General Education Capstone Course Event/Experience Details and Guideline Form

Gen. Ed. Category Event should be listed under: Social Science

SCC Competency addressed by event: Develop and communicate hypothetical explanations, predictions, and descriptions of human behavior within an historical, spatial, and/or social context.

Event experience Title: Mental Illness According to Hollywood

Anticipated Learning Outcome.

We can learn a great deal from “Hollywood”.  Some of what we learn may or may not even be true.  The purpose of this event is to increase awareness of some of the issues of mental illness and to assess the accuracy with which mental illness is depicted in movies.

Learning outcomes:

The purpose of this event is to:

A). Introduce the student to the major reference book used in mental health, The DSM (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association in its most current edition)

B). Provide the student with detailed information on the symptoms of a specific mental illness and it possible causes and demography when known

C). Have the student evaluate a media interpretation of the illness for accuracy

Guidelines for accomplishment of event

A). The student will select a popular movie to view in which an individual with a specific mental illness is featured, (ex.  Rainman, Beautiful Mind, Girl Interrupted, Summer of Sam, I am Sam, What about Bob, Something’s Got to Give etc) and write a brief summary of the life of the person depicted in the movie.

B) The student will access the DSM and photocopy or download the “Diagnostic Criteria” for the mental illness depicted in the movie, as well as info from the DSM on the prevalence and other data on occurrences of the illness. This should be included with the journal. The DSM is a reference book available in most college or public libraries or by going to: www.counsellingresources.com/distress

C. Using the Diagnostic Criteria, the student will compare the diagnostic criteria to the symptoms displayed by the character from the movie.  The DSM often says “Must have experienced “X” number of the following symptoms in a six month period of time”.  Then the student could list the symptoms and the timetable of the occurrence of the symptoms.  This is best done by embedding the information from the DSM in the actual journal.

D). The student will then determine if the diagnostic criteria have been met and suggest if a subtype of the illness is present in the movie character.  For instance, if the subject is supposed to be schizophrenic, are they a paranoid schizophrenic or another subtype?

E). The student will conclude with a paragraph that summarizes the facts they have learned about the mental illness and compare it to the “Hollywood” view of the illness.

Provide at least one the following: 

Event Contact Name: any video store or major movie channel

SCC Event Creator: Barbara Sullivan and Beth Finders

Estimated Time for full completion (include: making contact/appointment; attending activity; travel; and journal consideration and entry) 4 hours (includes 2 hours for watching the movie)