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Stigma And Mental Illness: Character Analysis

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Understanding Stigma and Mental Illness The two characters that I have selected to analyze are Carrie Matheson and Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren. Carrie Matheson is a character from the television show Homeland and is played by actress Clair Danes (Homeland, 2011). Homeland is based on the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which tracks down terrorist around the world. The television show follows Carrie Matheson who is a lead CIA agent, and shows all the hardships she has to go through to catch the terrorist. The twist of the show is that Carrie actually suffers from bipolar disorder and has to deal with the mental illness while she is on her missions. In the first episode of the show, Carrie is seen taking medication every time she is exposed …show more content…

This show is centered around women who are in a prison facility and follows them around during their incarceration. Among the inmates is a character that goes by the name Crazy Eyes. She is portrayed as an emotionally unstable woman with a violent past (Orange Is The New Black, 2013). The show’s choice of naming the character “Crazy Eyes” itself reinforces the stigma associated with mental illness. Crazy Eyes is depicted as a bellicose person, which reinforces one of the typical myths around mental illness. One of the main myths that surrounds mental illness, is that individuals suffering from mental illness are violent and dangerous (CMHA, 2015, p.5). Crazy Eyes’ mental illness is often used as comic relief and her illness is not seen as a serious issue. The other inmates continuously call her names like crazy, psycho bitch, and they often claim that she is an unstable …show more content…

While watching OITNB I found the show to be stereotyping, trivializing, offending, as well as patronizing crazy in every possible way. Through out the show I observed the characters use words like crazy as soon as they interacted with Crazy Eyes. From a viewers’ perspective, one sees that the characters automatically judge and belittle her throughout the series. Many of the characters on the show also patronize Crazy Eyes by not taking her seriously and making jokes about her to her face. She is continuously denigrated amongst the inmates and her opinions do not matter to them. A clear example of this is when the main character of the show Piper first meets Crazy Eyes. In this instance, the other inmates inform Piper not to get close to her because she is nuts. Piper ignores the inmates’ advice and continues to have a relationship with Crazy Eyes. During their time together, Crazy Eyes is shown to be obsessively possessive of Piper. On one instance, Crazy Eyes beats up another inmate for making a negative comment towards Piper. Crazy Eyes is also shown watching Piper sleep, and is also shown to be following Piper during yard time (Orange Is The New Black, 2013). The way that Crazy Eyes is portrayed contributes to negative stereotypes surrounding mental illness. The stigma that is shown in OITNB surrounding Crazy Eyes is the abnormal behaviour she exhibits, and

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In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator should not be guilty by reason of insanity. “Insanity Defense” states that a man is innocent by means of insanity if he has committed the crime because he is “unable to control his impulses” as a result of mental disease (“Insanity Defense” 1). Similarly, the narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” viewed the old man’s “pale blue eye, with a film over it” with hatred (Poe 1). When the old man’s eye looked upon the narrator, he would uncontrollably increase in fury and anger. This led the narrator to “[make] up [his] mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid [him]self of the eye forever” (Poe 1).

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She explains that by going into this hospital and being deemed mentally ill that she was hurting people or she is some type of burden to her family. She knows that having a mental illness is not something that is viewed as normal or right. People expect her to just get better and to snap out of it. Moreover, they see her as some type of monster or a pathetic excuse for a person. When in actuality she is just someone who may be struggling with a mental illness, or one that was created for her.

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When stepping inside a hospital to receive help, one should expect care, treatment, and respect. However, shown in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and “Howl,” American society equates mental illness with inhumanity. In both texts, the characters are forced to live without basic human freedoms and a voice to change it. Society pressures the mentally ill into becoming submissive counterparts of the community by stripping away their physical freedoms, forcing inhumane treatment, and depriving them the freedom of expression. By pressuring confinement and treating the patients inhumanely, society strips away their freedom to express themselves.

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In the book “One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest” Ken Kesey shows that the “insanity” of the patients is really just normal insecurities and their label as insane by society is immoral. This appears in the book concerning Billy Bibbits problem with his mom, Harding's problems with his wife, and that the patients are in the ward

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In the book Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen, one of the biggest focal points is mental illness. Mental illness can be tough to talk about, simply because the phrase “mental illness” encompasses such a wide range of conditions and conjures up images of deranged people, but it is very important, especially in this book. There is a certain stigma that people who are put into mental hospitals because they have medical problems or are insane and a possible danger to society. While this is sometimes true, it is far more common for patients to need help for a disorder, but just don’t know where to go or what to do, and can end up putting themselves or someone else in danger.

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The movie “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” gives an inside look into the life of a patient living in a mental institution; helping to give a new definition of mental illnesses. From a medical standpoint, determinants of mental illness are considered to be internal; physically and in the mind, while they are seen as external; in the environment or the person’s social situation, from a sociological perspective (Stockton, 2014). Additionally, the movie also explores the idea of power relations that exist between an authorized person (Nurse Ratched) and a patient and further looks into the punishment a deviant actor receives (ie. McMurphy contesting Nurse Ratched). One of the sociological themes that I have observed is conformity.

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The effects of mental illness and the treatment of patients in institutions are explored in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Kesey’s examination reveals the root of the stereotypes and the reinforcement that is built around them. In One Flew over

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“Insanity: n. mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior” (Hill). This definition describes the narrator, a sweet yet deadly man, of “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe seamlessly. (Appositive) A few prominent characteristics demonstrate the narrator’s insanity, and those include his motives, his actions, and his thoughts.

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One of the ways I describe him is insane. The narrator from “The Tell Tale Heart” is insane because he killed the old man due to his pale blue eye, kept hearing the heartbeat when the

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Introduction It was difficult to make the decision to be public about having a severe psychiatric illness, but privacy and reticence can kill. The problem with mental illness is that so many who have it especially those in a position to change public attitudes, such as doctors, lawyers, politicians, and military officers are reluctant to risk talking about mental illness, or seeking help for it. They are understandably frightened about professional and personal reprisals. Stigma is of Greek word of the same spelling meaning "mark, puncture," came into English through Latin Stigma is it is commonly used today to describe the negative feelings and stereotypical thoughts, and attitudes about people based on the traits of a person, which can

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