Streaming Mental Health and Illness

As awareness of mental health increases, so does its predominance in popular culture, making for an interesting investigation into the representation of these concerns on our most ubiquitous streaming service: Netflix. These essays explore how the service’s content jumps into those conversations, creating helpful - or harmful - messaging.

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From mindfulness in schools to meditation apps, mental health is bursting out of the psychiatrist's chair and into our everyday conversations. As awareness of mental health increases, so does its predominance in popular culture, which makes for a particularly interesting investigation into the representation of these concerns on our most ubiquitous streaming service: Netflix.

These eight essays explore how the service's original content jumps into those conversations, creating helpful--or harmful--messaging about the inner workings of our minds. From toxic masculinity to PTSD, adolescence to motherhood, mental health touches our lives in myriad ways. This interdisciplinary collection explores these intersections, examining how representations of mental health on our screens shape our understanding of it in our lives.