Mar 8, 2017

Nucleus #8: Mental Health and Hollywood

Revue

Nucleus Mag

March 8 · Issue #8 · View online

Science and Culture Stories Curated by Journalist Dinsa Sachan

Anyoung haseyo! 🇰🇷

I watched M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, Split, last week and was very impressed. It’s an incredibly gripping story, with James McAvoy delivering a scintillating performance as a patient of DID (dissociative identity disorder).

Despite the movie’s success, mental health practitioners have vehemently criticized it for its misleading depiction of the mental health condition.

This isn’t the first time a movie has drawn flak for this reason though. So in this week’s Nucleus Mag, I focus on stories at the intersection of science, mental health and Hollywood.

When it comes to portraying mental illness, Hollywood has a bad rap.

SCIENCE

How Good Is Hollywood at Portraying Mental Illness?

www.vice.com – Share

In this Q&A with a VICE reporter, clinical psychologist Danny Wedding talks about why Hollywood does a bad job of showing mental disorders in movies.

What TV Gets Wrong About Mental Illness

www.vulture.com – Share

This Vulture piece calls out TV shows that have handled issues relating to mental health irresponsibly. This article was an eye-opener for me: one of my favorite TV shows, House, was among those analyzed in the article.

Why is schizophrenia portrayed so negatively on screen?

www.theguardian.com – Share

In this Guardian opinion piece, a mental health campaigner, who also happens to have schizophrenia, talks about how a recent movie (The Voices) and Louis Theroux’s BBC documentary seem to reinforce the stereotype of the “dangerous schizophrenic.”

'You're the Worst' Keeps Getting Mental Illness Right

www.vice.com – Share

Depression is a very complicated mental illness. Showbiz rarely gets in correct. But a sitcom named You’re the Worst seems to have nailed it, at least according to VICE.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Have you heard about The Development Set? This online-only publication is funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and focuses on global health and development. To get a taste of what they do, I would recommend two pieces: this piece that argues that mentally ill people should be able to end their lives; and this piece that argues that men shouldn’t call themselves feminists.

FROM MY DESK

The science of language is one of my favorite areas as a journalist. Last week, I reported about a recent study on Mandarin Chinese for Science News for Students. The study found that kids who speak Mandarin Chinese perceive musical pitch better than English-speaking youngsters.

Do you speak a second language? What are some of the benefits of bilingualism/multilingualism that you have experienced in your own life?

❤ Love science? Please share this on (1) Twitter (2) Facebook , or (3) via a quick e-mail. (Thank you!)

Until next time,

Dinsa Sachan
Freelance Science and Culture Journalist
http://dinsasachan.com/more

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