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June 6, 2024 • 12 mins

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Imagine discovering your friend has a mental health diagnosis like schizophrenia. Would you know how to respond, or would fear and hesitation cloud your judgment? This episode promises to smash through societal misconceptions and shed light on the harsh realities many face due to the stigma perpetuated by media misrepresentations. Join me, Diana Dirkby, as I unpack the damaging stereotypes often portrayed in movies, TV shows, and books, and how these contribute to personal experiences of rejection. Not all hope is lost, as we'll also celebrate movies like "A Beautiful Mind" and "The Crowded Room" for offering more accurate portrayals. With personal stories, including my insightful exchanges with John Nash, we'll explore the crucial role of education and advocacy groups like the Schizophrenia and Psychosis Action Alliance and prominent activist Michelle Hammer in combating stigma.

In friendships, the revelation of a mental health diagnosis can strain connections, but it doesn't have to. I'll discuss the fears and hesitations that might arise and suggest alternative ways to communicate, such as through social media and email, to ease the conversation. We'll emphasize that mental illness is not something to be feared. Moreover, I'll share my aspirations as a fiction writer to bridge the gap between mental health consumers and their loved ones, fostering better mutual understanding. Join me for a nuanced examination, considering diverse backgrounds and limitations, aimed at nurturing genuine relationships and understanding in the face of mental health challenges.

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Episode Transcript

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Diana Dirkby (00:00):
Hello, my name is Diana Dirkby and I live with
paranoid schizophrenia.
Today I wanted to talk againabout the two-way street of
stigma.
The stigma of mental illness,especially schizophrenia, is an
undeniable destructive force inour society, and here I talk of

(00:20):
Western culture, for I knowlittle of how the stigma of
mental illness manifests itselfin the Orient.
In my view, it is toosimplistic to label those
exercising stigma as " ignorantguys" and those treating
consumers of mental healthcompassionately and with
understanding as informed guys.

(00:43):
One needs to look for thesources of misconceptions about
mental illness.
One of my loves and principalpastimes is classic and modern
movies, including independentfilms and TV shows.
I am hurt again and again bythe fact that the writers of
such entertainment play fast andloose with words like

(01:06):
schizophrenic, psychotic,mentally ill and manic as a way
of padding their plots withpeople who are supposed to find
who we are supposed to find.
scary Not only scary, butresponsible for terrible crimes.
Not only scary, but responsiblefor terrible crimes, often

(01:29):
involving sadistic murder.
Tracking down the bad guy orgirl is frequently identified
with finding the mentally illperson in the plot.
Why do I keep watching suchmedia?
The truth is that I watch toappreciate the performances of
good actors and actresses, oftenundermined by mediocre writing
that resorts to making amentally ill person the key

(01:51):
monster for lack of a moreoriginal idea.
Does it hurt my feelings?
You bet it does, and it makesme feel shut out from the media
of films and TV series.
Would any of these actors,actresses and writers want to
know me?
I feel probably not.
After all, I live with paranoidschizophrenia, one of the most

(02:15):
maligned mental illnesses, orbrain disorders as some call it.
The sad fact is that manypeople I know have as their only
source of knowledge of mentalillness these movies and TV
series, as well as the books andplays that may have inspired
them.
In my experience, my strugglesto connect with someone I love

(02:37):
but who rejects me oftenoriginate in the pervasive media
, reinforcing the stigma ofmental illness.
I wish I knew how to stop it.
There areexceptions.

(02:58):
A Beautiful Mind, a 2001American biographical drama film
about the mathematician JohnNash, who lived with paranoid
schizophrenia, a Nobel laureatein economics, played by Russell
Crowe.
The film is directed by RonHoward and based on a screenplay
by Akiva Goldsman, who adaptedthe 1998 biography by Sylvia

(03:21):
Nassar.
By the way, my husband and Iknew John Nash well.
My husband lived many years inPrinceton and frequently talked
with John Nash.
While my husband was aprofessor at Stevens Institute
of Technology in Hoboken, Ivisited Princeton several times
and got on well with John Nash,who often asked to sit next to

(03:44):
me at lunch for reasons I neverunderstood.
Akiva Goldsman figured again asthe writer of the Crowded Room,
an American psychologicalthriller.
Miniseries inspired by the 1981non-fiction novel the Minds of
Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes.
Tom Holland, amanda Seyfriedand Emmy Rossum lead a

(04:08):
supporting cast that includesSasha Lane, will Chase Lioraz,
lila Robbins, henry Elkenberryand Jason Isaacs.
It's about DissociativeIdentity Disorder, did, which is
often confused withschizophrenia but has nothing to
do with it.
The series does much to combatthe stigma of DID.

(04:30):
Again, dissociative IdentityDisorder.
I recommend the 1957 movie theThree Faces of Eve, which stars
Joanna Woodward and is about awoman with DID.
It is based on a book about acase of DID by psychiatrists CH
Thigpen and HM Clickleypsychiatrists CH Thigpen and HM

(04:55):
Clickley.
Social media has enabled manymental health advocacy groups
and activists wanting toeliminate the stigma of mental
illness to have a voice that iswidely heard.
I have mentioned some examplesin previous podcasts.
Let me remind you of two ofthem the Schizophrenia and
Psychosis Action Alliance, whoseInstagram handle is sczaction,

(05:18):
and the activist forschizophrenia, michelle Hammer,
whose Instagram handle isschizophrenicnyc.
Some excellent non-fiction booksare written by experts such as
E Fuller Torrey's book SurvivingSchizophrenia A Family Manual.
In my fiction novel, theOverlife A Tale of Schizophrenia

(05:40):
, by Diana Dirkby, I aim todescribe what it can be like to
live with schizophrenia,dispelling some of the myths
along the way.
The character who narrates thebook, sarah, myths along the way
.
The character who narrates thebook, sarah, manifests some
alarming symptoms, but no one isever in danger from her, nor
from her mother, jodie, wholives with schizophrenia.

(06:01):
In my forthcoming novel, threeKidnapped, three Siblings, three
Furies, by Diana Dirkby, one ofthe key characters is a woman
living with schizophrenia.
In this case, her schizophreniasymptoms are under control and
it is other sides of her personathat are important, stressing

(06:27):
that a mental health consumer ismuch more than their diagnosis.
How can we start a journeytowards mutual understanding
between someone living withschizophrenia and someone afraid
of that diagnosis?
Suppose they are receptive tobeing educated about
schizophrenia.
In that case, you can directthem to the rich social media
activity of those advocating formental illness.
Educational books aboutschizophrenia non-fiction or

(06:49):
fiction, and some of the moviesand TV shows I mentioned that
portray mental illness moreaccurately than most.
That way, they will see thatmany people are undergoing the
dialogue you wish to have withthem.
Someone so receptive willlikely genuinely want to know
you or who is in love with you.
Despite the misconceptionssurrounding schizophrenia, from

(07:13):
what I have been saying, you canappreciate that there is
nonetheless a lot of goodeducational media available
about severe mental illness.
The problem is that someonewanting to profit from those
sources of education needs astrong motivation to learn about
mental illness or braindisorders.
Many people prefer to callschizophrenia a brain disorder.

(07:36):
It can be hurtful, but it isoften true that the people you
would most like to understandyour mental illness better can
be those who want to cut you outof their life once they know
you live with a mental illness.
These people are in contrast tothose who leap at the
opportunity to understand youbetter, even though they may

(07:58):
only be acquaintances.
In writing.
In the fiction genre aboutmental illness, I aim to provide
an informative work that hasthe comfort that it is fictional
, so people in your life don'tfeel judged by what you write.
We need more comfort zones forpeople to learn about mental

(08:18):
illness.
Most advocates for those with amental illness only think of
the situation from the point ofview of the consumer of mental
health, the person living with amental illness and their
caregivers.
However, the other people inyour life also have their needs
and limitations.
For example, the sibling of amental health consumer may feel

(08:42):
that the sibling needing care isovershadowing their own needs
for attention and love fromtheir parents.
The family needs to provide anopportunity for all its members
to express how they feel, whileinsisting they make an effort to
learn about mental illness.
However, this learning processshouldn't be unpleasant and

(09:03):
should advance at a pacecomfortable for the student.
Indeed, the whole family'sneeds must be considered.
Someone who is a friend of amental health consumer and has
just learned of their diagnosismay have difficulty continuing
the friendship for fear of whata mental illness may do to it.
They may be willing to educatethemselves further to try to

(09:26):
understand their friend andtheir mental illness.
However, even some of the factsabout mental health may scare
them away.
In such a case, it may help tofind a less direct way than
physical presence to dialoguewith your friend.
For example, you could proposethat you communicate on social
media and by email for a period,while the friend with the

(09:49):
mental illness uses this moredetached situation to gently
persuade their friend that thereis nothing to be afraid of in
their mental illness.
As I have expressed before, thefight against the stigma of
mental illness is much deeperthan just the reiteration of
actual facts that you hopepeople take into account.

(10:09):
Those people whose audience isvaried have their own problems
and limitations and need anydialogue about mental illness to
take that into account.
One of my fiction writing goalsis to explore ways, some of
which are pretty subtle, tobring mental health consumers
and those they care about closerto a better, neutral

(10:31):
understanding.
Thank you for listening.
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