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It’s time to stop laughing at mental illness

December 25, 2019

By Alexa Christ


Content Warning: Non-graphic mentions of mental illness


The release of YouTuber Shane Dawson’s docuseries about the life of Jake Paul has become very controversial because of the way people with antisocial personality disorder, commonly referred to as sociopaths, are portrayed. While some Twitter users embraced Dawson’s attempts to raise awareness, others objected to his flawed and hurtful representations of the disorder.


Mental illness has long been a source of entertainment in our society, prevalent in horror movies, television shows, and sensationalist media coverage of violent criminals. But can the label of “entertainment” justify outdated and inaccurate portrayals of mental illness?


To me, the series immediately set off alarms. Dawson’s portrayal of antisocial personality disorder is dehumanizing: He mixes eerie music and highly edited video clips with serious interviews to make people with the disorder appear like evil masterminds. After Dawson mentioned the statistic that one out of every 25 people is a sociopath, I sat in my classes the next day thinking: okay, which one of us is it? I completely fell for this dramaticized portrayal of a mental illness. The dangerous part is that I wasn’t the only one.


The docuseries promoted negative misunderstandings of the disorder. Dawson’s intent was to help raise awareness, which should be commended, but it was done incorrectly; ultimately, the docuseries brought fear. I was disappointed to say the least, but not surprised.


Accurate understandings of mental illness both in media and in the classroom are novel and rare. Although it may always be a fragile topic, we should work towards normalizing the discussion of mental illness not only nationally but also in our own Lexington community. If we take the lead in welcoming this discussion, hopefully others will follow.

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