Illness as an Asset not a Disease

ILLNESS AS AN ASSET

NOT A DISEASE

In the media today if a male character has some sort of mental illness it is usually used as a sort of asset rather than the true life debilitating disease that these illnesses are- causing more misconceptions and stigmas than ever in real life. 

Men with mental illnesses have been lacking in the media unless their mental illness gives them some sort of an advantage. In dramatic shows like Perception or Dexter or Monk the main character- a man- has some mental illness but it is used as a character asset rather than a flaw. 

In Monk, his OCD- a debilitating disease ruining the lives of millions of people makes him a rather "super detective" because he notices every little detail- I am not saying that this can't be the case but the show takes a serious mental illness and places it in a tidy little box of look how amazing and it is -he is a wonder.The fact that the character has this disease is touched on and the main source of conflict but it isn't treated or managed and there isn't any sort of stigma removal to be found. 

In Perception, another television drama, the main character, Danial is a professor who also has Schizophrenia- in this drama his hallucinations  he refuses to take medications or treatments- often assist his possessing of the crime scenes he works with the FBI. Again, this media image gives a terrible view of a mental illness- while truthfully I love the show and am an avid watcher myself, I find that looking at in context his disease is being used again as a sort of "added power" and not as a debilitating illness at all- though I will give there are some episodes that touch on his inward struggle with his decision to not medicate and a large part of the show's dynamic comes from his lack of social skill-set and mental illness it is still a very flawed and rosy view of a dark and ugly disease.

In Dexter, the main character is a sociopath who kills on a moral code. He has a terrible tragic history leaving him mentally ill and instead of his father getting him counseling  hello??? the man teaches him how to be the perfect killer instead. OKKKKKK...

Now, I love Dexter- it is rife with twists and turns and draws you in and his character development is amazing- BUT he is still an anti-hero with a disease that is used as a prop for a story line.

Some other shows where the main male character has a mental illness are shows like Prison Break where the Micheal plans several elaborate plots and uncovers schemes left and right due to a condition called Low Latent Inhibition- a condition where he processes every aspect of everything he sees- literally breaking apart in his mind everything he sees daily. He then transposed his plan into an amazing work of tattoo art and gets it placed on his body.

What you don't see in the media are the every day men who fight a battle just to get out of bed- who battle OCD and PTSD and a number of other mental illnesses and are the true heroes these men don't fit into tidy character boxes. We are shown characters with one illness that they seem to magically overcome or use to their advantage- and don't get me wrong- many men (and women-myself included) live very full lives with multiple mental illnesses; but they are not the stuff of movie magic they are made out to be in the pictures. 

We are being spoon fed ideas about mental health and the overlying idea it seems is that a man should be able to use it to his advantage or at least get over it.