Mistresses, Part 2: Mental Health Professional Analysis and Scorecard

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains information from Season 1, Episodes 1-13 of Mistresses (US).
TRIGGER WARNING: This post briefly describes mild sexual violence, and references rape culture. 

Sorry for the hiatus, folks! I'm back, and am jumping back in to pop culture analysis and deconstruction with  Mistresses' portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Karen Kim, (played by Yunjin Kim).

First, some background. As discussed in the Mental Health Profession 101 post, a psychiatrist is someone with a medical degree [such as a D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) or M.D. (medical doctor)] who has completed post-doc training in assessing and treating psychological distress (things like anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, trauma, etc.). Most psychiatrists prescribe psychotropic medicine, and some also provide psychotherapy. Mistresses Dr. Kim is one of the latter. In the show, she is co-partner at a psychiatric private practice with former medical school colleague Jacob Pollack (played by Matthew del Negro).

There are a fair number of pros, and unfortunately, even more cons in Mistresses' portrayal of Dr. Kim. Let's start with the pros, shall we?

Mistresses, Part 1: Meet the Cast

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains information from Season 1, Episodes 1-11 of Mistresses (US), as well as some information from Mistresses (UK). 

Let's begin our social justice and mental health-informed exploration of pop culture with the US television series Mistresses. Based upon a UK series of the same name,  US Mistresses was created by K.J. Steinberg, and stars Alyssa Milano, Jes Macallan, Rochelle Aytes, and Yunjin Kim as four friends who wittingly or unwittingly become "mistresses" in some sense of the term.

Before we go any further, let's unpack some of the impact and connotations of the series' unfortunate name. The word "mistress" can have one of several meanings, ranging from:

Pop Culture Ratings

As promised, now that we've outlined social justice 101 and the mental health profession 101, we'll now explore popular media, and how effectively and accurately it portrays the mental health profession, as well as to what degree it promotes social justice, as opposed to reifying existing systems of oppression.

In the interest of transparency and accountability, below are the criteria that will be used to measure to what degree each popular medium promotes social justice and reasonably portrays the mental health profession.

Let's start with the criteria for the social justice grade. Each popular medium will be assessed to see if it passes the (original)

Bechdel Test
Which requires that a film, television series, book, etc. has

1. At least 2 women (preferably with names)
2. Who have at least 1 conversation
3. About something other than a man or men. 

 Feminist Frequency's Anita Sarkeesian outlines and discusses the test.

Mental Health Profession 101

Soooo...this next post was supposed to be about the intersection of social justice, pop culture, and the mental health profession. And then, I remembered that I hadn't yet posted my mental health profession 101 article. Whoops! My bad. Thus, here's a (not so) brief overview of some of the basic concepts of the mental health profession.*

For starters, what do we mean when we say "mental health?" 
Psychological wellness, or mental health: 

• Can be understood as a state of well-being wherein the individual can 
• realize her/his own abilities
• cope with the typical stresses of everyday life, 
• work productively and fruitfully, and 
• make a contribution to her/his community (World Health Organization, 2013)

Defining the Wires: Sexual Orientation and Religion 101

Finally, we'll be reviewing two of our (usually) invisible, and nonetheless impactful identities: sexual orientation and religious orientation.  Uneasy bedfellows, you say? Yet, at the heart of nearly every religious tradition is love--for oneself, for the divine, and for others.

Defining the Wires: Age, Disability, and Class 101

I've been struggling with how to most effectively group the remaining 5 major identity variables that make us who we are. I've decided to group together age, disability, and socioeconomic status, as these are core identities that we can often (though not always) visually perceive. Sexual orientation and religious orientation, core identity variables that we usually can't see will make their appearance in the next post.


Age is one of those interesting, fluid identity variables that we experience from numerous perspectives throughout the course of our lives.
Ageism:

• Therefore, is a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to justify age-based prejudice, discrimination, and subordination.
• Ageism is predominantly understood as stereotyping of and discrimination against older people--and in many ways, this is how ageism manifests in its most virulent form. 
• However, any system of oppression is the product of prejudice and systemic power, and in the case of age, (in US culture, at least) individuals from the age of about 35-55 experience the most age-related power and privilege.  
• Subsequently, individuals younger than their mid-30s and older than their mid-50s tend to experience the most age-related disempowerment and discrimination (with elders, adolescents, and children bearing the brunt of this)
• Dr. Alison's note: while the physicality and appearance of individuals in their teens and 20s are often valued and coveted by popular culture, in comparison with individuals in their 30s-50s, teens and 20-somethings are often culturally understood as less responsible and less competent, and experience significantly less societal and institutional power. Subsequently, they are included here in the age minority.
• Like any form of oppression, ageism can be conscious and/or unconscious

Defining the Wires: 19 Racial and Cultural Terms You May Not Be As Familiar With As You Think

Next up in Social Justice 101, we'll be reviewing race, culture, and nationality.

Let's start with 

Culture: 

• Or, external, acquired traditions of thought and behavior