How schizophrenia is misrepresented in TV and film — and how we can do better | CBC Arts (2023)

FAQs

How does schizophrenia affect art? ›

One characteristic of schizophrenia that is unique to the disorder is the creation of highly bizarre artwork. Schizophrenic art refers to art that has been created directly by the hand of a person suffering from schizophrenia.

The Reality of Schizophrenia

Myths perpetuated by the media are damaging to the public sphere. Most characters in movies are portrayed as violent, homicidal, suicidal, having multiple personalities, and frequently experiencing delusions, visual hallucinations and auditory hallucinations.

While there is no known cure, it is possible to live a meaningful and happy life with schizophrenia. There are many effective treatments, best provided by a team. These include medication, psychotherapy, behavioral therapy, and social services, as well as tools to help you stay in school or keep working.

Art therapy allows exploration of the patient's inner world in a non-threatening way through a therapeutic relationship and the use of art materials. It was mainly developed in adult psychiatric inpatient units and was designed for use with people in whom verbal psychotherapy would be impossible.

Studies have shown improved outcomes in positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia when art therapy was used in addition to standard mental health treatment. Research also suggests that music therapy may improve social functioning and quality of life.

A 2012 study found that, in 41 movies studied, a majority of schizophrenic characters displayed violent behaviour toward others and themselves, and almost a third of those characters displayed homicidal tendencies. The same study also found that causation is hardly discussed in those films.

Filmmakers tend to focus on violence, traumatic events, and hallucinations when depicting and shaping characters with schizophrenia. Some critics argue that films overdramatize these elements and doing so dehumanizes people with schizophrenia (Hyler, Gabbard, & Schneider, 1991, p. 1045).

Films viewed included a fear-based inaccurate, likeable-inaccurate, and an educational-accurate depiction of schizophrenia. There was also a control group. There were significant increases in stigmatizing attitudes for participants in the fear-based inaccurate group compared to the accurate and control group.

Hollywood has a long history of misrepresenting those with mental health conditions. These representations are usually portrayals of people with mental illness as violent and dangerous, which contribute to harmful stereotypes about mental illness.

What TV show has a character with schizophrenia? ›

A Beautiful Mind

Russell Crowe performs tremendously to show Nash's struggle with the onset of paranoid schizophrenia, a narrative that begins for Nash in grad school.

Reported symptoms of anxiety and hearing voices most common reasons for misdiagnosis by non-specialty physicians.

Schizophrenia can be extremely disruptive to a person's life, making it hard to go to school or work, keep a schedule, socialize, complete daily tasks, or take care of oneself.

Stigma for those suffering from schizophrenia are many and are not just limited to those outside the medical community. Common stigma for those with schizophrenia is the idea that they are naturally violent and chaotic, excluding them socially, or labelling them with harmful words.

The Scream is definitely Munch's most famous work, and probably the most famous work in schizophrenic art. We also believe that this painting really captures the way that Munch described his struggles with schizophrenia.

Studies have shown that expression through art can help people with depression, anxiety, and stress. Art has also been linked to improved memory, reasoning, and resilience in aging adults. We're diving into the powerful impact art can have on your life. The best part is, art is something everyone can participate in.

Creative therapy uses art forms — such as dance, drawing, or music — to help treat certain conditions. Trained therapists can administer creative therapy to help people experiencing a range of mental, emotional, and physical issues. Creative therapy does not require a person to have any sort of artistic ability.

Antipsychotic medications are the most effective treatment for schizophrenia. Medications such as Risperdal and Zyprexa have been shown to reduce both the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia by up to 40%.

Cognitive behavioral therapy, also known as CBT, may be a treatment option for people with schizophrenia. CBT teaches a person to modify beliefs or behaviors that may be leading to negative emotions.

What are good activities for people with schizophrenia? ›

Sometimes when a person with schizophrenia is unwell they may turn against people they are normally close to. Encourage them to participate in one-to-one activities, for example card games, chess, jigsaw puzzles, walking.

The movie depicts Nash's journey through life with schizophrenia. Nash displays many characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia, including hallucinations, delusions, fear of persecution, and lack of interpersonal relationships.

Pocahontas - Pocahontas

The sad truth is poor Pochaontas is a schizophrenic. Wandering off from her tribe, she spends her days playing out her delusions in the wilderness of rural Virginia and the shock announcement that she is to be married to one of her father's warriors only increased the intensity of them.

While A Beautiful Mind is not an entirely accurate depiction of John Nash's life, it does offer an accurate representation of schizophrenia. Delusions of grandeur, or grandiose delusions, are among the most common signs of paranoid schizophrenia.

Mental illnesses, also known as psychiatric disorders, are often inaccurately portrayed in the media. Films, television programs, books, magazines, and news programs often stereotype the mentally ill as being violent or unpredictable, unlike the great majority of the actual mentally ill.

Mental Illness In Russell Crowe's A Beautiful Mind

The stigma enable his wife to delay seeking for psychiatric help. Due to the lack of early treatment, Nash's symptoms became severe. Nash became very accustom to his symptoms; it was his realty.

Movies and television also can make people more violent. The more we see violent acts on television, the less sensitive we become to them: Eventually violence doesn't seem wrong. We may even commit violent acts ourselves. This is especially true because we don't always realize that violence has consequences.

Schizophrenia patients consistently show deficits on tasks of explicit learning and memory. In contrast, their performance on implicit processing tasks often appears to be relatively intact, though most studies have focused on implicit learning of motor skills.

Schizophrenia involves a range of problems with thinking (cognition), behavior and emotions. Signs and symptoms may vary, but usually involve delusions, hallucinations or disorganized speech, and reflect an impaired ability to function.

What are common misrepresentations of mental illness in the media? ›

Often, the information is inaccurate and creates a false picture of what mental illness really is. People are fed stereotypes that they believe are based on truth, when in fact, they are usually based on misunderstandings.

Showing the Truth About Schizophrenia. Author Wally Lamb explains the process behind creating a character with severe mental illness, and what it took to translate his fictional story into the moving HBO series I Know This Much Is True.

Bipolar disorder.

Some people with severe bipolar disorder have delusions or hallucinations. That's why they may be misdiagnosed with schizophrenia.

GlobalData Healthcare. Only around two in three individuals with schizophrenia are diagnosed by a physician, likely due to misdiagnosis of the condition.

BPD is one of the most commonly misdiagnosed mental health conditions. It's so misdiagnosed, in fact, that there isn't even an accurate prevalence rate for the condition.

But mental disorders often cause problems in the decision-making process. Research shows people with schizophrenia can have trouble understanding the relationship between their actions and the outcomes. This means they might keep selecting A, even if they know it's no longer as valuable as B.

Can a person with schizophrenia act normal? ›

Along with the right support, medication, and therapy, many people with schizophrenia are able to manage their symptoms, function independently, and enjoy full, rewarding lives.

Unfortunately, most people with schizophrenia are unaware that their symptoms are warning signs of a mental disorder. Their lives may be unraveling, yet they may believe that their experiences are normal. Or they may feel that they're blessed or cursed with special insights that others can't see.

Schizophrenia requires lifelong treatment, even when symptoms have subsided. Treatment with medications and psychosocial therapy can help manage the condition. In some cases, hospitalization may be needed. A psychiatrist experienced in treating schizophrenia usually guides treatment.

The portrayals of schizophrenia often focus on symptoms such as visual hallucinations, bizarre delusions, and disorganized speech, and present them as commonplace. In reality, symptoms like decreased motivation, poverty of speech, and flat affect are more common.

Stigma against people with this condition is intense and widespread, causing social exclusion, and impacting their relationships with others, including family and friends. This contributes to discrimination, which in turn can limit access to general health care, education, housing, and employment.

Antipsychotics. Antipsychotics are usually recommended as the initial treatment for the symptoms of an acute schizophrenic episode. They work by blocking the effect of the chemical dopamine on the brain.

There is evidence that schizophrenia affects perception of contrast and motion, control of eye movements, detection of visual contours, and recognition of faces or facial expressions.

Mental illnesses have a large impact on the sufferer's creativity and how they express themselves. Many household names in the art world have dealt with mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, mania, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc.

Parallels can be drawn to connect creativity to major mental disorders including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, OCD and ADHD. For example, studies have demonstrated correlations between creative occupations and people living with mental illness.

How does mental illness affect creativity? ›

Some argue that the relationship between mental illness and creativity is more complex, that mental health problems allow people to think more creatively than others, but this creativity drops back down to average levels or lower during severe episodes of illness.

Chubb Illusion

On average, people will say that the small circle at 10:30 o'clock bears the closest resemblance to the small central circle. However, a 2005 study found that people with schizophrenia estimate the circle at 6:00 o'clock as being most similar to the central circle.

Schizophrenia usually involves delusions (false beliefs), hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that don't exist), unusual physical behavior, and disorganized thinking and speech. It is common for people with schizophrenia to have paranoid thoughts or hear voices.

They discovered strong evidence for the positive impact of the arts on physical and mental wellbeing. A recent report by the Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research also found evidence that art therapy was effective at reducing depression and anxiety symptoms associated with psychological trauma.

It's true—recent studies and research have proven that a trip to the art gallery or a museum can positively impact your health and well-being in several essential ways, like lowering anxiety and depression and boosting critical thinking skills.

Creative people—or at least those with degrees in creative fields—have a 90 percent higher chance of being diagnosed with schizophrenia than people working in non-creative fields, according to a new study published in The British Journal of Psychiatry.

Despite the fact that Edvard Munch suffered from depression, anxiety, and probably schizophrenia, he refused treatment for some time. He stated: “My sufferings are part of myself and my art. They are indistinguishable from me, and their destruction would destroy my art.

Risk factors

Having a family history of schizophrenia. Some pregnancy and birth complications, such as malnutrition or exposure to toxins or viruses that may impact brain development. Taking mind-altering (psychoactive or psychotropic) drugs during teen years and young adulthood.

What part of the brain affects creativity? ›

Frontal cortex—the frontal cortex has long been thought of as the hub or center of creativity, as it seems to be responsible for many of the functions that contribute to creative thinking (such as working (or short-term) memory).