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.

Introductory Episode: Mental Illness in Pop Culture

In this podcast, we analyze popular films and other media that feature themes related to mental health issues and professional helping.

TV & Film

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 have been affected: Leanne as executive director of a homeless shelter, and Joe & Scott as educators. We also reflect on pandemic pop culture.  We finish with the full version of our theme song, bringing together "Mental Illness in Pop Culture" with Scott's lifetime of embracing being "weird."

Next week: We analyze mental health issues and professional helpers in Donnie Darko.

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Mental Health and Pop Culture in the Pandemic: Mental Illness in Pop Culture S4 E1

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 individual backstories as well as relate their show to its inherent therapeutic factors and the core conditions of person-centered counseling. We also wax nostalgic about Waukegan East High School (Go Bulldogs!) and share personal examples of the importance of diversity in education.
Ain’t Saints Radio is available at http://aintsaintsradio.com/, iTunes, or your app of choice!

Ain't Saints Radio: Mental Illness in Pop Culture

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 Body Dementia.

In this podcast series, we focus on pop culture portrayals of mental health issues and professional helping, believing that public perception is both reflected and influenced by popular media

Robin Williams' Come Inside My Mind: Mental Illness in Pop Culture

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 Flynn to discuss this father-son road-trip film. We frame our discussion with the Bruce Springsteen album Nebraska as we reflect on the film’s stark, black & white, and often plainspoken themes, concluding that “Reason to Believe” could just as well have been used as a subtitle.

In this podcast series, we focus on pop culture portrayals of mental health issues and professional helping, believing that public perception is both reflected and influenced by popular media.

Nebraska: Mental Illness in Pop Culture

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 tries to make a case that Pet Sounds IS  “God Only Knows,” arguably the greatest pop song of all time, plus a bunch of other “really interesting” songs (in the same vein as “A Day in the Life” hypothetically would be to Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) but gets overruled by Leanne, Joe, and Mark, who make a convincing point about those two records marking a drastic turn for albums needing to be heard as a complete unit as well as how personal and vulnerable all of Pet Sounds' songs are, combined with gorgeous harmonies and precise orchestration.

In this podcast series, we focus on pop culture portrayals of mental health issues and professional helping, believing that public perception is both reflected and influenced by popular media.

Next episode: Nebraska, with guest podcaster Ethan Conner!

Introductory Episode: Mental Illness in Pop Culture

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