Media Environments and Mental Disorder: The Psychology of Information Immersion

by William Indick

Overview

The information environments that modern society requires us to master and engage in are based in literacy and digital communication. Mediated information not only passes through our brains, it alters and rewires them. Since our environment, to a large extent, is shaped by the way we perceive, understand, and communicate information, we can even think of mental disorders as symptoms of maladaptation to our media environments.

This book uses this "media ecology" model to explore the effects of media on mental disorders. It traces the development of media from the most basic forms--the sights and sounds expressed by the human body--to the most technologically complex media created to date, showing how each medium of communication relates to specific mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and autism. As the digital age proceeds to envelop us in an environment of infinite and instantly accessible information, it's crucial to our own mental health to understand how the various forms of media influence and shape our minds and behaviors.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476642512
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	05/13/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	300
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

William Indick is an associate professor of psychology at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. He is the author of several books on media psychology, and has written for numerous psychology journals.
William Indick is an associate professor of psychology at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. He is the author of several books on media psychology, and has written for numerous psychology journals.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface: Victims of Sight, Victims of Sound
Introduction: The Hall of Mirrors
Every Medium Is a Mirror
One. A Media Ecology Model of Mental Illness
The Demonology Model
Somatogenesis
Psycho­genesis
Psycho­analysis
The Medical Model
The Mechanical Model
The Clinical Model
The Neuro­chemical Model
The Spectrum Model
Neuro­logical Diversity
The Vulnerability/Stress Model
The Media Ecology Model
Two. Language, Literacy and the Leftward Shift
Language and Lateralization
Oral Language and Linearity
Literacy and Linearity
Cognitive Distance
Print
Electronic Media and Digital Media
The Forest of Mirrors
Cerebral Dominance and the Sickle Cell
The Hemispheric Dominance Model of Mental Disorder
Three. Autism and the Inhibited Mind
Autism as the Endpoint of the Leftward Shift
The Displacement Effect
Autism: Epidemic or Epiphenomenon?
Genetic Causation of Autism
Intellectualism and Autism
Weak Central Coherence
Intense World Syndrome
Theory of Mind
Language Deficits
“Autistic Intelligence”
“Homo Aspergerus” and “Geek Chic”
Digital Reflections of the Autistic Self
Four. Schizophrenia, Dual Consciousness and the Split Mind
Schizophrenia as an Aspect of Human Nature
Schizophrenia as a Byproduct of Language
Spectra within Spectra
Schizophrenic Thinking and Pollyannaism
Madness, Genius and Eccentricity
Literacy and Thought Disorder
Literacy and Duality
The Haunted Unconscious
Hyper­conscious ­Self-​Reflection and Alienation
Westernization
Fragmentation, Intellectualization and Alienation
Fragmentation, Electronification and Digitization
The Digital Stranger
Five. Anxious Depression: The Consequences of Consciousness
The Pendulum Metaphor
How Melancholia Became Anxiety and Depression
Adaptive and Maladaptive Anxiety
Anxiety to the Left of Me, Depression to the Right
Ineffective Therapies: The Emperor’s New and Old Clothes
The Optimist and the Pessimist Within
The Brain’s “Default Mode Network”
The Tyranny of the Anxious
Six. Disordered Learning and Neuro­logical Intolerance
ADHD
Decontextualized Learning
The Classroom: A Toxic Media Environment
Literacy and Education: A Brief and Brutal History
Specialism versus Generalism
Age Segregation and Specialism vs. Age Integration
and Generalism
Manufacturing Anxiety in Schools
Dyslexia
Dyscalculia
The Gift of Dyslexia?
Literacy in the Digital Age
The Future of Literacy
The Musical Literacy Metaphor
The Teacher as Artist
The Classroom of the Future
Seven. Social Media: Narcissus Lost in the Hall of Mirrors
The Self as Object
Kohut’s Mirror Model of Narcissism
“The Age of Narcissism”
The Soul Photograph
The Old Gods and the New
Celebrity Worship and the Social Media Mirror
Ouroboros and Erysichton
Wounded Narcissism and the ­Many-​Faced God in the Magic Mirror
Locked in to the Double Bind
“The Global Village”
Conclusion: Media Mindfulness
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index