More handpicked essays just for you.
False portrayal of mental illnesses in media
False portrayal of mental illnesses in media
False portrayal of mental illnesses in media
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
“Orange is the New Black” is a series on Netflix that portraits the stories and life of female prison inmates in Litchfield Penitentiary, which have different cultural background, criminal history and problems within the prison. Many of the inmates clearly demonstrate a psychological disorder, or multiple, which make their time assigned incarcerated peculiarly different, or might be the reason why they had been taken to prison due to crimes they had little control of.
One of the most interesting characters in “Orange is the New Black” is Lolly Whitehill. Lolly is an inmate that comes from another correctional facility, which by her description of it, we can assume that she was part of the psychiatric ward as she refers of the new place as
…show more content…
amazing with lack of noise and clean walls. As the audience progressively gets more information about Lolly, persecutory, and occasionally grandeur, delusions and auditory hallucinations are shown through out her life. In addition, there are circumstances where Lolly shows inappropriate affect, de-realization, anxiety, memory lost, and lack of insight with her problems; as a result, Lolly is an illustration of a person with schizophrenia in the series. When Lolly was younger and free, she was a journalist who did not use computers, just wrote by hand because of her persecution delusion that the government wanted to cause her harm and technology was a way to find and monitor her. Lolly speculated in her professional stories about companies illegally dumping chemicals because the United State government wanted to poison the population, which caused her stories to be cancel. After running away, from a group home with other mentally-unwell people that her friend took her, and becoming homeless, she perceived the post office messengers as infiltrators and used to avoid them on the streets and keep the believe that people where being poisoned by the government in food like green spaghetti. After arriving to the Litchfield Penitentiary Lolly shows some signs of grandeur delusion; for example, Lolly believes that the Jewish and her are doing a great job at controlling the media and believes that she has to stop the National Security Agency (NSA). Lolly felt persecuted by the NSA that the prison is bugged and they are trying to frame her for treason and terrorism; therefore, after assuming that another inmate, Alex, was an infiltrator for the NAS, Lolly took notes on every move Alex made and had an agenda to make a move to kill Alex and was not able to trust Alex until Alex confirmed, lied, her that she was a double agent that works for the CIA against the NSA. Another example of Lolly’s believe that the NSA was persecuting her was her believe that the calls were monitored, she pointed that the government knew about phone sex talk and when a person pick their nose on the webcam. In addition, Lolly believes that the motion detectors in the penitentiary are cameras and that in Las Vegas there are drone programmers that kill people from the drones, after the real apparition of a drone in the prison yard, and she has information about the U.S. government and the drone is there to kill her. As a result of the new trigger created by the drone, Lolly began to experience anxiety regarding her life and began to build a time machine of cardboard and aluminum in order to travel back in time and stop Jimmy Carter from creating FEMA. Auditory hallucinations presented in a lot of occasions of Lolly’s life; for instance, when she was younger as a journalist she heard voices of her editor telling her to do her job. Additionally, she used to hear voices telling her that there was hair in the water when she used to sell coffee as a homeless, but she had an stick with jingle bells that helped her not hear the voices. Nonetheless, when she was arrested her voices were telling her that the cops were trying to harm her and in her attend to use the stick with the jiggle bells her intensions where confused and was taken into custody. Lolly believes that the voices are trying to cause her harm by framing her, and that the voices do not agree and make her believe that other people also want to cause her harm. For example, Lolly had an episode, after being trigger, where she was being told that the other inmates did not want her in the prison. On top of the delusions, hallucinations, and anxiety, Lolly presented other symptoms of schizophrenia; for instance, there where times when Lolly presented inappropriate affect, such as when she killed a guard who was trying to kill Alex and acted like nothing had happen; in addition, Lolly complained about breaking a window and not the pain, which she was experiencing but denied, she suffered after falling and breaking the window of a greenhouse in the prison yard.
However, the murder of the guard also brought the symptoms of de-realization on Lolly, there was a point where Lolly perceived the assassination of the guard as one of her delusions and did not perceived it as real even though that time it was real. Nevertheless, when she found out that she killed the guard her delusions became worst and she wanted to use the time machine to go back in time and not kill the guard because now the government knew. Moreover, Lolly had memory problems, before arriving to Litchfield Penitentiary she met the main character, Piper, on a plane that was transporting other prisoners and spent time together on Metropolitan Detention Center in Chicago, but when Piper recognized her in Litchfield Lolly did not remembered her until later. Finally, at times Lolly has a lack of insight into her schizophrenia where she knows that her auditory hallucinations are not real, but have valid points like going back on time or that she does not need evidence that people is trying to hurt her because her life is her
evidence. The reality of Lolly is that she was one of the few inmates who did not deserved to be in prison. Lolly was hostile with everyone and offered helped whenever necessary; for instance, Lolly helped another inmate, which she did not know, overcome her fear during the flight by allowing her to sleep on her shoulders. In addition, when she spent time with Piper in the temporary prison in Chicago, she was assaulted and Piper did not help her, nonetheless, Lolly understood and did not hold a grudge. The reality is that Lolly is a victim of a society who doesn’t understand her schizophrenia and is being penalized for a disorder she has no control of.
After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests. Working in a reception facility, this is a facility where inmates are brought in from the county jails to the state intake facility, we deal with a lot of requests and questions. At times, with the phone ringing off the hook from family members and inmates with their prison request forms, you get a little cynical and tired of answering the same questions over and over. As I read the book I begin to understand some of the reason for the questions. Inmate(s) now realize that the officers and administrative personnel are in control of their lives. They dictate with to get up in the morning, take showers, eat meals, go to classes, the need see people for different reason, when to exercise and when to go to bed. The lost of control over their lives is a new experience for some and they would like to be able to adjust to this new lost of freedom. Upon understanding this and in reading the book, I am not as cynical as I have been and try to be more patient in answering questions. So in a way I have changed some of my thinking and understanding more of prison life.
The next big show that everyone seems to be talking about nowadays is “Orange is the new black.” A show that is centered on what citizens think a day in the life in a women’s prison is. But in all reality a women’s prison isn’t something to joke around about. Prison is defined as a correctional facility designed for confinement that is primarily ran by the state. Women serve their sentences in women’s prisons where men serve theirs in men’s prisons. According to Ashley Dugger an online introduction to criminal justice professor there is about 4,500 prisons in the United States alone. Of those 4,500 only 170 of them are solely women’s prisons.
All in all, Kerman’s year sentence in jail opened her eyes to some of the many problems within the federal prison system. She witnessed favoritism, abuse, health violations, etc. that helped her realize that she never wanted to go back to prison, despite all the true friendships she made. Through her use of rhetoric, mainly ethos, Kerman showed her audience a firsthand account of what an actual prison sentence is like. She also explored the idea of how one bad decision can change a person’s life forever.
Although prisons have the primary objective of rehabilitation, prisoners will likely go through many other troubling emotions before reaching a point of reformation. Being ostracized from society, it is not uncommon to experience despair, depression, and hopelessness. Be that as it may, through reading various prison writings, it can be seen that inmates can find hope in the smallest things. As represented in “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminally Insane”, the author, Etheridge Knight, as well as other black inmates look up to Hard Rock, an inmate who is all but dutiful in a world where white people are placed at the top of the totem pole. However, after Hard Rock goes through a lobotomy-esque procedure, the motif
Orange is the New Black (OITNB) is a Netflix series that is loosely based on Piper Chapman, a self proclaimed WASP, who was imprisoned in Litchfield Penitentiary, a women’s jail, for drug smuggling. For the majority of the show, it gives insight on the social, personal, and past lives of inmates, as well as the interactions between the inmates, correctional officers (COs). In season four, episode nine, there is one main running theme, power imbalances. The core scene that depicts power imbalance and corruption is when a CO demands an inmate, Blanca Flores, to shower, but she refuses. He then forces her to stand on the dining tables for multiple days as a punishment. During this time, she urinates and defecates herself, causing her to smell even more. Eventually, other inmates realizes that this is wrong, they practice civil disobedience by joining her on the tables. Eventually, this turns into a dangerous riot
The Shinning, a horror movie that was released in 1980, featured Jack Nicholson, as a writer who is left in charge of the Overlook hotel during the winter. During this time Jack began to developed schizophrenia among many other personality and mood disorders and attempts to murder his own family. After reviewing this film it became apparent that there was a mixture of accuracy and exaggeration of the development of schizophrenia. Jack had this disorder, but also had symptoms of other personality and mood disorders. For the sake of Hollywood the film did take schizophrenia to entirely new levels. Some of this hype was generated around Jack becoming a full fledge killer. The delusions that he suffered from were undeniably crazed and did have a central theme; however, they were induced by other substances. The themes that ran strong throughout this movie were persuasion. Jack was constantly told by his delusions that he needed to take control and steer his family in his own direction. When his family urged him to leave this hotel, it only generated more hostility and anxiety, which pushed the decline of his mental health.
In the movie, Silver Linings Playbook, it all started with a man named Pat Solitano who had a mental disorder. He was recently released from a psychiatric hospital and now resides with his parents. He had lost his wife and his job and life just was not happening in his favor. His aim was to win back his wife, which happened to be quite difficult in his case. That is until he met this widowed woman named Tiffany Maxwell, who promised to help him reach out to his wife if he returned a favor and danced with her in a competition. Pat wrote letters to his wife and in turn Tiffany delivered them. We later find out that Tiffany was the one all along writing back to Pat and that she had fallen in love with him. Directly following the dance competition,
The authors begin the book by providing advice on how a convict can prepare for release from prison. Throughout the book, the authors utilize two fictional characters, Joe and Jill Convict, as examples of prisoners reentering society. These fictional characters are representative of America’s prisoners. Prison is an artificial world with a very different social system than the real world beyond bars. Convicts follow the same daily schedule and are shaped by the different society that is prison. Prisoners therefore forget many of the obl...
Prisons exist in this country as a means to administer retributive justice for those that break the laws in our society or to state it simply prisons punish criminals that are to receive a sentence of incarceration for more than one year. There are two main sub-cultures within the walls of prison the sub-culture of the Department of Corrections (which consists of the corrections officer, administrators, and all of the staff that work at the prison and go home at the end of their day) and the actual prisoners themselves. As you can imagine these two sub-cultures are dualistic in nature and this makes for a very stressful environment for both sides of the fence. While in prison, the inmates experience the same conditions as described in the previous
According to statistics since the early 1970’s there has been a 500% increase in the number of people being incarcerated with an average total of 2.2 million people behind bars. The increase in rate of people being incarcerated has also brought about an increasingly disproportionate racial composition. The jails and prisons have a high rate of African Americans incarcerated with an average of 900,000 out of the 2.2 million incarcerateed being African American. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics 1 in 6 African American males has been incarcerated at some point in time as of the year 2001. In theory if this trend continues it is estimated that about 1 in 3 black males being born can be expected to spend time in prison and some point in his life. One in nine African American males between the ages of 25 and 29 are currently incarcerated. Although the rate of imprisonment for women is considerably lower than males African American women are incarc...
Thousands of people statewide are in prisons, all for different reasons. However, the amount of mental illness within prisons seems to go unaddressed and ignored throughout the country. This is a serious problem, and the therapy/rehabilitation that prison systems have do not always help those who are mentally ill. Prison involvement itself can contribute to increased suicide (Hills, Holly). One ‘therapy’ that has increased throughout the years has been the use of solitary confinement, which has many negative effects on the inmates.
The severe mood fluctuations of bipolar or manic-depressive disorders have been around since the 16-century and affect little more than 2% of the population in both sexes, all races, and all parts of the world (Harmon 3). Researchers think that the cause is genetic, but it is still unknown. The one fact of which we are painfully aware of is that bipolar disorder severely undermines its victims ability to obtain and maintain social and occupational success. Because the symptoms of bipolar disorder are so debilitation, it is crucial that we search for possible treatments and cures.
I wanted to look more into mental illness within prison walls because this affects me personally. I have a family member who suffers from bipolar disorder and similar to from what I have read in these articles, she has had numerous run ins with the police due to her illness. None of these encounters have resulted in her being arrested and sentenced, but numerous of these run ins have lead to the cops bringing her or suggesting to the family to bring her into the psychiatric centers. Now taking this course I have realized how lucky she is for not being arrested. As we have talked about in class women and hispanics are the the fastest growing population in prisons and she is both as well as having a mental disorder.
Per the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), there are currently more than 200,000 women behind bars in this country and the number increases to over one million when probation and parole are factored in. Their stories rarely make headlines or garner sympathy. “Orange is the New Black” is very creative with the storylines of the women prisoners within fictitious Litchfield Penitentiary from Pennsatucky murdering a nurse for commenting on her seven abortions to Miss Claudette trafficking children to clean houses. Although it doesn’t make for an exciting backstory, six in 10 women in federal prison are there for non-violent drug crimes. For every woman that has committed murder there are 99 drug offenders. Almost none of the 99 are international drug smugglers like Piper Chapman or her ex-girlfriend, Alex Vause; most of the women incarcerated for crack cocaine or methamphetamine were caught with less than 100 grams, the weight of an average bar of soap. Many sold small amounts of drugs to support their own addiction or, like the character Taystee, worked as a low-level assistant in a relative or friend’s operation. Despite these minimal roles, female drug offenders, typically, serve an average of seven years and usually end up serving more than the hard-core drug
Chesney (2004) compared the difference between the network and the creatives that work for them saying that, “often artists have social, political and creative impulses they value in addition to money” (pg. 193). The shows creator, Jenji Kohan has said to have used the show to illustrate Americans that have retained their non-American heritage and how these varying racial, gender and sexual identities relate in the unescapable prison context (McDonald, 2015, pg.1). OITNB has been praised for its representation of marginalized groups, and proven to be effective as a media text because of its diverse representation and complex minority characters (McDonald, 2015, pg. 1). Hegemony is demonstrated in a concentrated scale throughout white power in the prison (McDonald, 2015, pg. 15). The male, white security guards have the highest control and the white women in prison are depicted to be too good to be there. Erica “Yoga” Jones and Sister Ingalls whom Piper befriends based on race appear to be too holy and spiritual to belong at Litchfield. “Red” the kitchen manager gives out favours of yogurt to the other white women at the table including Piper, purely because she is white. This clearly shows the hegemonic undertones integrated into a show praised for multicultural