An Emergency Call The Mental Health of Teenagers in Two Novels and a Video Game (original) (raw)
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Portraying Mental Illness in Video Games
Articles, 2020
This exploratory study examines three video games as case studies for how video games may portray mental illness through interactive, non-narrative design features. The analysis not only reports findings but also offers an evaluation for how video games might improve in how they depict mental illness. The games studied are What Remains of Edith Finch, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and Doki Doki Literature Club. The analysis identifies how these games use audiovisual styles, control systems, game goals, and procedurality to portray mental illness. A report of the discovered themes precedes a discussion of innovations and weaknesses of those depictions of mental illness.
Revista de Lenguas Modernas, 2020
This article compares and contrasts two novels and video games where the participation of teenage characters who battle against mental illnesses becomes fundamental to support the narrative of the text. The objective is to analyze the representation of clinical depression in Vizzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story, the depiction of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in Ness’s The Rest of Us Just Live Here, and the portrayal of schizophrenia in the video game Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (by Ninja Theory) to assess how the texts represent mental illnesses and their social implications. The analysis shows that the three texts succeeded at creating a positive portrayal of the mental illnesses by removing generalized stereotypes about the conditions and by actively engaging readers, which fosters empathy.
Framing Mental Health Within Digital Games: An Exploratory Case Study of Hellblade
JMIR Mental Health, 2019
Background Researchers and therapists have increasingly turned to digital games for new forms of treatments and interventions for people suffering from a variety of mental health issues. Yet, the depiction of mental illness within digital games typically promotes stigmatized versions of those with mental health concerns. Recently, more games have attempted to implement more realistic and respectful depictions of mental health conditions. Objective This paper presents an exploratory analysis of a contemporary game that has the potential to change the way researchers, practitioners, and game designers approach topics of mental health within the context of gaming. Methods A case study of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was conducted using frame analysis to show how key design choices for this game present the potential for new ways of approaching games and mental health. Results A case study of Hellblade’s development shows how research-informed collaborative design with mental health...
Study and Scrutiny: Research on Young Adult Literature
Young adult literature has never shied away from taboo topics, particularly if the topics effect or concern adolescents. Recent studies have indicated that one fifth of the American population, about 50 million people including children and adults, live with some form of mental illness (Horwitz, 2002, 83). Mental illness is clearly an issue that impacts young people, yet there are very few examples of authentic representations of characters with profound mental illness in young adult (YA) literature. There have been several YA literature texts that feature protagonists with psychological or behavioral conditions that are relatively common in adolescence, including depression and eating disorders. Because these conditions are understood and recognized in popular culture, they are generally portrayed with relative accuracy, awareness of individualized experiences, and sensitivity to potential readers who may have personal experience with them. These books successfully tackle once-taboo topics and allow the readership to connect, relate, sympathize, and gain awareness. The lesson for these readers is: you are not alone and you can get through it. However, when the mental illness happens to be less understood, particularly in the case of schizophrenia, a troubling trend occurs. Ross (2008) explains that schizophrenia "is a disease that is very much misunderstood and therefore often feared and/or belittled, trivialized, and even demonized" (p. 1022). While his discussion is specifically referring to schizophrenia as perceived by the general population, it also applies to how it is treated in
Gaming With Stigma: Analysis of Messages About Mental Illnesses in Video Games
JMIR Mental Health, 2018
BackgroundVideo game playing is a daily activity for many youths that replaces other media forms (eg, television); it serves as an important source of knowledge and can potentially impact their attitudes and behaviors. Researchers are, thus, concerned with the impact of video gaming on youth (eg, for promoting prosocial or antisocial behavior). Studies have also begun to explore players’ experience of gameplay and video game messages about violence, sexism, and racism; however, little is known about the impact of commercial video games in the sharing and shaping of knowledge, and messages about mental illness.ObjectiveThe aim of this review was to identify how mental illness, especially psychosis, is portrayed in commercial video games.MethodsWe performed keyword searches on games made available between January 2016 and June 2017 on Steam (a popular personal computer gaming platform). A total of 789 games were identified and reviewed to assess whether their game content was related ...
To Build a Bridge: Myth and Legend to Reframe Mental Health in Young Adult Readers
Youth Voice Journal, 2016
Carl Jung’s (1947) ‘collective unconscious’ and Joseph Campbell’s (1963) ‘mythographic discoveries’ examined the role of myth in our everyday lives. Additionally, Dr. Viktor Frankl (1984) identified that the ability to make meaning out of suffering can assist a person, including young adults, with mental health concerns. In this discussion paper it is argued that myth-based fantasy stories that describe the legendary ‘hero’s quest’ can play an important role in helping a young person to comprehend mental health suffering. Through the literary trope of Young Adult (YA) fantasy fiction, mythical fantasy stories can aid in understanding during a process of inner reflection and cognitive reframing. As part of an emerging methodology entitled Story Image Therapy (SIT)®, narratives such as the katabatic tale of the hero’s sojourn journey (to the ‘underworld’ and return) provide a viable method for a young person to make meaning out of mental health distress. The proposed method can also be used to deliver mental health information and strategies in a way that is fun, ever-expanding and open to individual, cultural and other interpretations. Evidence to support the YA fiction method includes archetypal literary criticism and bibliotherapy models, as well as the youth’s ‘literary voices’ revealed through the popular mythical YA fantasy fictions: Tolkien’s (1954-1955) The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Lewis’ (1950-1956) Narnia Chronicles, Rowling’s Harry Potter series (1997-2007) and Pullman’s (1995-2000) His Dark Materials trilogy.
2021
Pandemics though concern the medical health of a certain community or communities, also have a significant impact on the mental health of the members of that community. Each section of society is affected, albeit differently, in a pandemic. Art and literature engage with and represent society and all its mores. In a pandemic as well, these modes of representation assume a special responsibility and role. This paper seeks to analyse the representation of the mental health of individuals and society through literary and artistic mediums. In the case of artistic mediums, cinematic portrayals will be the centre of study. These representations, in turn, affect one’s mental state and understanding of a situation. The paper will thus, study and evaluate certain literary and cinematic texts, their representation of mental health, and their applicability to the COVID-19 pandemic using established theories as supporting material to substantiate the claims made in the study of the aforemention...
Games about mental health - Designing the experience of "What it's Like
2014
This paper describes the design of four, short games about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Bipolar Disorder and Eating Disorder. The intent of each game is to make salient aspects of the experience of these mental health issues tangible to players in order to increase understanding, empathy and alleviate stigma and isolation. The games are part of the interactive documentary project “For the Records”, focusing on young adults and mental illness, and have been developed at DePaul University by four student teams who have been working in parallel. This work is tying up to my former research on games about the human condition and modeling complex, abstract concepts via metaphors. It is situated within the “games for good” movement and hopes to inspire the development of more experiential games that stimulate productive dialogue and shared understanding of mental health concerns. All four games are works in progress (about 90% done), browserbased (...
The Lion and the Unicorn, 2020
with a Ph.D. in Children's Literature from Aberystwyth University in the U.K. Jen's current research focuses on ecocriticism, posthumanism, and children's literature and culture; she has a strong interest in digital texts and nonfiction for young people. Jen has recently published a monograph exploring posthumanism and the environment in young adult dystopia as well as articles and book chapters on Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. She is the editor of a forthcoming centennial collection on Winne the Pooh from the University of Mississippi Press and ChLA. She is also an editor for Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures and a reviewer for The Children's Book Review website.
UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOLOGICAL MARGINALITIES IN LITERATURE: A STEP TOWARDS HARMONIOUS SOCIETIES
Transstellar Journals, 2020
Therapeutic Literary Novels: A Step Back from Mental Agony Psychological fiction offers a unique kind of therapy to its readers. Proposed paper intends to reflect upon few exemplary characters from English literature around the world. This particular genre of writing tries to delve into circumstances that force characters to behave in an abnormal manner. Internal observation is stressed upon in order to understand the character; motivation behind actions is more important than the actions of psychological characters. Society, at large, talks about taking care of sick. In reality, mentally disturbed people are considered to be outcasts. Enough time is not given by family and friends to get normalcy back into the life of such people. Literature is valued for bringing out all that troubles man in a lighter tone through stream of consciousness writing style, interior dialogues and monologues and other literary devices. Troubled youth of present age easily identifies with these characters. Catharsis helps to cleanse minds of troubled readers. When a reader identifies himself with certain traits found in characters from these stories, it gives him a sense of being part of their world; his sense of alienation is replaced by feelings that make him want to reach out to the character to console and to be consoled. Reader finds a purpose to his meaningless existence. Readers having to deal with the sick in their lives also learn to live a better life through all that touches upon the lives of characters, who have a mental case amidst them.