Building Understanding of Schizophrenia

Abstract

In the previous issue of this journal I detailed a programme for building mental health ethics literacy with a regular column dedicated to critical discussions of mental health ethics issues in film. The first section of this commentary provides background on the problems of stigma attached to schizophrenia and how film can be used to fight stigma by providing a point of para-personal contact between the general public and narrative accounts of persons living with schizophrenia. The next section provides a critical review of The Soloist, a recent feature film that tells the true story (based on a book of the same title (Lopez, 2008)) of how journalist Steve Lopez befriended and wrote a series of columns in the Los Angeles Times about Nathaniel Ayers, a talented musician living with schizophrenia on the streets of Skid Row. The last section explains some of the prevalent socio-economic disadvantages faced by persons living with schizophrenia and concludes with the hope that this movie will be taken up critically to build a greater sense of social responsibility for those in our society living with schizophrenia.