Related Guides
Podcasts
- SOC303:The "Myth" of Mental Illness (The Social Breakdown) We talk about the “myth of mental illness,” a phrase coined by psychiatrist and medical sociologist, Thomas Szasz. Today we will be comparing the ideas of mental health and illness as “problems with living” to the medical model. As sociologists we are not anti-medicine or anti-doctor, but we do feel it necessary to use our perspective breakdown the essence of psychological functioning and the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as the gatekeeper.
- The Annex Sociology Podcasts: How Society Handles Mental Health Problems Today, we discuss how society handles its mental health problems. Our guest is Neil Gong from the University of Michigan. Neil recently published "Between Tolerant Containment an d Concerted Constraint: Managing Madness for the City and the Privileged Family" in the American Sociological Review.
- Give Theory A Chance: Social Distancing; What Sociology Says about it Associate Professor of Sociology Kyle Green and an expert guest cover social distancing, grief, and COVID-19 in the latest installment of "Give Theory a Chance."
- This American Life: 81 Words The story of how the American Psychiatric Association decided in 1973 that homosexuality was no longer a mental illness.
- Aftereffect (WNYC) In the summer of 2016, a police shooting upended the life of Arnaldo Rios Soto, a 26-year old, non-speaking, autistic man. Aftereffect tells Arnaldo’s story — a hidden world of psych wards, physical abuse and chemical restraints — and asks the question: What made Arnaldo’s life go so wrong?
Browse Films
- Mysteries of Mental Illness series (streaming, Academic Video Online) Mysteries of Mental Illness examines the story of mental illness in science and society. With a four-hour broadcast series, Mysteries of Mental Illness traces the evolution of this complex topic from its earliest days to present times. It explores dramatic attempts across generations to unravel the mysteries of mental illness, and give voice to contemporary Americans across a spectrum of experiences.
- Frontline: The Medicated Child (streaming, Academic Video Online) With over four million children now on behavior modifying medications, some starting as young as two years old, FRONTLINE continues its investigation into the controversial practice of medicating kids. Are the drugs safe? How young can you detect mental illness in a child? Is medication really the answer?
- Bipolarized (streaming, Academic Video Online) Millions of Americans every year are diagnosed with a serious mental illness and prescribed drugs as the standard treatment. But are these diagnoses always correct? And are drugs the only or best way to treat their symptoms? Diagnosed
- Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops (streaming, Academic Video Online) ERNIE & JOE: CRISIS COPS follows two police officers with the San Antonio Texas Police Department who are diverting people away from jail and into mental health treatment, one 911 call at a time.
- Deep, Dark Secret: A Closer Look at Mental Illness in the African American Community (streaming, Academic Video Online) Vetta Sanders-Thompson, PhD, and Jermine Alberty, BSB/M, MDiv, will discuss the taboo subject of mental illness in the African American community. They will explore topics surrounding the causes of the illness, the reason for the secret, and the need to break the silence.
- Can: Mental Illness and recovery in the Asian-American Community (streaming, Academic Video Online) In a culture where mental problems are often viewed as a stigma that brings shame to the family, this documentary breaks an important silence. CAN is a seminal film about Asian Americans suffering from mental illness. In a culture where mental problems are often viewed as a stigma that brings shame to the family, this documentary breaks an important silence.
- Unnatural Causes Collection (streaming, Kanopy) UNNATURAL CAUSES sounds the alarm about the extent of our glaring socio-economic and racial inequities in health and searches for their root causes. But those causes are not what we might expect. While we pour more and more money into drugs, dietary supplements and new medical technologies, UNNATURAL CAUSES crisscrosses the country investigating the findings that are shaking up conventional understanding of what really makes us healthy or sick.
- Ttiticut Follies (dvd) This Frederick Wiseman film is a stark and graphic portrayal of the conditions that existed at the State Prison for the Criminally Insane at Bridgewater, Massachusetts. It documents the various ways the inmates are treated by the guards, social workers and psychiatrists.
- Girl, Interrupted (dvd) Winona Ryder stars in this film adaptation of Susanna Kaysen's autobiographical book about her 18-month stay at a psychiatric hospital in the turbulent late 1960s.
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (dvd) Based on the novel by Ken Kesey. Tells the boisterous, brawling story of a hell-raising free-spirit and his adventures in a mental ward. McMurphy's (Jack Nicholson) rebelliousness pits him against Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) and the full spectrum of institutional repression, and his vital charm wins him the loyalty of his fellow inmates.
- Selling Sickness (dvd) SELLING SICKNESS exposes the unhealthy relationship between society, medical science and the pharmaceutical industry. The film features commentary from paid medical consultants to the drug companies, patients, researchers, patient advocates, advertisers, attorneys, and psychiatrist Dr. David Healy, a critic of the pharmaceutical industry.
- NAMI Video Resource Library Browse the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) featured videos of inspirational stories, PSAs, education shorts and more.
- A woman under the influence (streaming, Kanopy) Perhaps the most beloved work from John Cassavetes, this landmark American film is an uncompromising portrait of domestic turmoil detailing the emotional breakdown of a suburban housewife and her family's struggle to save her from herself. Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk give unforgettably harrowing performances as a married couple deeply in love but unable to express their ardor in terms the other can understand.
