Discussions
Vocabulary/Terminology
“We don’t talk about mental illness well”-Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (1:05).
When most people talk about mental illness they do not do it in a polite, or proper, way. Words we sometimes use, for example”crazy”,”psycho”, “wacko”, “nuts”, “insane” or “freak”, further reinforce the stigma against those with mental health issues -Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (0:32).
Timing
“It seems there’s nothing like a mass shooting to suddenly spark political interest in mental health” -Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (2:12).
“The aftermath of a mass shooting might actually be the worst time to talk about mental health because, for the record, the vast majority of mental ill people are non-violent and the vast majority of gun violence is committed by non-mentally ill people” -Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (2:42).
“The fact that we tend to only discuss mental health in a ‘mass-shooting context’ is deeply misleading” -Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (2:57)
“If we are going to constantly use mentally ill people as a way to dodge conversations about gun control, the the very least we owe them is a f***ing plan”-Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (11:37).
“Treatment” Locations
“Snake Pits”
Mental Asylums/Institutions, with terrible conditions, that were shut down by President Kennedy in the 60s. Unfortunately, we never followed through with his plan to replace them with therapeutic centers. -Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (5:14).
Nursing Homes
The AP released a statement saying,”…nearly 125,000 young and middle-aged adults with serious mental illness lived in US nursing homes [in 2008]” -as cited in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (5:28).
“Greyhound Therapy”
Discharging mentally ill patients too soon and giving them a one-way bus ticket out of town. -Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (6:09).
Prison
“2,000,000 people with mental illness go to state and local jails every year. …there is now 10 times more people behind bars than in state funded psychiatric treatment” -as cited in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (6:47).
The Reality
“…at least half of the people shot and killed by police each year in this country have mental health problems”- as cited in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (7:46).
“In 2013, an estimated 43.8 million adults…in the United States had any mental illness…” -as cited in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (3:42).
“10.0 million…had serious mental illness…in the past year” – as cited in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (3:46).
Works Cited
Oliver, J. (Writer), & Hosickson, J. (Director). (2015). Mental Health [Television series episode] In T. Carvell (Executive Producer), Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. New York City, NY: HBO.
SW 250 at Binghamton University 