] After her community was hit by numerous suicides which included her best friend she came to realize that “I was sitting around waiting for answers, but I realized that even if I did find answers as to why this was happening, it wouldn’t stop another one from happening.” [6] This led her to create her own non-profit organization at the age of 15, for teens to be able to share how they felt while also breaking down the stigmas that are created through the media and to promote, to teens, the idea “that we’re not alone in this battle against mental health.” [6] Aquino also realizes the pivotal role that programs play in promoting mental health aid and breaking down stigmas, “like Bell Let’s Talk Day,” [6] she realizes, however, that “that’s once a year, and there are 364 other days in the year where mental health isn’t being talked about. Bell Let’s Talk is an amazing initiative to have people start the conversation but it has to be continued.” [6] Though Aquino realizes that there are indeed programs and organizations that promote breaking down stigmas surrounding the mentally ill while also giving them a voice to speak, she also realizes that enough isn’t being done. She realizes that the youth–teens–are in grave need of this support system as they learn to cope with their surroundings and juggle the “whole aspect of social media…school relationships, family problems, the list goes on and on.” [6] But for all of this to come true talking needs to happen, stigmas need to be broken down and society has to be educated on the ways in which to listen to those in need.

The overbearing pressure of society and the media’s stigmatization leads one to wonder how the mentally ill try to cope with society’s stigmatization of them. One possible answer that was found was that the mentally ill will at times deflect who they are and what they suffer from. This is due to the various stigmatizations that are imposed on them and them wanting to feel and be normal, not ostracized. It was found that those “who saw mental health service use as undesirable (potentially stigmatizing) were more likely to reject a mental illness identity.” [7] This was done to mediate “psychological well-being” but it was also concluded that “individuals with a severe disorder who resisted thinking of themselves as mentally ill were more distressed and had fewer positive emotions.” [7] While it was indeed observed that the deflection generally “counteracted or offset a portion of the negative well-being,” [7] this was more of a buffer than any help at all. Thus with this realization, it is evident that someone shouldn’t be oppressed into hiding their illness for the acceptance of others. In research done on “Softening stigma,” it was observed that “education about psychopathology and mental illness may serve to change negative attitudes among college students, but the effect may be somewhat temporary.” [8] While education is optimal in the fight against mental illness stigmatizations it was concluded “that service-learning is a useful activity and an effective method of learning. Further, this study indicates that service-learning can be a useful method of reducing stigma toward the mentally ill.” [8] Service-learning provided the students with a more hands-on and realistic experience because of its “active application and integration of theoretical and factual information.” [8] This allowed for a hands-on and active experience of what they learned in a classroom and how it would be in a real-world situation. 

All in all, it has been realized that the preconceived notions that society upholds from the misrepresentation of the media and literature do indeed cause society to reflect upon their actions whether it be negative or positive. Victor LaValle’s representation of the devil presents the horrible path one who is ostracized by society will face while J.D. Salinger explores the carelessness of society and even those around you may exhibit. While directors and even TV shows also inspire society with the violent image of the mentally ill. Both, the media and literature serve as sources of inspiration for societies many ideas and how they should treat their fellow human, but it is often within organizations that we find the help and push we need to come out and support those who are in need, some organizations include the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Bring Change to Mind (BC2M), Mental Health America (MHA), and many more. Through this paper, one comes closer to understanding the reflective attitude that society as a whole gains when observing the media and literature output while also seeing how it affects the mentally ill and even the youth.   

Citations

[1] Whitley, Whitley. “Television Coverage of Mental Illness in Canada: 2013–2015.” Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, vol. 52, no. 2, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Feb. 2017, pp. 241–44, doi:10.1007/s00127-016-1330-4.

[2] From Split to Psycho: Why cinema fails dissociative identity disorder. (2017, January 12). Retrieved December 10, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jan/12/cinema-dissociative-personality-disorder-split-james-mcavoy

[3] Howard, R. (Director). (2001). A Beautiful Mind [Video file]. United States of America: Universal Pictures (North America), DreamWorks Pictures (International). Retrieved December 10, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehhy-_Cg4QU&t=56s

[4] Salinger, J.D. (1948). A Perfect Day for Bananafish. In The New Yorker (pp. 21-25). The New Yorker.

[5] Victor LaValle. The Devil in Silver: A Novel (Kindle Locations 6176-6177, 6192-6193, 6220-6221 ). Spiegel & Grau. Kindle Edition.

[6]Home, W. (2018, April 02). Extended interview with mental health advocate and nonprofit founder Loizza Aquino. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://www.justworkingfromhome.com/news/loizza-aquino-extended-interview 

[7] Thoits, Peggy. “I’m Not Mentally Ill: Identity Deflection as a Form of Stigma Resistance.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior, vol. 57, no. 2, SAGE Publications, June 2016, pp. 135–51, doi:10.1177/0022146516641164.

[8] Barney, Corser. “Service-Learning with the Mentally Ill: Softening the Stigma.” Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, vol. 16, no. 2, OCSL Press, Mar. 2010, p. 66–.