Source: Tumisu/ Pixabay
I’ve spent the last few years helping student filmmakers to create films and TV shows focusing on mental health.
What I’ve learned: The desire to highlight mental health via cinematic storytelling is a worthy goal, but done incorrectly, it can be harmful, even dangerous. Similarly, exposing audience members to such stories without the right resources can also be hazardous.
The key is community. Mental health storytelling is, by necessity, community storytelling.
As part of the Northwestern University Pritzker Pucker Studio Lab for the Promotion of Mental Health via Cinematic Arts, we watched mentally-health-focused movies/TV. We hosted filmmakers, film scholars, anthropologists, sociologists, playwrights, and psychologists.
We talked about the techniques that have been and might be utilized in storytelling across filmmaking and theatre. We had student filmmakers research the psychological arena they were interested in depicting.
It all sounds simple and logical, but it turned out to be complex. Watching and discussing psychologically fraught material (films about suicide, police violence, racism, depression, or OCD, and lectures about depictions of school shootings) can be activating (and I prefer activating over the militaristic term triggering).
What helped: Having a psychological consultant on call, ready to add perspectives, and just having classmates to talk to.
Also complex was encountering movies where mental health conditions are misrepresented. For those identifying with the condition, it can be hurtful and even spark panic. But again, having a psychological consultant available and a supportive colleague there to discuss when the movie was made, the filmmakers’ motivations, what was misrepresented, what’s changed, and what we would do differently was helpful.
So, a moment of anger, panic, or self-loathing turned into a moment of reflection and inspiration (yes, as filmmakers, we can do better).
And what about the production process? An actor may be asked to embody a racist character or be the victim of a sexual assault. We’ve heard the stories of actors unable to escape the darkness central to their character (i.e., Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger in “Black Panther”).
I’ve personally had a conversation with an actress on a major TV show who told me no one ever talked with her about how to release the trauma she had to embody once filming was over. She said the only thing she could do to comfort herself was scrolling mindlessly on social media, an activity that (ironically) promotes mental health concerns.
And it’s not just the actors. The director, writer, or other crew members might find themselves unexpectedly activated by intense events brought to life on the set. So, a better production environment might be one in which time is built into the production process to work through any possible trauma, where rituals are utilized to get actors (and crew) in and out of trauma, and the mental health of the cast and crew is as important as the film or TV show being made.
And this is just on the production side. What about audience members who might experience TV shows or movies about mental health conditions in isolation? Who might be activated? So, education about what you’re about to watch, someone to watch it with, ideally, and resources to use if you recognize yourself or find yourself activated might not just be a good idea but critical.
Sometimes, the entity releasing the film would provide those resources and educational materials. In other cases, it’s up to organizations like the National Association of Mental Illness (NAMI).
And what about media beyond narrative film and TV? Social media has the potential for extreme good, but it also has the potential for extreme danger, even more than film/TV.
We’ve all heard of depression caused by hours of social media usage and self-harm motivated by online cyberbullying or (unintended and embarrassing) self-disclosures. The absorption and use of social media content in isolation is the most dangerous.
When you are part of a community that can disempower harmful content and be there to talk through complex material, that material can lose some of its negative power.
So, should we be telling mentally-health-focused stories? Absolutely. Those who make and fund and distribute such stories should be applauded. And in fact, such stories can highlight and normalize mental health/illness and create communities as people with mental health conditions recognize themselves, write or talk about what they’ve seen, and start to reach out to one another and health professionals.
But mental-health-focused storytelling is an activity that should be undertaken with care and in collaboration. Make sure you do your research, provide auxiliary resources when appropriate, and consider: Who is being helped by this story? What are my motivations for making this story? And who have I consulted with during my process?
Who might be harmed by telling this story, and, ultimately, does the good outweigh the potential for harm?
To underscore: We filmmakers must be able to follow our artistic visions, but these are questions for us all to keep in mind as we do. Because yes, we are all (hopefully) part of a community.
