Media Environments and Mental Disorder - The Psychology of Information Immersion

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.

List 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

About the author

William Indick is Professor of Psychology at Dowling College in Oakdale, New York. He is the author of several books on media psychology, and has written for numerous psychology journals. He lives in Islip, New York.

Product details

• Authors: William Indick
• Publisher: Mcfarland & Co Inc
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 14.05.2021
• EAN: 9781476678825
• ISBN: 978-1-4766-7882-5
• No. of pages: 300
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 15 mm
• Weight: 408 g
• Illustrations: notes, bibliography, index
• Subject: Non-fiction book > Psychology, esoterics, spirituality, anthroposophy > Psychology: general, reference works