When thinking of mental illnesses, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? The glamorized symptoms that we see them made out to be? Or maybe Hollywood’s portrayal, psycho? Our exposure to social media, movies, tv shows has helped people perpetuate a stigmatized portrait of mental illnesses. 

Aankhee Tallukdar, a sophomore, talks about her concerns with the glamorization of depression that has been depicted throughout Hollywood, specifically “Thirteen Reasons Why.”

“I watched to see where she slits her wrists [‘Thirteen Reasons Why’], and [the show] makes it look like this beautiful magical masterpiece kinda thing, like it’s not like that,” SHS sophomore Aankhee Talukdar said “The whole idea about leaving pages behind like no, when someone’s gone, someone’s gone. There’s no like getting back to [life].” 

Seeing this type of representation could be harmful towards younger generations, believing mental illnesses to be a pleasing aesthetic, pretending and wishing to have it themselves. 

“Negative representation and stereotypes can lead to misinformation and stigma,” Student Assistant Facilitator Jodi Lurie says, “For example, the portrayal that someone with mental illness is disheveled or lazy. Negative terminology can also have a harmful effect. Words including crazy, psycho, manic, mental…. These stereotypes can create shame for someone who is suffering from mental illness and could become a barrier to someone reaching out for help.” 

Despite the misrepresentation of mental illnesses there are some good ones out there, Robin Joseph, a high school teacher says, 

“Some of my favorite movies that do a good representation of mental health disorders are ‘The Soloist’, ‘Beautiful Mind’, ‘As Good as it Gets’, ‘Silver Linings Playbook’.”

“The Soloist” is a film centered around Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) who has just reached a point block in his life. While wandering around through L.A. he spots a homeless man [Jamie Foxx] who is playing a two stringed violin. When first meeting him he only thinks of Nathaniel Ayers [the homeless man] as a story idea, but as he spends more time with him he begins to unravel Ayers strange fate. While a change in his own self is happening. Andre Picard, a writer at The Globe and Mail talks about the film and its well done portrayal of schizophrenia, 

“The combustible mix of swirling voices from the past, waves of paranoia and strange obsessions that can mark untreated schizophrenia is portrayed relatively well in the movie,” Picard writes,  “But The Soloist is Hollywood, and the story is intended to be a metaphor, not an entirely accurate portrayal of reality – a metaphor for the healing power of music and, more important, of friendship…The complexity of that friendship is not captured in the movie version of The Soloist, but the film does convey how empathy and understanding can make a real difference to those living with schizophrenia.”

Despite having a good few movies, Hollywood and other film production companies have butchered and wrongly portrayed a lot of mental disorders in a lot of movies. Using these harmful representations of mental illnesses have determined how the viewer not only sees but how their attitude and belief forms around those inaccurate portrayals causing a ton of stereotypes and spread of misinformation. 

Take it upon yourself to learn about mental health disorders from reliable sources, such as NAMI: The National Alliance on Mental Illness, The World Health Organization Website, The Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board of Cuyahoga County and Mindfulness for Teens.

If you think that you might be experiencing any mental illnesses, make sure to talk to a doctor. If you do not have the ability to get a professional opinion or a doctor, talk to your school’s psychiatrist. There are also a number of support groups for people with mental illness such as National Suicide Prevention Hotline (1-800-273-8255), National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Greater Cleveland (216-875-7776) and Frontline Service (216-623-6555)—a contract agency of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction, & Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County.