Flipped: The Lives of Those with Mental Disorders

Author

Teresa K. Hoskins, University of MontanaFollow

Graduation Year

2019

Graduation Month

May

Document Type

Thesis

School or Department

Psychology

Faculty Mentor

Bryan Cochran

Subject Categories

Psychology

Abstract

This collection of four short stories focus on how society perceives those with mental disorders, the stigma associated with those disorders, and how both of these affect the people who have mental disorders. The stories are designed to give a general audience insight into the lives of those with various mental disorders. In everyday settings, these stories revolve around ordinary actions of the characters, with and without mental disorders. Each story will contain two parts, the first part is a record of the incident from the perspective of a person without a mental health diagnosis and who is unrelated to the person with the diagnosis. The second part is a retelling of the same scene from the perspective of the character with the mental health disorder.

These stories revolve around the four main characters with mental disorders. The process started with the creation of the main characters, ensuring the characters are characters who have a mental disorder, not characters designed around a mental disorder. After the main characters were developed, the events, setting, and secondary character for each scene were designed to best showcase the difficulties those with mental disorders face and highlight the differences in mental functioning.

Concepts and materials from the abnormal psychology, along with the DSM-V was the starting point for the symptoms and presentations of various disorders. Multiple case studies and some anecdotal stories from those with the disorders portrayed was used to craft the stories and ensure realism.

Many people do not understand what those with mental illness go through, and more importantly, they don’t understand that they are really just people in the end. The main goals of these stories is to give the general public insight into this, in an easy and relatable manner.

Honors College Research Project

1

GLI Capstone Project

no

Recommended Citation

Hoskins, Teresa K., "Flipped: The Lives of Those with Mental Disorders" (2019). Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts. 227.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/utpp/227