Larissa Bekker Thesis Editorial

mental health ^ being alive well



Copyright © 2019 by Larissa Bekker All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed by SUN MEDIA in the Republic of South Africa Text and book design by author. SUN MeDIA Office 5, The Woodmill Vredenburg Road, Devon Valley Stellenbosch 7600 South Africa www.africansunmedia.co.za



TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 PREFACE 41 Mental health and the media 91 Affect Theory 3 ABSTRACT 57 De-stigmatization on campus 5 Introduction : Poem 61 Towards a Relational Ontology 105 Happy Objects and the Brand 11 Background/Context 64 Summary 17 Aims and Objectives 65 CHAPTER 2 107 Summary 23 Methodology and TF 68 Introduction 28 Literature Review 69 A new way of designing 103 CHAPTER 3 30 Chapter Outline 74 Relational Design 105 Introduction 33 CHAPTER ONE 79 E’rwody Sticker Initiative 35 Introdcution 87 Designer as Enabler 107 Tell my story workshop 37 Social Constructionism 90 Context 117 Documentation 119 Summary 123 ARTICLE CONCLUSION 125 LIST OF SOURCES



P R E FAC E This is an interactive book. Wherever there are blank spaces. use the stickers provided to fill in the gaps. Wherever there are black spaces, use the corresponding morse code diagram along with the key in the accompanying journal to unravel the key words. Further, there are crosswords to solve, with each crossword having a direction key to indicate the order of the words. Although this book isn’t completely relational, it aims to online you as the reader in some way, allowing you to become part of the journey.



ABSTRACT / 4 ABSTRACT The mental health of students has recently been an epidemic thrust into the global limelight. Attention to this significant problem within an international context has been able to provide sufficient solutions. However, within a South Afri- can context, the absence of sufficient and affordable public mental health care services as well as the burden of providing psychological care to students currently falls on universities. Unfortunately, within Stellenbosch University, the lack of providing sufficient psychological care has resulted in the student body struggling with mental health issues. Within this research article, the aim is to use a Post-Humanist Rela- tional Ontological framework to analyse the problematic societal constructs and the subsequent extractivist processes it produces within mental health discourses of Stellenbosch University Campus and how the stigma they produce position the individual instead of the collective society at the root of the struggle surrounding mental health. I explore a possible solution through using my account of the services provided by the university as reference. Looking at how happy object theory and relational design can affec- tively be used to deconstruct mental health discourses on campus as it put emphasis on more relational ways of know- ing. Through applying a theoretical framework of Relational Ontologies in The Responsible Methodologist by Andrew Kuntz (2015), Relational design practices in a variety of pub- lications by Tim Holloway and Happy objects theory (chap- ter) in the Affect theory reader by Sara Ahmed (2010), this article intends on unpacking the ways in which mental health discourses came to be constructed. In addition to this, how active participation within a student body can deconstruct the stigmatization they create as I address how mental health should be viewed through relational processes instead of being contained within social constructs.

5 / INTRODUCTION: POEM INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION : POEM / 6 By Larissa Bekker Strolling through the Stellenbosch University Campus, y o u c a n a l wa y s sen s e s o m e s o r t o f tension i n t h e a i r. If you close your eyes, the s o und o f rushing f oot s t e p s , environment. a n x i oa nuxsi o us v o i c es a nd f r u s t r a t e d c a r s crushing the fallen leaves overwhelms y ou. We live in a world where our human activity has become the dominant influence on the enviroment Disconnecting ourselves f ro mf rao mwoarlwd o rl d we us e t o v i e w a s a p a r t o f u s . Even though it is a world that is, very much, still within us and will remain so for as long as w e d o .





9 / INTRODUCTION: POEM By Larissa Bekker As the cold winter rain starts d u s t i n g the shielding trees o n the uni v ers i ty ’s m o s t saturated ro u t e , students emerge from the incubated buildings. Although each expression being dissimilar from the next, there is an overwhelming sense of urgency and disquietude. Overpowering the gift of the reposing rain droplets, as crowds stream to their next destination. Nervous words Nervous words circulate through an array of voices. It is nearly impossible to endure a day within these streets without becoming a witness to the mental struggle of at least one youthful being

INTRODUCTION : POEM / 10 – something, which this context, this world so fruitfully produces

11 / INTRODUCTION: BACKGROUND BACKGROUND Mental health, or its more trivialized synonym ‘mental illness’ has been a particularly controversial, however highly relevant1 dialogue within contemporary society. Modern society’s current comprehension of mental illness can be said to be a product of Enlightenment - where mental illness was understood as being ‘alien’ and irrational maladies to be fathomed and remedied by science (Fee, 2000:3). This historical understanding anchored the stigmatization1 of individuals who presented negatively perceived characteristics or unusual behaviours. Thus establishing an association between stigma and mental illness, which became fixed in societal norms as it manifested itself in attitudes and behaviours that prove to be arduous to change. Society lacked the expertise and knowledge for the effective treatment of problems pertaining to mental health – causing a “gap in understanding” which was “filled with misinformation and fear” (Sadag, 2018:40).

INTRODUCTION : BACKGROUND / 12 The gap in understanding, therefore, results in a discourse2 where views on mental illness are formulated through dichot- omies of “health/pathology, normal/abnormal, rational/ irrational- which serve to justify conceptual boundaries and real-world exclusions” (Fee, 2000:10). In turn constructing categories, which become the ‘intellective currency’ flowing around our private and social realities (Fee, 2000:10-11). These discourses and the stigma they produce have been identified as particularly troublesome for young people through often hindering the instigation of treatment of mental health struggles – resulting in a mental health epidemic predominately affecting university students. Notably, as University is a difficult time for young adults where they have to negotiate multiple ‘tricky’ circumstances, these range from becoming a young adult to handling varying relationships with friends and family, moving away from home, being thrust into a new social setting as well as having more abundant availability of new (il)legal substances3 and more challenging financial and academic pressure (Bantjes, Lochner, Stein, Taljaard, 2017). Consequently, the stress attributed to handling these ‘tricky’ circumstances is often directly related to “poor psychological functioning” amongst students (Bantjes, Lochner, Stein, Taljaard, 2017). Thus bringing into light the reasoning behind why 10-20% of adolescents globally experience mental health problems (Bantjes, 2018). 1Stigma refers to how we place an individ- 2 A discourse can be defined as “a par- ual in the category of the stigmatized or ticular knowledge about the world which ‘other’ based on that which does not fit shapes how the world is understood and into our socially constructed categories, how things are done in it” (Rose, 2001:136) which identify what the ‘normal’ person is. 3Alcohol, weed and other illegal drugs.

13 / INTRODUCTION: BACKGROUND In South Africa, a study in 2017 highlighted that “12% of university students experience moderate to severe symptoms of depression and 15% report moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety” (Bantjes, Lochner, Stein, Taljaard, 2017). Questions arise within this context about whether universities have a responsibility to create an ideal academic environment, where they emphasize mental health for maximum academic achieve- ment (Bantjes, Lochner, Stein, Taljaard, 2017). Especially as South Africa lacks sufficient and affordable public mental health care services, student’s psychological wellbeing is currently – perhaps unfairly – the universities responsibility (Bantjes, Lochner, Stein, Taljaard, 2017). The relevance and urgency of change which drew me to this research topic are positioned within my own struggle with mental health- particularly depression and anxiety. Throughout the last few years at Stellenbosch University, I have witnessed my own mental health deteriorate as academic and social pressures have accelerated. Initially, I perceived the problem as being attributed to normal academic stress. However, it was not until I reached the point where professional (psychological) intervention was needed that I realized this was not the case. My own awareness and the awareness of those around me was lacking, preventing a problem to be identified before it became a medical issue. The universities current mental health awareness programs and resources only provide psychological care when one reaches the point of requiring it. They do not, however, provide mental health resources and services to prevent students from de- veloping severe mental health problems. In other words, as shown in Figure 1, mental health care is a spectrum ranging from healthy to reacting, to injured and lastly to ill. Instead of solely focusing on the ‘ill’ end of the spectrum, all aspects should be covered. I believe that students should be educated on managing their own mental health/identifying their own symptoms along with that of those around them. As through having a basic knowledge of mental health resources, students can be equipped with adequate and sensitive ways of helping others, thus strengthening the support within the student community at Stellenbsoch University.

INTRODUCTION : BACKGROUND / 14 In South Africa, a study in 2017 highlighted that “12% of university students experience moderate to severe symptoms of depression and 15% report moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety” (Bantjes, Lochner, Stein, Taljaard, 2017). Questions arise within this context about whether universities have a responsibility to create an ideal academic environment, where they emphasize mental health for maximum academic achieve- ment (Bantjes, Lochner, Stein, Taljaard, 2017). Especially as South Africa lacks sufficient and affordable public mental health care services, student’s psychological wellbeing is currently – perhaps unfairly – the universities responsibility (Bantjes, Lochner, Stein, Taljaard, 2017). The relevance and urgency of change which drew me to this research topic are positioned within my own struggle with mental health- particularly depression and anxiety. Throughout the last few years at Stellenbosch University, I have witnessed my own mental health deteriorate as academic and social pressures have accelerated. Initially, I perceived the problem as being attributed to normal academic stress. However, it was not until I reached the point where professional (psychological) intervention was needed that I realized this was not the case. My own awareness and the awareness of those around me was lacking, preventing a problem to be identified before it became a medical issue The universities current mental health awareness programs and resources only provide psychological care when one reaches the point of requiring it. They do not, however, provide mental health resources and services to prevent students from de- veloping severe mental health problems. In other words, as shown in Figure 1, mental health care is a spectrum ranging from healthy to reacting, to injured and lastly to ill. Instead of solely focusing on the ‘ill’ end of the spectrum, all aspects should be covered. I believe that students should be educated on managing their own mental health/identifying their own symptoms along with that of those around them. As through having a basic knowledge of mental health resources, students can be equipped with adequate and sensitive ways of helping others, thus strengthening the support within the student community at Stellenbsoch University.

15 / INTRODUCTION: BACKGROUND FIGURE 1

INTRODUCTION : BACKGROUND / 16 This is where one can identify the relevance and urgent need for the intervention of visual communication design practices. A new method of communication4 has to be set in place where awareness can be raised, coping strategies introduced, symp- toms described and help offered without directly resorting to medical intervention. Thus, design can enable new relational ways5 of communicating these complex ideas and providing possible solutions to be set into place. These solutions will specifically address ways in which the stigma of mental health as an individual’s problem can be shifted towards mental health as a societal problem — eventually allowing for the recreation of a dialogue within mental health, where new discourses can become agents for social change, instead of sheltering social confusion (Fee, 2000:10-15). 4 “relationality necessitates a dynamic con- nection between all acts of knowing, doing, and becoming” (Kuntz 2015:74)

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. In this article I aim to research and investigate the following question: An Investigation Into an Integration of Relational Ontological Practices and Relational Design and its Affect as a De-Stigmatization Tool against Social Constructionist framing of mental health within a Stellenbosch University Context.

INTRODUCTION : AIMS AND OBJECTIVES / 18

19 / INTRODUCTION: AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

INTRODUCTION : AIMS AND OBJECTIVES / 20 2. The following is a brief summary of the objectives of this study: To understand and investigate how Social Constructionism’s extractivist processes and the subsequent discourses and a. stigmatization it produces has been reinforced by current mental health campaigns on campus. Along with how applying a Post-Humanist Relational Ontological framework can enable social change and de-stigmatization of mental health on campus. b. To show how relational design integrated with a relational ontological perspective and happy objects theory can aid us in addressing the stigmatization of mental health on campus. To demonstrate the practicality of the theoretical frameworks c. and methodologies discussed in this article by applying them to my own practice.







INTRODUCTION : METODOLOGY & THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK / 24 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Andrew Kuntz is a forefront theorist in New Materialism and Relational Ontological perspectives. Concepts central to relational ontology are logics of extraction, social construc- tionism, dualistic attitudes, intervention, social irritants and relational perspectives being activists for social change. The term, relational ontology denotes a connection from dominant Social Constructionist extractive and relativistic onto-epistemologies and a rejection of the separation of knowledge from its material environment. Adopting a relational perspective is vital within the context of Stellenbosch University as it can provide us with an understanding of the “processes involved in the production of mental health and well-being” as it makes visible that which would have remained unac knowledged (Mcphie 2019:30) – therefore proving a basis for the instigation of social change. A relational ontology provides a new way of thinking to be applied to how mental health is approached within the student community. Furthermore, a relational ontological perspective directs my methodological investigation into the field of relational design and its relevance in my research practices. In : Conversations - Dialogue and Discourse from Relational Design ,Tim Holloway (2012:41) writes that relational design is “about networks, it’s about being able to communicate with a vast number of people instantly, there’s so much openness in these connections” as he continues by saying that “ it’s no longer about fixed objects, it’s about journeys and movement, space [and] flux”. Holloway’s exploration of relational design is highly informative within my inquiry, however in order for it to be effectively applied within the Stellenbosch context, I will be integrating it with Andrew Kuntz’s relational ontology to formulate a more theoretically informed approach. Relevant relational design techniques are emphasised and applied within my practice – specifically in my workshop with the university students.

25 / INTRODUCTION: METODOLOGY & THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Additionally, I draw on Affect theory, and more specifically ‘happy objects’ as a driving principle within my methodology. The theory of happy objects is promoted by Sara Ahmed as a new way of looking at the power of affective relations in creating and spreading happiness. It looks at “happiness functions as a promise that directs us toward certain objects” (Ahmed 2010:29). Considering my focus on relations between students mental health and the university context, the relevance of the theory of happy objects is vital and applicable to relational design practices. I specifically use the concepts informed by happy objects to successfully inform and guide the campaigns and brands within my practices. Jamie Mcphie’s (2019) discussion on mental health through a post-humanist lens in Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Anthropocene: A Posthuman Inquiry informs my theory and practice by integrating mental health discussion into relational practices – acting as a bridge between scientific underpinnings of mental health and my relational approach towards it. Her explorations further enable mental health to be centralised in this interpretation, as it creates a pathway for alternate narratives of human-environment relations to thrive more ethically. This validates my exploration of the contemporary and historical approaches that form how we view mental health, specifically when it comes to viewing mental health as extended into our environment, instead of located within the individual. Central to forming my perspective on mental health is her formulation of the term “being alive well” instead of ‘mental health’ as it’s a “concept less determined by bodily functions, but rather spread among political and ecological relationships”(Mcphie 2019:74).



LITERATURE REVIEW

INTRODUCTION : LITERATURE REVIEW / 28 Tim Holloway is a practicing graphic designer I found his Chapter Two: Logics of Extraction currently employed as the head of creative at which expands upon Extraction as Social Con- Graff Diamonds in London. Along with being structionism governing logic that foregrounds active in the design field he has also released particular ways of knowing and coming to know, several publications, three of which will be used and Chapter Three: Materialism and Critical in this article: Conversations — Dialogue and Materialism which looks at how the materialist Discourse from Relational Design (2012), perspective offers relational formations of knowing Practising Relational Design (2012) and Defining and being that can never be fully severed from the Relational Design (2012). In his writing he ex- material contexts from which they extend, very pands upon the origin of Relational designing helpful. Particularly when looking at how dis- and its definitions, origins and uses, consolidating courses have perpetuated stigma and what them with a more rigorous criteria for what possible ways can be used to create social defines a piece as ‘Relational’. He expands and change. This book has deepened my under- extends the theory of relational design through standing of how a new perspective could allow for highlighting three defining components: the current discourses surrounding mental health to design creating a social environment; content be deconstructed and reformed through relations being defined collectively through audience engagement and the designer as an enabler: Finally, I was also inspired by the deep and moving from design for someone to designing meaningful explorations of Affect in the Affect with someone. These theories have been central Theory Reader (2010) edited by Melissa Gregg to my exploration into the medias’ reinforcement and Gregory J. Seigworth. I was particularly of mental health discourses in Stellenbosch drawn to Sara Ahmed’s uplifting chapter on university, using his perspective to relook at the Happy Objects where she considers happiness current mental health campaigns on campus as a happening, as involving affect, intentionality – looking at how focusing on process and rela- and evaluation and judgement. Particularly, I will tions instead of a final outcome can allow for focus on her exploration of happiness func- more effective social change. tioning as a promise that directs us towards certain objects and how these objects circulate Another resource which has been fundamental as social goods allowing for them to accumulate to the research conducted on this article has positive affective value as they get passed been The Responsible Methodologist (2015). around. These theories are a central element This reader was written by Andrew Kuntz, a to the basis of my practice- my brand – as it leading education scholar who uses the most allows me to discuss the importance affects recent movements in social theory to encourage influence on how certain things are perceived methodologists to redefine their work beyond and interpreted along with how it can be used the limits of the technocratic toward intervention, to re-direct something stressful to being con- an ethical interruption of the norm, and an sidered a happy object. activist stance moving towards progressive . social change. Through enticing creativity and vision, he has insisted that The Responsible Methodologist will become a force that leads the discourse towards social justice.

29 / INTRODUCTION: CHAPTER OUTLINE

INTRODUCTION : CHAPTER OUTLINE / 30 CHAPTER OUTLINE Chapter one will focus on contextualising the origins of our current understandings of mental health and will aim to 1. provide us with a new way of approaching mental health the Stellenbosch University student community. It will consider how through the media and specific discursive practices facilitate a reductionist view of mental health by analysing existing mental health campaigns on campus Chapter two aims to investigate how applying an integration of relational design and a relational ontological perspective can aid to the instigation of social change within Stellenbosch University. It will consider how a new relational approach to design can 2. avoid the hegemonic ideologies reinforced by traditional methods of designing. Thereafter it will explore how design should allow material to accumulate relational meaning enabling it to instigate social change. Lastly, it aims to provide a new approach of branding that can produce a non-representational structure that avoids the production of preconceived meanings and attributions. Chapter three will discuss how the aforementioned methodologies 3. and theoretical frameworks can be applied to my design practice. This chapter aims to show how through my “Tell my story” workshop I was able to practically apply and asses the affectivity of my theoretical explorations.





33 / CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE / 34

35 / CHAPTER ONE : INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION This chapter will provide an overarching contextual analysis of the environment in which my research is being conducted: a misinformed, stigmatized student community and campus at Stellenbosch University. This chapter will investigate how Social Constructionism’s extractivist tendencies have perpetuated mental health stigmas through reinforcing mental health discourses of danger, appearance and behaviour and biomedical in our contemporary society. It aims to expand upon how the media the media continuously draws on these discourses and to show how the medias role as socializing agent has led to the public being misinformed about mental health. Further, this chapter will investigate how instead of fixating on the isolated identities of those who suffer, we need to to the discourses which stigmatize and alienate such identities. Thus, it will explore and analyse past mental health initiatives at Stellenbosch University in order to highlight how we need a campaign that focuses on the kind of relationships students have with their environment and subsequently, the student community they are a part of. I will thereafter introduce how assuming a relationalssounmtoinloggaicarel lational ontological perspective can inform the creation of such a campaign. In this chapter I hope to show how mental health is currently being viewed on the Stellenbosch University campus and how through changing the way knowl- edge is spread it can activate social change.

CHAPTER ONE : INTRODUCTION / x redirect our focus

37 / CHAPTER ONE : SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONSIM SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONSIM Upon hearing the word ‘language’, your immediate association with the word is ‘communication’ – a tool which enables you to converse with others. As humans, we use language to convey information, thoughts, and feelings. We depend on a complex network of spoken sounds to achieve our communication – un- knowingly “associating language with such verbal intercourse” (Abram 2010). In this sense, language can be seen as a complex web of different relations, meanings, and concepts. The complexities with language are often difficult to fully comprehend. On these grounds Social Constructionism intends to explore and make sense of these complexities (Burr 2003) Social Constructionism promotes the idea that language structures our experience of the world and subsequently our identity (Burr 2003:47). Concepts that we use to describe ourselves is made possible by language. How we experience the world through our internal states are “undifferentiated and intangible without the structure of language to give it meaning” (2003:48). For instance, if you experience the feeling of sadness, but you’re unable to express it through language, your sadness is intangible. Therefore, it can be said that we learn what sadness is through language - explaining some- thing like emotion without language is like explaining colour without sight – it cannot occur.

CHAPTER ONE : SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM / 38

39 / CHAPTER ONE : SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONSIM Your understanding of the feeling of sadness as The representation of aspects about mental being a state of unhappiness is derived from health permits discourses – such as the bio- historical and present conceptual categories medical discourse and the discourse of dan- used by people within their respective societies gerousness - to gain stigmatizing attitudes. and cultures (Burr 2003:7). Put differently, the Through representing things in certain ways, language these categories produce pre-de- certain forms of knowledge are produced – for termines and represents how we understand instance the ‘knowledge’ of someone struggling things (Burr 2003:8). These concepts are based with their mental health being ‘dangerous’ is on Social Constructionism’s theory that our created through representations in – for instance common understanding of the world, and – the media and education (Burr 2003:67). therefore what we regard as the ‘truth’, is con- These representations are important when stantly being constructed through our daily understanding how different discourses are social interactions (like talking and listening to constructed within a Social Constructionist others talk) and not from nature or our mateal framework. Primarily as they are formed through surroundings (Burr 2003:6). emphasizing “overly linguistic interpretations of meaning”. This allows for modes of inquiry The meanings which we derive from these to return to a Cartesian duality “that extracts social interactions are pre-determined by the body and the material world from processes discursive practices and discourses . Accord- of meaning-making” (Kuntz 2015:49). Hereby ingly, hegemonic discourses are constructed resulting in “sounds, texts and narratives based on the assumption and belief that the standing in for material situated experience” basis of their knowledge are true. Such an (Kuntz 2015:49). approach to meaning-making states that pre-determined constructs regulate what is Questions arise within the context of what permissible for different people to do and happens to practices and ways of existing what implications these actions might have outside of discourse, or within the material (Burr 2003:6-19). Burr (2003:18-19) states that practices that are not entangled within the these dualistic power relations entangled in conceptual web of logics of extraction (Kuntz the representations of things correlate directly 2015:52). Andrew Kuntz (2015:52) answers to how we treat each other in society. This is this by describing how through discourses some perhaps especially true when it comes to the elements are dismissed or deemed unknow- treatment of those who struggle with their able as they are “rendered outside traditional mental health. Considering that the hegemonic formations of knowledge” Discourses claim that discourses of mental health is the result of the their truth is the only way in which we can come “legitimization of unequal power relations and to know. This is highly problematic when it perpetuation of stereotypes” (Pitcher 2013:4). comes to the media and mental health rep- Therefore, highlighting how the way in which resentations. Through hegemonic discourses we might treat someone who struggles with manifesting in texts such as newspapers, films, their mental health is prearranged for us through advertisements, and social media; the status specific discourses and accordingly through given to mental health has a stigma attached the language that we use. to it and this stigma becomes dominant (Burr 2003:65).

CHAPTER ONE : SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM / 40

Social Constructionism has allowed for the negative stigma surrounding mental health to flourish. Emphasis on language as being equal to reality permits discursive practices with the authority of determining what attributes in a society are deemed ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’. Any individual deviating from this social construction becomes stigmatized (Goffman 1963:12-13). Goffman (1963:14) highlights how, by embedding these stigmas within our societal framework, society is presented with a ‘theory’ or ‘ideology’ to account for the representation of differ- ence. Subsequently, the mass attitudes this creates can be defined as ‘social stigma’ – where a belief held by a majority of society uses stigma to justify social injustices along with the labelling and separation of individuals with undesirable characteristics (Ahmedani 2011:5). As mentioned before, this becomes highly problematic when the media comes into play. Particularly as mass media occupies the role of ‘socializing agents’ – reflect- ing and shaping public attitudes. They also play a big role in “construction and perpetuation of perceptions and learned behaviours” (Srivastava et al. 2018). Since hegemonic social and political institutions govern the production of knowledge within the media, such institutions can maintain and reinforce the Cartesian Dualist separation of mind, body, and matter within the information that is spread concerning mental health. (Happer & Philo 2013:322). It can be said that the mass media makes mental health subjects knowable through extracting them from the material contexts in which they exist – suggesting to society that this process of meaning-making is “the most effective and productive means of accessing knowledge” (Kuntz 2015:44). Consider the theoretical example of a news report about a student who suffers from anxiety and depression verbally confronting an ex- aminer during an exam. The media might, for example, frame the story by saying that “depressive and anxious student lashes out at examiner – how mental illness can make young adults violent”; however they might not include that the examiner confiscated the students’ anxiety medication – thinking it to be illicit drugs – before the exam commenced. Thus, resulting in the student having a ‘panic attack’.Although this is only one student’s story, it shows how the media sways towards displaying mental health within a negative light – that media ex- tracts mental illness from its material contexts. Accordingly, this example foregrounds how only certain sides of the story are being promoted over others as the hegemonic institutions “systematically edit and interpret the mass of information”. This succeeds in facilitating a false and reductionist view of mental illness or mental health struggles (Happer & Philo 2013:321-322). On these grounds, Fawcett (2015) explains the role which the media plays in constructing societies’ general knowledge of mental health through emphasizing that things such as social media posts, movies, television shows or newspapers and magazine are the primary source of informa- tion about mental health for the average individual. Therefore, one’s view of those who struggle with mental health as ‘dangerous’, ‘violent’, ‘criminal’ (and that of mental health in general as incurable and solely caused by either the individuals or biology) can be ascribed to the media (Fawcett 2015 Ref.). Expanding upon this, one can explore three dominant discourses of mental health in the media: a behavioural/aesthetic discourse, the discourse of dangerousness and most influential, the biomedical discourse.The ‘discourse of dangerousness’ perpetuates people who struggle with their mental health as dangerous, criminal, violent and deviant (Fawcett 2015). To provide an example of this, one can look at classic Disney movies such as Beauty and the Beast. Within the film, the character of Maurice (Belle’s father) as shown in Figure 2 is described within the narrative as being ‘crazy’ and ‘lunatic’. Figure 3 is a scene in the movie where Maurice is being hauled away in a lunacy wagon. Disney movies such as these teach children and society that the mentally ill are dangerous and need to be removed from society. Unfortunately, this is only one example of stigmatized representations of mental illness within Disney films - where most villains are portrayed as being evil as a result of a mental health problem.

CHAPTER ONE : MENTAL HEALTH AND THE MEDIA / 42

43 / CHAPTER ONE : MENTAL HEALTH AND THE MEDIA FIGURE 2 AND FIGURE 3

CHAPTER ONE : MENTAL HEALTH AND THE MEDIA / 44 The prominence and pervasiveness of mental illness rep- resentations in media intended for children also raises the question: if this is the way that children are taught to view mental illness, how can we blame the general population for having such uninformed views? Especially as stereotypical views that adults have about mental health may have been “originally acquired through media exposure in childhood” (Lawson & Fouts 2004:311). Studies have shown that around 85%85% of (Disney) animated films contain references to charac- ters (major and minor) with mental illnesses (Lawson & Fouts 2004:311). Moreover, these representations are not only present in animated films, they also extend into adult movies, television, radio, social media and the news (Fawcett 2015). A possible reason for this pervasive negative discourse is that mental illness is perceived as ‘dramatic’ and ‘sensational’, and often creates attractive and interesting storylines (Icannotes 2018). The media often exaggerates and dramatizes these attributes to make a character or even a real-life criminal appear more interesting and intriguing (Icannotes 2018). The media clearly extracts the sensational and attention-grabbing elements to frame a mental health subject in a demeaning way.

45 / CHAPTER ONE : MENTAL HEALTH AND THE MEDIA FIGURE 4 AND FIGURE 5