Component Evaluation: Reflecting on Context

Timing: 30 Minutes
Mode: In-class; Online

Bring in (or ask your students to bring in) examples of media and/or popular culture portrayals of madness.  After facilitating a discussion, have your students rework the examples they have brought in to create positive and diverse representations of madness. Use the questions below as a guide for a discussion or oral reflection.

• Media and popular culture have always had a significant impact on defining and portraying madness and mad experiences. Discuss both the positive and negative impacts of media that Reville raises within his autobiography. Can you think of how media and popular culture impact our own understandings of madness? 
• How do these examples of media/popular culture portrayals of madness impact our personal and professional actions and reactions related to madness? 
• How can positive identification with and inclusion in a political peer-community be understood as healthy for people experiencing mental health difficulties?