Mental Illness and Entertainment: Problems and Possibilities

Monica Ganas, Ph.D., Theater Arts and Cinematic Arts

Ashley Gibbons, Undergraduate, Theater Arts/Acting for the Stage and Screen

Matthew Bolden, Undergraduate, Theater Arts/Acting for the Stage and Screen

Millennials are being diagnosed as suffering from anxiety and depression with increasing regularity, creating a serious issue with many implications. This symposium addresses the ways in which mental illness is depicted with varying degrees of accuracy and sensitivity in visual storytelling (television, film, and theater), and makes suggestions for a less exploitative and more helpful way forward. It also addresses the many ways in which theater can be used as a recovery tool when it comes to this condition, on personal, public, societal, and even national levels.