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Research librarian Lali Nataraj lnataraj@csusm.edu. (Lali is an amazing resource for students and she knows my assignments very well!)
For this option, you must know someone with a mental health diagnosis (they have to have been officially diagnosed by a professional) who is open and willing to talk to you about their experiences. Please do not seek out a stranger or someone you are unfamiliar with. This is for those of you who are already familiar with a friend or family member who has experienced being diagnosed. Please ONLY ask someone that you know is comfortable talking about this.
The basic requirements are:
Construct a fantastic qualitative paper using the guidelines below :)
Once you have conducted your interview, and you have found relevant literature, please format your paper using the following guidelines (please include headings in your paper):
Your introduction should be in two parts:
Part 1:
Introduce the broad, sociological topic of your paper. This should not be specifically focused on your interviewee, rather it should have a sociological tone that links to some of the larger themes we have explored in the class (the social construction of mental health and illness, stigma, societal response etc.). Be sure that the focus in your introduction is connected to the experiences of your interviewee.
Part 2: This aspect of the introduction should delve into YOUR research. You will introduce your interviewee and let the reader know a general direction for your paper. For example, "My research will explore the impact of stigma on the experiences of my sister, who suffers from depression and anxiety". Then say a bit about the direction of the sociological analysis that you use later in the paper.
***Writing hint... you should ALWAYS write the introduction last. Start with the middle of the paper and the analysis, then return to write your introduction. This way, the your intro helps the reader see exactly where the paper is going.
Describe how you gathered your data (for example, “my data was gathered through an in-depth interview). You should describe the person that you interviewed (using only a pseudo name, never use the real names) and how you know them. What is their race, class, gender, occupation and/or other information that you think might be useful? How did you first learn about their mental illness? What is the diagnosis? How did you approach this person about an interview? What was their reaction? You don’t have to answer all of these, but you should give the reader a clear idea of who your interviewee is and how you know them.
Describe the setting in which you conducted your interview and the tone. Provide details about your feelings, as well as about how your interviewee seemed during the interview (nervous, calm etc.). Try your best to “set the tone” of the interview.
Please note: When writing about the literature I expect proper language use and an academic voice. Please see “do’s and don’ts” for writing about scholarly literature on the resource module.
Discuss the major focus and findings from the scholarly article that you found as they relate to your interview data. You do not have to review the article entirely, but you should pull relevant and connected information from the literature that connects to your interview findings and offers a sociological focus. I will post a helpful video about finding sociological literature to accompany the guidelines.
Note: Be very careful that you are not finding psychological literature! You must locate scholarly, sociological literature. My video and the librarian's resource page will be helpful to you.
Discuss your interview findings and share important elements of your interviewee’s story. Include examples. Use concrete terms, using quotes and excerpts from your interview notes to tell their story. What stands out about their experiences? Listen to people as they describe, from their point of view, what went on, how they handled it, what seemed most difficult, how they resolved it (if they were able to), who they accessed for support, etc. These are only suggestions to give you an idea of the types of information you will need to share.
You might include how they sought help, how their loved ones reacted, or simply describe what you learned in the interview.
You should not include the entire interview – only the aspects that are most interesting as well as your own summary. Be sure that you include sufficient interview data in the findings.
I will post a document that demonstrates proper formatting for including qualitative interview data in a research paper.
Provide a sociological analysis of what you learned from your interviewee. This means that you must draw upon the literature that you found as well as class material to complete a sociological analysis of this person’s experiences.
For example, what have you learned about the social construction of mental illness through your interviews? How does our new understanding of societal reaction theory help you to make sense of this person’s experience? Or, you might draw upon our discussions of race, gender, social control, defining mental illness etc. The point is to offer a clear, detailed sociological discussion of this person’s experience.
The most important aspect of the analysis sections is your ability to 1) Use your interview data to make your point. This paper is an opportunity for you to listen, read and express what you have learned from the experience of others. 2) Remain sociological and link to the literature. The more connections that you can make to a sociological understanding of the issue, the better your grade will be. Be sure that you don’t start to psychologize or individualize. Rather, keep your analysis sociological.
In your conclusion, please describe why it is important to learn about mental illness from those who experience it. Drawing upon some of our readings, why is the important to listen to those who have been labeled as mentally ill?
Include a reference page using APA or MLA formatting
IMPORTANT: For each of your academic, sociological references, please explain how you know the article is sociological – what is the author(s) affiliated university and department, for example (remember, this means that at least one author must have a background in sociology).
***
Once you have chosen someone to interview, create a short list of very open-ended questions that allow you to learn about your interviewee’s experiences.
Take notes during your interview – then type them up after the interview is completed. You don’t need a direct transcription from a recorded interview since that is A LOT of work – if you record your interview with your interviewee’s permission, you should still take notes “just in case” (many of my students were horrified to learn that the recording didn’t work!).
The interview might begin by asking the person to provide an overview of the history of their experience with mental illness. You can ask about the specific experiences of/with the condition, their understanding or interpretation of issues and problems the condition has caused for the relations to others, work, school, etc. Most importantly, you will want to explore the specific ways in which this person manages and defines their condition. This may involve formal psychiatric treatment at certain stages, or it may involve informal practices and self-understandings for dealing with the condition in anticipation of episodes or their aftermath. These self-definitions and interpretations are part of how they deal with their “diagnosis”.
Sometimes these issues are best handled by suggesting a chronological framework to get at the specifics of how the trouble evolved, was noticed and defined (informally or formally), “turning points” in the person’s own or others reactions to the condition. Specific probes might include:
When did you first feel like something was wrong? Or, when did these feelings start?
What was the most difficult/embarrassing/awkward moment?
What difficulties did your feelings produce for you or others? How did others react to you? How did that make you feel?
How did you go about getting help? Did you feel helped?
Can you recall particular episodes in which you or others reevaluated the situation? In other words, was there a time when you “looked back” or reflected upon all of this and raised questions, or felt that you were treated poorly? What was that like?
If you knew someone now who was experiencing what you did, how would you help them?
What was it like for you to interact with the psychiatric community? Can you describe that experience for me?
Encourage your interviewee to be as concrete as possible (vs. talking in general terms) about actions, reactions and feelings. Always ask for examples when you are questioning – this will give you concrete data for your paper, rather than generalizations and speculations.
At the end of the interview, please thank the interviewee for their courage to speak out and for their trust in you! Be very sure that you honor each and every aspect of their experience. This is not a time to give advice, or to raise questions about structural conditions. Rather, this is a time for you to listen compassionately, reaffirm their struggle (“that must have been so hard for you, I’m sorry), but always with kindness and a gentle touch.
For this option, you are welcomed and encouraged to send me a few examples of the types of questions you might ask.
A note about recording your interview: You can only record someone with permission. It is illegal to record someone covertly. You should consider if this will make the interview awkward and if it might be better to try and take detailed notes. Be sure to talk to me about any concerns you may have with this.
For full assignment guidelines, please consult Cougar Courses.
Research librarian Lali Nataraj lnataraj@csusm.edu. (Lali is an amazing resource for students and she knows my assignments very well!)
Some of you may have had personal experiences as a “mentally ill person”. For this option, you may recount your experiences as a person who has been diagnosed as mentally ill. This option allows you to tell your story and discuss the specific ways that you manage and define your mental distress. You must have had a diagnosis from a professional to choose this option. Let me know if you are unclear about this and I will offer guidance.
The basic requirements are:
Tell your story about your journey with mental illness (reminder that this must be officially diagnosed). I suggest that you make a few notes about what might be important to include in this paper and move forward telling your story based on your notes. This will keep your story organized, with enough detail to describe what happened to you. I have offered a few tips and strategies for how you might do this at the end of the assignment guidelines.
Find one sociological, scholarly article to frame your analysis of your story.
Construct a fantastic qualitative paper using the guidelines below :)
Once you have chronicled your own story, and found relevant literature, please format your paper using the following guidelines (please include headings in your paper):
Your introduction should be in two parts:
Part 1:
Introduce the broad, sociological topic of your paper. This should not be specifically focused on your detailed experience, rather it should have a sociological tone that links to some of the larger themes we have explored in the class (the social construction of mental health and illness, stigma, societal response etc.). Be sure that the focus in your introduction is connected to the experiences that you will be sharing.
Part 2: This aspect of the introduction should delve into YOUR research. You will introduce yourself and let the reader know a general direction for your paper. For example, "My research will explore the impact of stigma on my own experiences of depression and anxiety". Then say a bit about the direction of the sociological analysis that you use later in the paper.
***Writing hint... you should ALWAYS write the introduction last. Start with the middle of the paper and the analysis, then return to write your introduction. This way, the your intro helps the reader see exactly where the paper is going.
Describe how you gathered your data (for example, “my data was gathered by recounting my own experiences with mental illness”). Include a description of yourself as well. What is your race, class, gender, occupation and/or other information that you think might be useful? Then, describe your diagnosis, including who made the diagnosis and the time frame in your life when your experiences occurred. Finally, discuss where things stand for you now. How are you doing and what are you doing to manage your mental health?
You don’t have to answer all of these, but you should give the reader a clear idea of who you are and a little bit about your diagnosis and the time frame.
Please note: When writing about the literature I expect proper language use and an academic voice. Please see “do’s and don’ts” for writing about scholarly literature on the resource module.
Discuss the major focus and findings from the scholarly article that you found as they relate to your experiences. You do not have to review the article entirely, but you should pull relevant and connected information from the literature that connects to your the parts of your story that you plan to share and that offers a sociological focus. I will post a helpful video about finding sociological literature to accompany the guidelines.
Note: Be very careful that you are not finding psychological literature! You must locate scholarly, sociological literature.
Describe your experiences. Here you should “tell your story” but in a clear and understandable manner. What happened that lead to your diagnosis? What were/are the behaviors that caused problems for you and or your loved ones? Be clear about the steps and experiences you went through in receiving a diagnosis. What you choose to include is up to you, as long as the story is clear and connected to our class.
When possible, try to use concrete experiences and recollections as well as conversations and happenings. What happened and how did you handle it? What was most difficult and how did you resolve these difficulties? You might include how you sought help, how your loved ones reacted, or simply a description of what helped or was most problematic for you.
How do your experiences shape who you are today? Do you still have to deal with these issues today? If so, how do you manage things?
These are all only suggestions to give you an idea of the types of information that may be useful to share. My main point is that you should move beyond generalizations and try to include specific examples when possible.
You should not include your entire story, only the aspects that are most interesting and relevant to the analysis.
Provide a sociological analysis of your experiences. This means that you must draw upon the literature that you found as well as class to complete a sociological analysis your own story.
For example, what have you learned about the social construction of mental illness through your story? How does our new understanding of societal reaction theory help you to make sense of your experience? Or, you might draw upon our discussions of race, gender, social control, defining mental illness etc. The point is to offer a clear, detailed sociological discussion of your mental health journey.
The most important aspect of the analysis sections is your ability to 1) Use your experiences to make your point. 2) Remain sociological and link to the literature. The more connections that you can make to a sociological understanding of the issue, the better your grade will be. Be sure that you don’t start to psychologize or individualize. Rather, keep your analysis sociological.
In your conclusion, please describe why it is important to learn about mental illness from those who experience it. Drawing upon some of our readings, why is the important to listen to those who have been labeled as mentally ill?
Include a reference page using APA or MLA formatting.
Also, for each of your academic, sociological references, please explain how you know the article is sociological – what is the author(s) affiliated university and department, for example (remember, this means that at least one author must have a background in sociology).
If you are choosing this option, I thank you for your courage and willingness to reflect sociologically upon your experiences, as they are generally painful ones. I hope that when your paper is complete that you will feel a sense of understanding and healing as a result of the process. Be sure and let me know if you change your mind at any time and I will be in full support.
I very much look forward to your papers and am honored to have the unique opportunity to understand this issue through your eyes. I am here to talk this through with you at anytime.
If you are struggling with how to get started, I suggest a chronological framework to get at the specifics of how these issues evolved for you – something like telling a story. For example, you might consider thinking about the following (no need to respond to all of these! Just ideas to get you started):
When did you first realize that something was wrong? How did this make you feel?
How did people around you react?
Were there particularly embarrassing, awkward, scary or distressful moments for you? A few examples of what happened to you would make your data easier to write about.
What was the most difficult/embarrassing/awkward moment(s)?
How did you come to be diagnosed? What was the process like? What aspect of the psychiatric community played a role? Were there others in your informal circles that offered ideas?
How did you eventually come to manage your diagnosis? What helped? What didn’t?
These are simply ideas if you are struggling with getting started.
For full assignment guidelines, please consult Cougar Courses.
For this option you must choose a topic that can be connected to mental health and illness (a few examples listed below, but I am open to a wide variety of topics. Communicate with me if you are unsure if your topic is appropriate) and do research from a variety of sources to learn more about your topic.
I will post a few tips for finding background information and scholarly literature in a short lecture, and you can also ask for help from our amazing social sciences research librarian, Lali Nataraj.
The basic requirements are:
Find a minimum of three sources to develop background knowledge of your topic. These types of sources can be news stories, long form journalism, authoritative sites or academic sites (but not scholarly) but at least one source must come from the New York Times (as students, you are able to subscribe to the NY Times for free… this is me encouraging you to do so:)
Find at least two sociological, scholarly articles to deepen the discussion of the background information that you present. Your scholarly articles should be connected to your findings from the background research.
Find at least two sources of help and support that reflect our work in this class. This means that you should find sources that are not part of a medical model and that move beyond psychology. For this aspect of the paper, I am looking for a critical perspective of helping and one that delves into alternative ways of healing and helping beyond the medical model.
Construct a fantastic scholarly paper using the guidelines below :)
Once you have found all background sources and relevant literature please format your paper using the following guidelines (please include headings in your paper):
Introduce the topic you have chosen by reviewing the background information that you found through the library website. This should be a comprehensive discussion of the topic that connects to culture, and legitimate news sources. This should also be a broad, structural understanding of the topic.
Please note: When writing about the literature I expect proper language use and an academic voice. Please see “do’s and don’ts” for writing about scholarly literature on the resource module.
For each of your chosen scholarly articles, discuss the major focus and findings from both articles. You do not have to review both articles entirely, but you should pull relevant and connected information from the literature. The information that you review should connect to your background information but also add an important sociological perspective of the topic.
Locate sources that offer support in a way that challenges a dominant, medicalized approach. I am very open to sources that are considered alternative in some way such as art, music, poetry, anti-psychiatry, intersectional feminist etc. Your sources should reflect social justice and reflect some of the critiques that we have reviewed in class. I am very open to how you decide to approach this aspect of the paper, although I am looking for sources that seem to operate outside of a medical model. You can use poetry, art, music, other forms of healing, structural change... anything meaningful sources that you find can be included in this aspect of the paper.
Conclude with a discussion of the importance of a sociological perspective when understanding mental health and illness. I urge you to reflect upon the topics and issues we have discussed in class and use them to frame your discussion of sociology. Be sure that you stay grounded in a sociological discussion and that you don’t “psychologize” or individualize in your conclusion. Rather you should reflect upon how a sociological perspective broadens our understanding of mental health and illness and your chosen topic.
Include a reference page using APA or MLA formatting
Also, for each of your academic, sociological references, please explain how you know the article is sociological – what is the author(s) affiliated university and department, for example (remember, this means that at least one author must have a background in sociology).
You are ALWAYS welcome to e-mail me with examples of the literature that you found, and I can tell you if you are on the right track (cut and paste the entire citation into an e-mail and send it. Please don’t e-mail a link only).
Your topic can be about any aspect of mental health and illness but bear in mind that you will need to discuss the issue sociologically. The trick with this paper is to think about how sociologists might address some of these topics – be careful that you do not wander into the psychological literature! Some ideas from past student papers include:
The connections between mental health and illness and:
Homelessness
Poverty
Work
Gender Norms and Masculinity/Femininity
Post Partum Depression
Suicide
Aging
Youth
Foster Youth
Gang Involvement
Marketing and Social Construction of Mental Health and Illness
Sexual assault and mental health implications
PTSD in a contemporary context
The rise in anxiety and depression diagnosis (a critical perspective)
The role of Big Pharma in defining and addressing mental illness
Mental illness and the criminal justice system
These are ideas, but certainly not an exhaustive list. If you have ideas and want to run them by me, please do! I am here to support your efforts in any way possible.
For full assignment guidelines, please consult Cougar Courses.
