Video version of this podcast episode at https://youtu.be/aBD0yaUyGms We kick off season 4 of Mental Illness in Pop Culture by adding video, reintroducing ourselves. and getting authentic about mental health and pop culture during the pandemic. We each talk about personal mental health issues during this crisis as well as how our professional lives…

Recovery and redemption: It’s who they are and what they do. The Ain’t Saints Radio crew join Mental Illness in Pop Culture’s team for a podcast about their podcast. Each Ain’t Saints Radio episode features guests’ stories of addiction, recovery, and redemption while also incorporating banter, music, and humor. We discuss their motivation and indiv…

Vulnerability, generativity, and a search for intimacy emerge as pervasive themes as we process and make sense of comedian and actor Robin Williams’ life, based on the HBO documentary Come Inside My Mind. We talk about hypomania, addiction, depression, amazing films that people are better for having seen, and, ultimately, suicide related to Lewy Bo…

In this episode of Mental Illness in Pop Culture, we explore age-related cognitive impairment, alcoholism, rural midwestern culture, family dynamics, and the psychosocial development stage Ego Integrity vs. Despair in Nebraska, directed by Alexander Payne and starring Bruce Dern. Guest podcaster Ethan Conner joins his dad Scott and colleague Joe Fl…

In this episode of Mental Illness in Pop Culture, Beach Boys superfan Mark McGowan joins us as we explore family dynamics, birth order, addiction, schizoaffective disorder, creative genius, Love and Mercy, Charles Manson, the ethics of 24-hour therapy, and cousin rivalry, related to Brian Wilson, the Wilson family, and Mike Love. Podcaster Scott tr…

In this episode of Mental Illness in Pop Culture, we analyze the impact of early familial Alzheimer’s in Still Alice, with Julianne Moore in the Academy Award-winning title role. We focus not only on how Alice and her family deal with her increasing cognitive impairment throughout the film but also reflect on identity loss, family dynamics, birth o…

In this episode of Mental Illness in Pop Culture, our analysis of Ingrid Goes West starring Aubrie Plaza leads to an exploration of obsession, social media, and “like” culture -- in the film . . . and our lives! Ingrid’s IRL identity focuses on avoiding pain through attachment to online celebrities who have gained status by masking authenticity. Al…

In this episode of Mental Illness in Pop Culture, we explore revelation and restoration in Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon, based on author Cheryl Strayed's 1,000-mile walkabout to overcome addiction and depression following grief and loss. We examine the archetypal "hero's journey" -- transformation by prevailing over wounds and challenges. We al…

In this episode of Mental Illness in Pop Culture, guest podcaster Andrew Plath joins us to explore mental health issues related to Pearl Jam and “Jeremy,” a song and video about a boy who finds voice by bringing a gun to school and killing himself. We debate the source of Jeremy’s angst, whether his retaliation was mental or physical, and interpret…

In this episode of Mental Illness in Pop Culture, we examine The Stanford Prison Experiment, in film and real life. A coin toss determined whether volunteers would be “guards” or “prisoners” in this controversial research project. We welcome guest-podcaster and doctoral student Andre Joaquim as we explore the relationship of power to imprisonment, …

Pepe Le Pew, Bugs Bunny, and Wile E. Coyote are among the Loony Toons characters whose mental health issues and identities we dissect in the first episode of Season 3 of Mental Illness in Pop Culture. Other cartoon characters mentioned: Foghorn Leghorn, Speedy and Slow Poke Gonzalez, Sylvester, Tweety Bird, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, and Penelope Pu…

We preview season 3 of Mental Illness in Pop Culture and welcome Dr. Joe Flynn to the podcasting team!

2016 Academy Award winning Moonlight intersects race, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, interpersonal violence, and emotional neglect, all swirling around together with the identity development challenge of intimacy vs. isolation. These issues come together in three compelling chapters from the life story of a character known alter…

The cult classic and dark romantic comedy Harold and Maude puts a humorous yet existential gender spin on the May-December motif, with 20-year-old Harold Chasen (Bud Cort) proposing his love to 79-year-old Dame Marjorie “Maude” Chardin (Ruth Gordon). Filled with attention-seeking attempts at shock and awe, we discover Harold’s avoidant attachment s…

In this extra-long episode of Mental Illness in Pop Culture, we examine The Soloist, featuring Jamie Foxx as the titled character, Nathaniel Ayers, Jr., a homeless musical prodigy with severe mental illness, and Robert Downey, Jr. as Steve Lopez, the L.A. Times writer whose columns about Ayers formed the film’s basis. We find the film to be an auth…

In this episode of Mental Illness in Pop Culture, we explore abandonment, complex grief, depression, pain, New England masculine identity, forgiveness, dysfunctional coping strategies, anhedonia, family trauma, binge drinking, lack of professional helping, and acceptance of personal limitations in the Academy-Award-winning film Manchester by the Se…

We examine a variety of mental health issues, seeming contradictions, and tragic beauty in Amy, the 2015 Academy-Award-winning documentary about vocalist, musician, and songwriter Amy Winehouse, who became known as much for her "gobby" lifestyle/self-presentation, search for love, and exploitation by significant others in all domains of her life as…

We explore themes of freedom/oppression, empowerment, and escape as well as rampant religious symbolism within this Academy-Award-sweeping film that still holds up 40+ years later. Randall Patrick "Mac" MacMurphy (Jack Nicholson) bluffs his way into a mental institution to avoid hard labor and prison time despite his skeezy conning and conniving wa…

In this introductory episode to our second season of Mental Illness in Pop Culture, we introduce ourselves (including new team members Broc and Leanne), talk about our interest/experience with mental health issues and professional helping, and plan for upcoming episodes!

In this episode, Adam, Anna, Olivia, Toni, and Scott summarize what they've learned through the first season of Mental Illness in Pop Culture, going meta- on film and episode highlights, the collaborative process of working together, and podcasting itself, all based on the idea that popular media reflect and influence cultural perceptions of mental…

"Do you ever look at someone and wonder, 'What is going on inside their head?'" In this episode of Mental Illness in Pop Culture, we take an "Inside Out" look at Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust as they shape core memories and personality development for 11-year-old Riley in this Disney/Pixar film. In this podcast series, we focus on pop cult…

In this series, we focus on pop culture portrayals of mental health issues and professional helping, believing that media both reflect and influence popular perception. In this episode, we focus on mental health issues experienced by various characters in Silver Linings Playbook, most notably main character Pat, his dance partner Tiffany, and his d…

In this series, we focus on pop culture portrayals of mental health issues and professional helping, believing that media both reflect and influence popular perception. In this episode, we focus on mental health issues experienced by various characters in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, most notably but not limited to main character Charlie. As th…

In this series, we focus on pop culture portrayals of mental health issues and professional helping, believing that media both reflect and influence popular perception. This episode centers around Stevie, who when growing up participated in the Big Brothers / Big Sisters program with documentarian Steve James. The documentary focuses on Stevie's re…

In this series, we focus on pop culture portrayals of mental health issues and professional helping, believing that media both reflect and influence popular perception. In this episode, we discuss the portrayal of genius, creativity, social awkwardness, paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis, and medication side-effects for Nobel Prize winning mathematic…

In this series, we focus on pop culture portrayals of mental health issues and professional helping, believing that media both reflect and influence popular perception. In this episode, we focus on the intersection of genius, creativity, and mental health issues for outsider artist and musician Daniel Johnston. We also focus on his interaction with…

Note: This episode contains quoting of main characters using profanity. In this series, we focus on pop culture portrayals of mental health issues and professional helping, believing that media both reflect and influence popular perception. In this episode, we focus on the mental health issues of Susannah Kaysen and other psychiatric patients in th…

In this series, we focus on pop culture portrayals of mental health issues and professional helping, believing that media both reflect and influence popular perception. In this episode, we focus on the real-life character Antwone Fisher and his mental health issues as well as how professional helping is portrayed in this film.…

In this series, we focus on pop culture portrayals of mental health issues and professional helping, believing that media both reflect and influence popular perception. In this episode, we focus on relationships in the film Ordinary People that main character Conrad Jarrett has with his parents, brother, girlfriend, friends, and coach. We pay speci…

In this series, we focus on pop culture portrayals of mental health issues and professional helping, believing that media both reflect and influence popular perception. In this episode, we focus on the film Good Will Hunting, giving most of our attention to the counseling relationship between Will and Sean, his counselor.…

We focus on mental health issues and professional helping as portrayed in popular culture, with the belief that media both reflect and shape public perception of these topics. In this episode, we introduce ourselves and talk about why doing a podcast on this subject interests us.