Advanced Seminar: Speaking Our Minds - Narrating Mental Illness (CAMS-UA 208) Course Outline & Syllabus Stories of mental illness are all too often told from the perspective of those who study or treat it. By contrast, this course examines mental illness through the lens of those who experience it first-hand and creatively transform their experience into something that can be shared with others. Narrative has the unique ability to relate the felt experience of mental illness in a way that the conventional patient history, chart, or any strictly medical documentation cannot. Through close examination of video testimony, memoir, autobiographical fiction, theater and film, students will learn to receive and interpret the illness experience, with a focus on applications for public health, advocacy and social justice. Prerequisites: Introduction to Psychology (Psych-UA 1) and Child & Adolescent Psychopathology (CAMS-UA.0101), Abnormal Psychology (Psych-UA 51) or their equivalents; or consent of the instructor. There is no prerequisite in the field of narrative required as those aspects of the course are considered to be introductory. Instructors: Sara Popkin, MD (
[email protected]), Peter Wu, MD (
[email protected]) and Juliann Garey, MS Session Topic and Description 1
Telling Stories: An Introduction to Narrative Medicine Readings (to be completed before Session One) 1. Brooks, P (1984). Reading for the Plot. Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative (pp. 3-36). New York: Vintage Books. 2. Charon, R. (2007). What to do with stories The sciences of narrative medicine. Canadian Family Physician, 53(8), 1265-1267. 3. Charon, R. (2006). Narrative medicine: Honoring the stories of illness (pp.107-130). Oxford University Press.
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Testimony: Constructing/Witnessing an illness narrative Assignment: Response paper: Testimony: How did what you have learned about narrative change the way you watched/listened to the video testimony? Readings: 1. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. 2. Parry, P. I. (2008). Cough disorder: an allegory on DSM-IV. The Medical journal of Australia, 191(11-12), 674-676. 3. PDM, T. F. (2006). Psychodynamic diagnostic manual. 4. Charon, R. (2006). Bearing Witness. Narrative medicine honoring the stories of illness (pp. 177-201). New York: Oxford University Press. 5. Carey, B. (2011, November 25). Finding Purpose after Living with Delusion. New York Times, p. A1. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/health/man-uses-hisschizophrenia-to-gather-clues-for-daily-living.html?_r=0
Videos: Carey, B. (n.d.). Lives Restored. New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/science/lives-restored-series.html#/milton-greek Sherwin Nuland: How Electroshock Therapy Changed Me (Feb 2001) http://www.ted.com/talks/sherwin_nuland_on_electroshock_therapy.html Hilborn, Neil (2013). OCD http://buttonpoetry.tumblr.com/post/56192321029/neil-hilborn-ocd-rustbelt-2013-shed-lay 3
Learning from Case Studies: A Clinician’s Narrative Assignment: Response paper: Construct a biopsychosocial formulation for Dora or Temple. Readings: 1. Freud, S. (1995). The Freud Reader. WW Norton & Company (172-238). 2. Sacks, O. (1995). An anthropologist on Mars: Seven paradoxical tales. Vintage (244-296). 3. Jellinek, M. S., McDERMOTT, J. O. H. N., & Jellinek, M. S. (2004). Formulation: putting the diagnosis into a therapeutic context and treatment plan. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry,43(7), 913-916.
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Remembering Bipolar Disorder: Kay Redfield Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind Assignment: Response paper: Compare and contrast Jamison’s language in her memoir with the language she utilizes in the Rose interview. Is there a difference? If so, how do you interpret or understand this difference? Readings: 1. Jamison, K. R. (2009). An unquiet mind: A memoir of moods and madness. Random House LLC. Videos: Jamison, Kay Redfield and Saks, Elyn (June 21, 2010) Interviewed by Charlie Rose, http://www.charlierose.com/watch/50066203
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Narrating Silence: Autism Speaks Readings: 1. Higashida, N. (2013). The Reason I Jump. Hachette UK 2. Capps, L., Losh, M., & Thurber, C. (2000). “The frog ate the bug and made his mouth sad”: Narrative competence in children with autism. Journal of abnormal child psychology, 28(2), 193-204. 3. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
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The Family Narrative: Perfect Chaos Assignment: Response paper: How would each narrative have been different if told on its own, without the
other? Would it be any less powerful, or just different? Readings: 1. Johnson, L., & Johnson, C. (2012). Perfect Chaos: A Daughter's Journey to Survive Bipolar, a Mother's Struggle to Save Her. Macmillan.
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Narrating Depression: Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar Readings: 1. Plath, S. (2013). The bell jar (Vol. 50). GoodBook LLC. 2. Cooper, B. (2003). Sylvia Plath and the depression continuum. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 96(6), 296-301.
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Narrating Childhood Trauma: Virginia Woolf Readings: 1. Woolf, V. (2006). To the lighthouse. Oxford University Press. (excerpts) 2. Terr, L. C. (1990). Who's afraid in Virginia Woolf? Clues to early sexual abuse in literature. The Psychoanalytic study of the child, 45: 533-546. 3. Cohen, J. A., & Mannarino, A. P. (2008). Trauma‐Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Children and Parents. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 13(4), 158-162.
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Staging Mental Illness: Suddenly Last Summer Readings: 1.Williams, T., & New Directions Publishing Corp., (1958). Suddenly last summer. York: New Directions. 2. Schvey, H. I. (2011). The Tragic Poetics of Tennessee Williams. Études anglaises, 64(1), 74-79
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The Novel: Bipolar Fiction Readings: 1. Garey, J. (2012). Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See. Soho Press.
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The YA Novel: Narrating Adolescence Assignment: Utilizing your knowledge of the workings of the adolescent brain, reflect on a “poor choice” from your own adolescence. What other factors influenced your decision-making? If faced with the same choice at your current state of brain development, how would your decisionmaking process differ? Readings: 1. Asher, J. (2011). Thirteen reasons why. Penguin. 2. Fuller, A. (2003). Don't Waste Your Breath-An Introduction to the Mysterious World of the Adolescent Brain. Published by Australian Broadcasting Commission May. 3.Garland, A. F., & Zigler, E. (1993). Adolescent suicide prevention: Current research and social policy implications. American Psychologist, 48(2), 169.
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Camera as Narrator: Ordinary People and What Maisie Knew Assignment: Response paper: With whom do you find yourself more closely identified while watching the film: Conrad or Maisie? What is it about the film (or the filmmaker’s techniques) that allowed for that identification? If you feel that one or both films failed in allowing you to identify with either of the main characters, explain why. Films: (to be viewed prior to class) Redford, R. (Director). (1980). Ordinary people [Film]. USA: Paramount. McGehee, Scott and Siegel, David (Directors). (2013) What Maisie Knew [Film]. USA: Millennium Ent.
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Speaking Out: Journalism, Advocacy and Mental Illness Assignment: Write an 850-1000 word op-ed on a mental health topic relating to children or adolescents about which you feel strongly. Topics might include education reform, gun control, stress, sleep-deprivation, access to mental health care (on campus or off), stigma, parental access to social media, etc. Readings: 1.Heldman, K (June 1, 1998) 7 1/2 Days. CityLimits.org. Retrieved from: http://www.citylimits.org/news/articles/2454/7-1-2-days#.UuKp7Cg8LAd 2.Garey, J (August 11, 2013). When doctors discriminate. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/opinion/sunday/when-doctorsdiscriminate.html?_r=1& 3. The New York Times (August 23, 2013). Medical Care and the Mentally Ill. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/opinion/medical-care-and-the-mentallyill.html?ref=opinion 4. Solomon, A (December 7, 2013). Shameful Profiling of the Mentally Ill. The New York Times Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/opinion/sunday/shameful-profiling-of-the-mentallyill.html 5.Kristof, N (Sunday, Jan 5, 2014). First Topic, Mental Illness. The New York Times Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/opinion/sunday/kristof-first-up-mental-illness-nexttopic-is-up-to-you.html 6.Svendsen, D., Singer, P., Foti, M. E., & Mauer, B. (2006). Morbidity and mortality in people with serious mental illness (p.1- 87). Alexandria, VA: National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) Medical Directors Council. (skim) Retrieved from: www.nasmhpd.org
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Listening to Stories: Narrative Medicine in Practice Assignment: A final take-home exam based on the patient evaluation at the Child Study Center will be assigned at the end of class. Students will be required to construct a three-part, multiperspective illness narrative using the skills they learned throughout the semester. 10 pages, double-spaced.
Assessments: Four, 4-5 page, double-spaced papers (60% of grade). Twelve-point font must be employed; at least two papers must be completed by week seven. Students will choose four of the seven assignments listed in the syllabus to be completed over the course of the semester. Class Participation (10% of grade). Because this is a discussion-based seminar, lively participation in class discussions and proof of active engagement with the weekly readings will be an important part of the final grade. Take-home final (10 pages; 30% of grade). A take-home final based on the patient assessment will synthesize the issues, debates and texts we have covered throughout the semester and challenge students to think and write both analytically and creatively about what they have learned and how their thinking has evolved.