Individual assignment: Critique On Mental Illnesses

Vidhyashni Parimalan
S10158398K


I must say the trip to the Institute Of Mental Health (IMH) has
completely transformed my view of people suffering from mental
illnesses. I am openly admitting to the reality that I too, along with
countless others around the globe, have been guilty of labeling the
mentally challenged as violent and unsafe to be in close proximity.
Perhaps the event that has the most impact on me would be when a
patient on rehabilitation gave us a tour of the wards. The fact that
the patient was funny and very sociable changed my view of the
mentally ill completely. He was essentially just a normal person
like you and me except from the fact that he was recovering from a
mental illness. How could I have been so ignorant, marginalizing
the mentally unstable and thinking that they belong in their own
world, unable to integrate into our normal lifestyle? The truth is
that they can, only with support from their loved ones and a
general acceptance from the society around them, free of the
vicious social stigma that seems to follow them around like a
shadow.

A mental illness is defined as a mental or behavioral pattern or
anomaly that causes either suffering or an impaired ability to
function in ordinary life and which is not developmentally or
socially normative
[1]
. I feel that the basis of a mental illness is that
it is a medical condition that can only be treated by appropriate
treatment, depending on the situation. However, if the patient
exaggerates the condition, it may then be considered a
psychological figment of imagination as the patient imagines
his/her sickness to be much worse than it is, a move that could be
to seek attention or sympathy from others.
Society has come a long way from what it was, say, 50 years ago.
With regards to mental illnesses, there have been exciting
advances in the science of the brain that have helped us to
understand what mental illness really is and how we can respond
to it. Gone are the days where mental illnesses were perceived as
untreatable maladies, thus forcing the suffering individuals to be
locked away in asylums
[2]
. Gone are the days where patients used
to be caged up, restrained and treated unethically and equivalent
to animals. Gone are the days where doctors and surgeons used to
make use of taboo equipment to treat patients that are extremely
frowned upon in todays society.
In the early 1800s in Singapore, a humble 30-bed Insane
Hospital was erected. The numbers of lunatics seldom exceeded
30 or 40 and were housed in adjacent brick structures. Isolation of
the insane with proper justification was then thought necessary
and custodial care was the mainstay of the day
[3]
. This is a far cry
from what happens in in IMH today, where patients are exposed to
different activities and people, depending on their situation. But
even with all the improvements in what we know and what we do,
the lives of those with a mental illness have not improved as much
as they could have. We do know much more now than we did fifty
years ago, but our societys opinions have not kept up and as such
we continue to live in a world surround by prejudices against the
mentally challenged.
Diving deeper into the discovery of why society is rather
unsupportive of the mentally disadvantaged, I have come to realize
that the media has been extremely detrimental in portraying roles
of the mentally ill in society. Research has shown that many people
get their information about mental illness from the mass media
and this has colored their perspective, leading them to fear, avoid
and discriminate against individuals with mental illness
[4]
. The
Internet, for instance, has become the main outlet for people to
obtain information and voice their opinions on a plethora of topics,
more accessible than ever imagined. In that sense, anything can be
said about mental illnesses, which can perpetuate biased views
against mental illnesses in anybody, beyond borders or
boundaries. This shows that the pervasive influence of the TV,
Radio and the Internet has undeniably shaped opinions on people
suffering from mental disorders in this day and age.

Be it a film, news program, newspaper or TV show, the media
perpetuates many myths about mental illness
[5]
that have
unfortunately created many differing and completely erroneous
views of mental illnesses. For instance, the public feels that serial
murderers are driven by mental illness and it plays a major role in
the killings in movies. The reason is the public generally assumes
that in order for someone to commit serial murder, particularly
bizarre murder, they have to be 'crazy' or 'insane.'
[6]
Similarly, as
perpetuated in Hollywood Films, they also think that
schizophrenics and those with other mental illnesses are either
stupid or evil, according to a new report for the Time to Change
Campaign
[7]
. A survey of 1989 people, commissioned for the
report, found that 49 per cent had seen people with mental illness
acting violently on screen. In total, 44 per cent of those asked
believe that people with mental illnesses are more prone to
violence
[8]
. This is indeed very worrying as it shows how much
people are influenced by the media and its negative representation
of the mentally ill.

In almost all psychosis films, it is a recurrent fact that the
character suffering from a mental illness is seen as a merciless
killer who is appalling and is motivated by madness
[9]
Citing the
example of the Joker in the 2008 movie, Batman: The Dark Knight
Rises, he was portrayed to be sadistic killer suffering from
schizophrenia and essentially a villain to the rest of mankind. The
Screening Madness report criticizes that the Joker, portrayed by
Heath Ledger, is an incorrect typecast in which, schizophrenics are
given multiple personalities and one of them is evil
[10]
.
Another misconception about the Joker is that he is psychotic. A
psychotic person usually experiences auditory hallucinations,
visual hallucinations, or has delusional thoughts
[11]
. However, if we
do analyze the movie in greater detail, we would realize that the
Joker does not experience such symptoms; rather, he displays
symptoms of psychopathy, which is a personality construct and not
a diagnosis of a mental disorder
[12]
. As such, many experts have
referred the labeling of the Joker as psychotic to be inaccurate.
Just because a behavior is aberrant or considered 'crazy,' it does
not mean that the behavior is the result of mental illness
[13]
, says
mental health expert, H. Eric Bender
Perhaps, the media industry should fully embrace its responsibility
to accurately depict people suffering from mental illnesses as what
it has done in the past years for homosexuality and racism. The
media industry is after all, almost liable for peoples actions and
thoughts regarding such issues as it has the most ability to
influence and shape peoples judgments. It is time that the media
steps up and takes full responsibility to ensure that no group of
individuals is purposefully stereotyped. I am sure we all aim to be
responsible and compassionate citizens of the globe and thus, we
should all take the effort to change our perspective on mental
illnesses. Granted, the process may not seem easy but it is possible
if we spare a thought for those who are suffering because of our
narrow-minded views on mental disorders. Let us give the
mentally ill a chance to be able to seek treatment without any fear
of being judged and support them through their journey in pursuit
of a new lease of life.







APPENDIX A: REFRENCES

[1]. "Mental disorder." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 5 July
2014. Web. 7 May 2014.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_disorder>.

[2] ."Council on Crime and Justice." Council on Crime and Justice.
N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2014.
<http://www.crimeandjustice.org/councilinfo.cfm?pID=54>.

[3]. "." . N.p., n.d. Web. 8 May 2014.
<http://www.med.nus.edu.sg/pcm/book/2.pdf>.

[4] & [5]. "Medias Damaging Depictions of Mental Illness - Psych
Central." Psych Central.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 May 2014.
<http://psychcentral.com/lib/medias-damaging-depictions-of-
mental-illness/0002220>.

[7] & [8]. "Heath Ledgers Joker 'exacerbates stereotypes about
mental health'." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 18 Aug.
2009. Web. 10 May 2014.
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6043231/Heath
-Ledgers-Joker-exacerbates-stereotypes-about-mental-
health.html>.

[6], [9] & [10]. "Ledger's Joker attacked for mental illness
stereotype." The Week UK. The Week UK, n.d. Web. 9 May 2014.
<http://www.theweek.co.uk/people-news/20431/ledgers-joker-
attacked-mental-illness-stereotype>.

[11], [12] & [13]. Moye, David. "Batman Villains Psychoanalyzed By
Mental Health Experts." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 July 2011. Web. 10 May 2014.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/21/batman-villains-
psychoanalyzed_n_901913.html>.