5. Some movies that show mental illness:
Girl, Interrupted
Silver Linings Playbook
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Rainman
A Beautiful Mind
What About Bob
Lars and The Real Girl
6. Characters with mental illness are portrayed as:
Different
Victim
Isolated
Brilliant
Really special or really problematic
7. What is mental illness?
Chemical imbalance
Abnormal behavior or cognitive functioning
Response to immediate environment (how
someone reacts to their surroundings)
Something that causes distress or
impairment in ability to function
8. Mental health vs. mental illness?
Self-care
Resilience
Having balance
Sense of stability
Maintaining mental functioning
Solid networks of support
Adaptability
Coping skills
Asking for support
Sense of wellbeing
10. What is stigma?
The preconceived – negative – notions we
have something or someone
Negative assumptions we have about issues
Labels that people carry
11. How does stigma feel?
Frustrating
Feeling judged
Defeated
Degraded
Trapping / trapped
Disappointment
Alienated
13. In groups of three
• What did you think?
• What did you feel?
14. What did you think? What did you feel?
Thoughts
Eating disorder in a male – not often
talked about
Variation between the 3 allows you to
interpret it in your own way; liked how
they came together at the end
Important that they all came together
at the end – solidarity to address the
sense of alone-ness
All wanted to have things be perfect
and orderly – causes stress
People you interact w/ might be
grappling with things that aren’t
apparent
These obstacles affect every aspect
of their lives – it’s pervasive
Feelings
Related to the girl with OCD; self-
blame and guilt
Related to the man filling out the test
Compassion
Sympathy
Stress (did a good job of making
audience feel the way the characters
did)
Anxious (because of the music)
Knot in the stomach that expands and
then bursts (as the intensity builds)
Solidarity
15. Not Just a Phase
By Lisa Toppari
AWI Winner, 2016
16. In groups of three
• What did you think?
• What did you feel?
• What have you learned?
17. What did you think… feel… learn?
Thoughts
How do you help people? Esp.
when you’re trying to help them
and they need to see a
professional?
On a bad day, that interview
wouldn’t have been able to
happen
Accurate representation of
depression
Very illuminating when she said
that it was like a demon on your
back – makes it understandable
to anyone
Even if you don’t fully
understand, important to do
your best to provide any kind of
support you can.
Feelings
Related to every word she was
saying; was able to feel
whatever she was feeling
Shocked when she said she’d
been depressed since the age
of 12
Frustrating – devastating and
debilitating for the person who
suffers from the disease, and
hard for anyone around them –
everyone struggles with it.
Really resonated when she said
it’s not a choice – when people
say “chin up”, etc. makes your
day harder.
New Insights
Interesting to learn that
some people who are
depressed are talkative /
outgoing
19. In groups of three
• What did you think?
• What did you feel?
• What have you learned?
• What will you do?
20. What did you think… feel… learn?
Thoughts
Interesting how self-
aware he is – he’s
objectively aware of
the issue … but
disconnect w/ the
behavior.
Vicious, never-ending
cycle
Interesting that he talked
about his fear, which
is not normally talked
about
The film itself gave it the
cyclical feeling;
everything helped the
portrayal
InsightsFeelings
More stimulating, maybe
b/c he was so close to
the camera; could feel
what he was feeling
Anxious (for him)
Annoyed (wanted him to
stop)
Wanted him to stop for his
sake and our sake
Relieved, less anxious –
nice to hear people talk
about OCD when you
have it
Felt scared for him
