Abstract
This chapter will attempt to expose and discuss various false depictions of mental illness, while explaining how this can have devastating consequences for forensic psychologists who work in our justice system because they create erroneous public opinion. The media can be a very powerful tool but when inaccurate knowledge about mental illness is portrayed, people become less able to decipher truth from entertainment.
This chapter is based, in part, on a symposium presented at the American Psychological Association 2006 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA.
Chapter prepared for Gregerson, Mary (Ed.). “The Cinematic Mirror for Psychology and Life Coaching.”
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Notes
- 1.
This chapter is based, in part, on research undertaken by graduate students in the clinical forensic doctoral psychology program at the Center for Psychological Studies at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and presented at the American Psychological Association’s Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., August 2005. Copies may be requested from Dr. Lenore Walker, walkerle@nova.edu.
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Walker, L. et al. (2010). The Myth of Mental Illness in the Movies and Its Impact on Forensic Psychology. In: Gregerson, M. (eds) The Cinematic Mirror for Psychology and Life Coaching. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1114-8_9
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