December
12 , 2003
Film
Series Offers New Perspective on Mental Illness
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Photo: Ellen Augarten
Gail Hornstein
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Gail Hornstein, professor of psychology
and education, brought a different perspective on mental illness
to Mount Holyoke this semester with a film series titled "Experiencing
Madness." The series was presented in conjunction with Hornstein's
course Patient Narratives of Mental Illness, one of very few courses
anywhere in the country analyzing madness solely from the perspective
of those who have experienced it. Hornstein has compiled a bibliography
of more than 500 such narratives—the earliest dating from
1436—that she makes available worldwide. "Most people
don't know that there is such a wealth of first-person accounts
of madness. They learn only the point of view of psychologists
and psychiatrists. This perspective is important, but it's
very one-sided," said Hornstein, herself a psychologist.
While Hornstein has taught the course several times, the film
series is new this year. She got the idea for it when she was
on sabbatical in London last spring. "The mental patient
advocacy movement in the UK is very active. Films produced there
are much more likely to provide a first-person experiential account
of madness," Hornstein noted. "I wanted my students
at MHC to have the benefit of hearing this perspective."
Another important impetus for the film series was Hornstein's
involvement with the Freedom Center in Northampton, a peer support
and advocacy group for people labeled "mentally ill."
She was deeply impressed with their work and decided to air the
films not only for students but for people connected with the
center and with the wider western Massachusetts community.
The series, formally cosponsored by MHC's psychology and
education department and the Freedom Center, has drawn students,
faculty, former and current mental patients, and dozens of other
people from the local community. "I had no idea how huge
the response would be," said Hornstein. "It's invigorating
to have so diverse a group of people come together each week to
discuss such complex and heavily politicized issues." For
example, last week's film on self-harm, made by a woman who
is herself a "cutter," attracted MHC students who have
self-harmed, a local mother whose daughter is being treated for
cutting, Freedom Center members with personal experience of self-harm,
and a number of local psychologists, social workers, and physicians.
"Although psychiatrists have long held that cutting is a
'cry for help' or a suicide attempt," Hornstein
explained, "those with first-hand experience insist that
it is the opposite—a way to stay alive. The discussion brought
out all sides of this difficult issue."
Hornstein believes the film series has allowed students to gain
a more complex understanding of psychiatric treatment. "It's
not as if we really know that much about the causes of mental
illness," she said. "At the films, students meet people
who have experienced forced drugging, for example. The students
ask, 'Aren't these medications helpful?' and they
hear the response, 'When I was tied down and injected against
my will, this is what happened to me. I had these side effects.
. . ' These dialogues are so much more powerful than the
typical classroom discussion of these issues."
The film series has attracted negative feedback as well. Hornstein
recently received a "very hostile letter" from an officer
of the local chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally
Ill, who attacked the series as "dangerous propaganda"
providing a "false and misleading" view of mental illness.
Hornstein said the letter is "a sign of how politicized the
topic of madness is and how visible the film series has become."
Hornstein plans to continue the series next semester in order
to further the dialogue between students, members of the community,
and the Freedom Center. Observing that MHC President Joanne V.
Creighton often speaks of "purposeful engagement in the world,"
she added: "We don't usually think of mental patients
as a part of the community our students ought to connect with.
But working with the Freedom Center has broadened my concept of
purposeful engagement, and I want to share that with students."
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