Mental Health and Mental Illness Through Literature and the Arts

Harvard FAS

Mental health experts believe that globally, more than 1 billion people have a mental illness. And yet the biases and misperceptions surrounding mental illness, not to mention the dehumanization, isolation, and abuse in many communities of individuals with a mental illness, remains acute. This course uses literature and the arts to help students learn more about some of the prevalent biases/misperceptions/myths/stigmas against individuals with mental illness and how these biases…