Mental Illness in Media

[mentalillnessmedia]

It sounds like you have an awesome therapist, and that is one of life's greatest gifts.

Paul Gilmartin-The Mental Illness Happy Hour #248

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Click link for video

[mentalillnessmedia]

My husband finally went to a doctor about his depression and got some prozac. He still refuses talk therapy because he says he doesn't have anything to work through.

[mh-things]

These are real headlines about violent crimes being attributed to mental illness, edited to be about other health conditions instead. If you wouldn’t say it about these diseases, why say it about mental health issues when evidence shows mental illness does not cause violence?

Here is what researchers say about the link between mental illness and violence:

“Although studies suggest a link between mental illnesses and violence, the contribution of people with mental illnesses to overall rates of violence is small, and further, the magnitude of the relationship is greatly exaggerated in the minds of the general population (Institute of Medicine, 2006).”

“…the vast majority of people who are violent do not suffer from mental illnesses (American Psychiatric Association, 1994).”

“The absolute risk of violence among the mentally ill as a group is very small… only a small proportion of the violence in our society can be attributed to persons who are mentally ill (Mulvey, 1994).”

“People with psychiatric disabilities are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent crime (Appleby, et al., 2001). People with severe mental illnesses, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or psychosis, are 2 ½ times more likely to be attacked, raped or mugged than the general population (Hiday, et al.,1999).”

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[mentalillnessmedia]

Depression/Anxiety Roundtable Questions

I'm going to be on a panel at church next week to help people understand depression and anxiety. Some of them asked questions ahead of time to seed the discussion. I'm curious if any of you have suggested answers. What self care helps during times of depression/anxiety? What non-medicinal things help? What do I say/not say? What does someone need from family/friends/church members? What are some warning signs that someone needs more help? What can you expect from someone with anxiety/depression? What do you do when it's situational? Like the job/calling you have is increasing or the cause of the depression/anxiety? How do you maintain your own mental health when trying to help someone who is struggling? How can we remove the stigma around mental health? How do I help someone with an anxiety attack? How do I manage daily stressors when struggling with depression/anxiety?

[mentalillnessmedia]

[mentalillnessmedia]

“Ah yes fall depression. Like Elvis crashing karaoke and showing summer depression how it's really done!”

[thoughtfulcynic-blog]

(via Medical Tales Retold :: The Battle | Tapastic Comics)

[mentalillnessmedia]

That moment you realize you put string cheese in your fannypack.

[mentalillnessmedia]

[mentalillnessmedia]

I named my two moods Roy and Pam. Roy is Rollicking Roy, the wild ride of a mood, and Pam is Sediment Pam, who stands on the shore and sobs. (Pam stands for "piss and moan")

Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking p 121

[mentalillnessmedia]

You're a terrible friend. You only care about your own pain. I'm sorry you hurt so bad, but that doesn't mean other people aren't vulnerable or sensitive. And just because you made a career out of it doesn't mean that other people don't have feelings. You don't get to f*cking cry right now. I am crying right now.

Gina, Welcome to Me (2014)

[mentalillnessmedia]

Alice: I'm all alone...Please...Please. I'm all alone. I live in a casino. 

[mentalillnessmedia]

You told everyone at school I was borderline. And when I asked you, you denied telling anyone, but every single person that I talked to told me that you said I was. Everything was different after that. And it really hurt me.

Alice, Welcome to Me (2014)

[mentalillnessmedia]

I looked forward to and dreaded each meal at the same time

Samantha Finkelstein, Mental Illness Happy Hour (Episode 239)

[mentalillnessmedia]

Since the psycho-pharmacological value of string cheese in the treatment of borderline personality disorder is not (to my knowledge) even in clinical trials, I would encourage you to reconsider walking away from the good and necessary work that we do."

Daryl, Welcome to Me (2014)

[mentalillnessmedia]

Welcome to the NHK is a manga/anime series about Tatsuhiro Satō, a NEET dealing with panic attacks, agoraphobia, and paranoia; and a mysterious girl named Misaki Nakahara, who offers to cure him of his agoraphobia, if he will sign a contract promising to meet with her every day.

Unbeknown to him, Misaki is also dealing with her own problems (the death of her parents, abuse, and symptoms of borderline personality disorder). Similar to Benny and Joon, the romance in Welcome to the NHK is between two people who feel unwanted by others and society.

My favorite aspect of this series is that audience is meant to identify and sympathize with a protagonist with mental illness. No diagnoses are given (they never see any mental health professionals in the course of the series), but symptoms (such as panic attacks or black and white thinking) are portrayed accurately.

On the cons side, their relationship is pretty codependent, but is essentially depicted as the solution to their problems. Also, a chunk of the plot pertains to Tatsuhiro developing an erotic game with his friend, so there is a lot of (arguably sexist) sexual content that some might want to avoid.