Article summary of Why Joker’s depiction of mental illness is dangerously misinformed by Driscoll & Husain - Chapter
In what ways are the depictions of mental illness in Joker problematic?
In recent years, awareness about more common mental illnesses like anxiety and depression has grown exponentially. Unfortunately, more severe disorders have seen no such growth in recognition. The portrayal of severe mental illnesses in popular media is still inaccurate and stereotypical. The 2019 movie Joker is one of the culprits of spreading this type of misinformation. A common stereotype about individuals with severe mental illnesses is that they are violent. Joker perpetuates this myth, as Arthur, the titular “joker”, grows more violent after stopping his medication. In actuality, people with severe mental illnesses are more susceptible to experiencing violence coming from others than are people in the general population, but they are not averagely more violent themselves.
Joker is misinformative about the details of mental illnesses in more ways than one. Instead of selecting one psychopathology for the main character to suffer from, the writers of Joker seemed to pick and choose from symptoms that they found interesting and attribute them all to Arthur. Instead of representing symptoms that were plausible to occur together and that would perhaps portray one or two distinct mental illnesses, the movie used various and (seemingly) unrelated symptoms as plot devices.
What implications does Joker have for the real world?
The effect of misinformation in popular media regarding mental illness has been seen before. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a 1975 film depicting the unethical use of electro-convulsive therapy, has been said to have created undue levels of mistrust around electro-convulsive therapy, which can be very effective as a treatment. Movies, (especially extremely popular and widely viewed ones like Joker) have to be held accountable for their representations of the severely mentally ill if the stigmatization around these disorders is ever to drastically improve. The misrepresentation of mental illness in Joker is misinformative at best and dangerous at worst.
Access:
Public
Click & Go to more related summaries or chapters:
Summaries per article with Clinical Psychology at Leiden University 21/22
Summaries per article with Clinical Psychology at Leiden University 21/22
Summaries and supporting content:
Access:
Public
Study Guide with article summaries for Clinical Psychology at Leiden University
Article summaries with Clinical Psychology at Leiden University
Table of content
- Article summary of The Mental Status Exam Through Video Clips of Simulated Psychiatric Patients: an Online Educational Resource by Martin et al. - Chapter
- Article summary of Anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in refugees resettling in high-income countries: systematic review and meta-analysis by Henkelmann et al. - Chapter
- Article summary of Stress resilience during the coronavirus pandemic by Vinkers et al. - Chapter
- Article summary of Mental illness is a result of misery, yet we still stigmatise it by Bentall - Chapter
- Article summary of Why Joker’s depiction of mental illness is dangerously misinformed by Driscoll & Husain - Chapter
- Article summary of Bipolar Disorder by Grande et al. - Chapter
- Article summary of The levels problem in psychopathology by Eronen - Chapter
- Article summary of On the Origins of Schizophrenia by Kahn - Chapter
- Article summary of Alice in Wonderland syndrome: A systematic review by Blom - Chapter
- Article summary of The network approach to psychopathology: a review of the literature 2008-2018 and an agenda for future research by Robinaugh et al. - Chapter
- Article summary of Drug Tolerance, Drug Addiction, and Drug Anticipation by Siegel - Chapter
- Article summary of The Heroin Overdose Mystery by Siegel - Chapter
- Article summary of Treatment of anxiety disorders by Bandelow et al. - Chapter
- Article summary of Cognitive-behavioral therapy for generalized anxiety by Borza - Chapter
- Articlesummaries with prescribed articles for Clinical Psychology 2020/2021
Summaries and supporting content:
Summaries and supporting content:
Access:
Public
Follow the author: Vintage Supporter
More contributions of WorldSupporter author: Vintage Supporter:
- 1 of 2153
- volgende ›
Work for WorldSupporter
JoHo can really use your help! Check out the various student jobs here that match your studies, improve your competencies, strengthen your CV and contribute to a more tolerant world
Check how to use summaries on WorldSupporter.org
Online access to all summaries, study notes en practice exams
- Check out: Register with JoHo WorldSupporter: starting page (EN)
- Check out: Aanmelden bij JoHo WorldSupporter - startpagina (NL)
How and why would you use WorldSupporter.org for your summaries and study assistance?
- For free use of many of the summaries and study aids provided or collected by your fellow students.
- For free use of many of the lecture and study group notes, exam questions and practice questions.
- For use of all exclusive summaries and study assistance for those who are member with JoHo WorldSupporter with online access
- For compiling your own materials and contributions with relevant study help
- For sharing and finding relevant and interesting summaries, documents, notes, blogs, tips, videos, discussions, activities, recipes, side jobs and more.
Using and finding summaries, study notes en practice exams on JoHo WorldSupporter
There are several ways to navigate the large amount of summaries, study notes en practice exams on JoHo WorldSupporter.
- Use the menu above every page to go to one of the main starting pages
- Starting pages: for some fields of study and some university curricula editors have created (start) magazines where customised selections of summaries are put together to smoothen navigation. When you have found a magazine of your likings, add that page to your favorites so you can easily go to that starting point directly from your profile during future visits. Below you will find some start magazines per field of study
- Use the topics and taxonomy terms
- The topics and taxonomy of the study and working fields gives you insight in the amount of summaries that are tagged by authors on specific subjects. This type of navigation can help find summaries that you could have missed when just using the search tools. Tags are organised per field of study and per study institution. Note: not all content is tagged thoroughly, so when this approach doesn't give the results you were looking for, please check the search tool as back up
- Check or follow your (study) organizations:
- by checking or using your study organizations you are likely to discover all relevant study materials.
- this option is only available trough partner organizations
- Check or follow authors or other WorldSupporters
- by following individual users, authors you are likely to discover more relevant study materials.
- Use the Search tools
- 'Quick & Easy'- not very elegant but the fastest way to find a specific summary of a book or study assistance with a specific course or subject.
- The search tool is also available at the bottom of most pages
Do you want to share your summaries with JoHo WorldSupporter and its visitors?
- Check out: Why and how to add a WorldSupporter contributions
- JoHo members: JoHo WorldSupporter members can share content directly and have access to all content: Join JoHo and become a JoHo member
- Non-members: When you are not a member you do not have full access, but if you want to share your own content with others you can fill out the contact form
Quicklinks to fields of study for summaries and study assistance
Field of study
- All studies for summaries, study assistance and working fields
- Communication & Media sciences
- Corporate & Organizational Sciences
- Cultural Studies & Humanities
- Economy & Economical sciences
- Education & Pedagogic Sciences
- Health & Medical Sciences
- IT & Exact sciences
- Law & Justice
- Nature & Environmental Sciences
- Psychology & Behavioral Sciences
- Public Administration & Social Sciences
- Science & Research
- Technical Sciences
Add new contribution