The “topic” for this week that unites these books is complex and one that often surprises students when we are reading and talking about books with adolescents. In this week’s blog post, please read and respond to these texts (and this category of literature) as a teacher.
“Using Literature to Confront the Stigma of Mental Illness, Teach Empathy, and Break Stereotypes” (LAJM, Fall 2014 19).
In considering how to broach the subject of mental health with adolescents I think that this quote sums it up; its funny that this is the first thing written in the article. The three major components of learning are present in this quote stigma, empathy, and stereotypes. It is these three words that we weave our way through as teachers to show our students (some of whom may be facing any of these challenges either themselves or someone they know) how not to fear what they cannot see. I think that is where much of the stigma of mental health comes from. With a physical illness we can see under comprehend that something is wrong (for the most part) But we can’t always see what is going on inside the mind of another person. So, people are ridiculed for something that some say they should be able to control; and is’t simply not that easy.
The book that I choose to read this week does so well at letting the reader inside the mind of a 12 year old (Matthew) who deals with severe OCD. Matthew’s friends or, his parents for that matter, don’t understand why he won’t go outside. When for him it is almost as if he his dealing with sensory overload and cant deal with it. Matthew has an obsession with germs and being clean not just himself but the spaces he occupies; to the point that he cleans until his hands crack and bleed form using to much cleaner. To simply look at Matthew (and others like him) you may not be able to tell what his struggles are. There is no simple “cure” to anything related to mental illness.
It is one of the reasons that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It showed a kid trying to deal with what he was going through as best he could. It allows students who may be walking though something similar and don’t understand what is going ton to realize that they are not alone. More importantly it allows the subject of mental illness be brought up in a classroom and discussed. So that students can be educated on what mental illness it, and by doing that we can get rid of two of the words above, stigma and stereotypes. Form there that is where we teach empathy. To show that even though we may not understand what someone with a mental illness is walking though, they are not walking alone.