Problem
The purpose of this problem is for you to extend your knowledge in the course to the real-world to understand how media portrayals of mental illness may differ from the actual psychological disorders you are learning in this course. The main objective of this assignment is that you demonstrate understanding of the psychological disorders in this course by being able to accurately identify the discrepancies between actual disorders and media portrayals. There is often a large difference between the actual progression of mental disorders and how they are portrayed in the media.
For this problem, I would like you to investigate the difference between the textbook versions of disorders and the media-popular versions of these disorders. Each of you should collect 2 examples of reports of real life behavior from newspapers, magazines, books, television and radio news stations that appear to be caused by psychological disorders.
You are not looking for fictional characters in literature, tv shows, or movies, but rather TWO real persons who are being reported on by the news.
For each example:
• Note the symptoms identified.
• Check whether an official diagnosis is reported in the media piece.
• Discuss what impression of abnormal behavior is created by the report.
• Discuss whether that impression is consistent with the description of the disorder presented in the textbook.