Movie Analysis : Mega Marketing Of Depression

In Ethan Watters’ essay, “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan,” he has a discussion with Dr. Laurence Kirmayer regarding Kirmayer’s invitation to the International Consensus Group on Depression and Anxiety. In their discussion Kirmayer talks about how the basis of his invitation was on the notion that he as the director of the Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill could add to the answer the large pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline was looking for. The question at hand was how culture influences the illness experience, but more specifically how depression is influenced by culture in Japan. If the conference was a success, the company would be able to enter and expand into a market worth billions of dollars. The reason that the cultural aspect of depression was very important was because in countries like Japan, the American conception of depression was taken as a more serious illness, rivaling heights of diseases like schizophrenia. The company hoped that by somehow changing the Japan’s perception of the illness from being something social or moral to the American conception where expressing the illness to others is considered being strong person rather than being a weak one, that their drug Paxil would be able to sell to the market, which is where the scientific and economic aspects of depression come into effect. The scientific and economic aspects take place due to the intentions of the company to sell the drug, and the drug’s ability to help

Introduction The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman (1997), is a book that details the complicated journey of Lia Lee and her family, who were Hmong refugees living in Merced, California. Lia had a severe form of epilepsy that caused her to have many hospital visits and interactions with the health care system, where she received subpar care because of the language and cultural differences between the health care providers and her Hmong family. This paper will identify one social issue illuminated by Fadiman's (1997) case study and suggest one practice and one policy change at each of the micro, mezzo, and macro system levels. Furthermore, each social issue and corresponding practice and policy change is tied to the central

Culture is known to be able to shape the beliefs of a society through its language. The term “depression” for example, was not commonly used due to the impression that depression was not psychological, but rather more physical. This is because the people of Japan were able to find ways to avoid giving in to the feeling and moving on with their lives. In Ethan Watters’ “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan”, Watters looks into how pharmaceutical companies attempted to change the concept of depression in Japan in order to create a market to sell their antidepressant drugs. He discusses how the Japanese culture was influenced by the companies that were selling the drugs by imposing western beliefs on Japan, which would result in the

Depression: Out of the Shadows (2008), is a PBS documentary addressing depression, its effects on the human psyche, and treatment options. Depression affects people differently, depending on the severity and type of depression experienced. There are several different types of depression, ranging from mild depression, which is only experienced over short periods of time, teen depression, experienced during adolescence, hidden depression, when the depression is hidden from others, postpartum depression, experienced after giving birth, and clinical depression, a continued depression lasting several weeks or more. The video also discusses the related illness called Bipolar disorder, which is characterized by

The media in American society has a major influential impact on the minds and beliefs of millions of people. Whether through the news, television shows, or film, the media acts as a huge database for knowledge and instruction. It is both an auditory and visual database that can press images and ideas into people's minds. Even if the individual has no prior exposure or knowledge to something, the media can project into people's minds and leave a lasting impression. Though obviously people are aware of what they are listening to or watching, thoughts and assumptions can drift into their minds without even realizing it. These thoughts that drift in are extremely influential. The massive impact it

In this rapidly globalizing world, the jobs of the advertisers and marketers are to make sure we, the general public, have no control over our wants and desires. However, it is impossible for them to gain full control, but they do a good job of restricting what freedoms we do have. Big companies want us to believe that we have control by changing cultural norms without us realizing they did. Ethan Watters discusses how marketers plan to redesign Japanese culture for their benefit in his narrative titled “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan.” Watters makes it clear big companies, such as the drug company GlaxoSmithKline, are reshaping Japanese culture to market a pill that supposedly cures depression. Society is constantly changing and companies are able to take advantage of that by prompting the route in which society chooses to take. Large companies practice this style of marketing everywhere in the world and they are successful in influencing us, the general public. Big companies are considered big because consumers continuously buy their products, a lot of which are unnecessary. Their success brings light to the fact that we may believe that we have control, but it is just an illusion.

Expressions of Mental Illness in Disney Films According to researchers Andrea Lawson and Gregory Fouts, who completed original research on mental illness in Disney films, most [animated] films contain verbal references to mental illness, with an average of 4.6 references per film. Andrea Lawson and Gregory Fouts coded over thirty animated feature films produced by The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) for mental illness allusions, for the purpose of “examining the prevalence of verbalizations about mental illness in the animated feature films and [to] discuss the results within the context of children’s repeated exposure to popular animated movies and their learning of labels and stereotypes associated with mental illness”. Their research concluded

You may know James (Jim) Carrey from his comedic roles in many movies such as “Dumb and Dumber,” or “The Mask,” but many people do not know that he suffers from depression. Depression is not just feeling sad, it is when a person feels like they are worthless, and their situation cannot be fixed. Many people might feel this for a little while, but when it lasts for weeks and keeps you from being your normal self, it can be a mental illness. Jim Carrey’s depression actually helped him out in some ways, because it led him to becoming the actor, comedian, and film writer/producer that he is today. However, the illness has been and continues to be a major drawback in his life.

Attitudes of psychotherapy differ from culture to culture. There are over 60,000 psychologists in Argentina (Stevens, Gielen, 2007). Therapy is widely accepted among the people in Argentina especially in amongst the middle class. Many feel this is due to the violent past of unrest in the country and search for identity (Tango and Analysis, 2008). On the other hand in Japan the Japanese people in general are not familiar or relate to the concepts of psychotherapy (Nippoda, 2002). The image of counseling in Japan is advice or answers to given to a particular problem and mental illness is treated by more of a medical model (Nippoda, 2002). The attitudes are quite different yet the goals of psychotherapy are similar. In Argentina the goals of psychotherapy seem to be a quest for identity and a sense of self. For the Japanese the result of psychotherapy is the sense of independence, discovering equality in relationships and finding authority within themselves (Nippoda, 2002). A sense of self seems to be the theme for both cultures yet those from Argentina may continue the process longer since finding meaning of life is a part of the culture.

Mental health illnesses affect everyone. It is highly prevalent affecting people of all ages, gender, cultures, and social groups. Attitudes towards mental health illnesses vary among individuals and often are highly influenced by the various cultures that the individuals identify with. Culture as a social concept can be defined as a set of norms, values, behaviours, and beliefs that are common and shared amongst a group of individuals (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999). Culture can be applicable to groups like Asians and Americans but also to groups of shared norms, beliefs, and values established within professions such as the culture of patients and practitioners. Culture provides these groups with structure and context to understanding their society and the world as a whole. Culture influence a wide range of aspects of mental health, including how mental health is perceived by the patient, how the patient will experience mental health stigma, and how they cope with symptoms of mental health illness. Additionally, these cultural influences impact the relationship between the patient and the practitioner in a number of ways.

The media in American society has a major influential impact on the minds and beliefs of millions of people. Whether through the news, television shows, or film, the media acts as a huge database for knowledge and instruction. It is both an auditory and visual database that can press images and ideas into people's minds. Even if the individual has no prior exposure or knowledge to something, the media can project into people's minds and leave a lasting impression. Though obviously people are aware of what they are listening to or watching, thoughts and assumptions can drift into their minds without even realizing it. These thoughts that drift in are extremely influential. The massive impact

“The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” -Malcolm X. It can be said without a doubt that media plays a massive role in how society views certain things. A negative media portrayal ultimately leads to negativity and stigma towards whichever group. One of the groups that is severely impacted by these dismissive representations is mental illness. The portrayal of mental illness in mass media as violent, amusing, or downright “nuts”, is inaccurate and vilifying, but can be resolved by the inclusion of mental health specialist in program planning.

According to Katon (2011), depression has led to many deaths in the united states of America and other parts of the world

The Asian and American cultures’ take on health care can be compared and contrasted based on four main topics: the cause of the disease, methods of treatment, patient compliance, and dietary beliefs. Starting with the cause of the disease, many Asians believe that ailments are caused by unexplained supernatural

Mental health has been a topic of discussion and has held a stigma around it for numerous years. Society at times has viewed it in a closed minded view due to generational aspects and lack of understanding. With the lack of education on mental health, the society, cultures, and communities often times more than not stereotype and discriminate against those with mental health disabilities. The population, of which I have discussed previously, is a population with one of the most negative attitudes against them. Media and society views these individuals as psychopaths, sociopaths, and being insane with some people even go as far as indicating these individuals should not be living. With Antisocial Personality Disorder, media has portrayed these