Integrating Social Sciences into Wellness Understanding- A Comprehensive Analysis

Integrating Social Sciences into Wellness Understanding- A Comprehensive Analysis

Summary of the Previous Topic: Joker Movie

In this movie, an aspiring comic named Arthur Fleck suffers from mental illness, reflected in his hysterical laughter and nervousness. Society stigmatized him because of his condition, yet he expected a kinder embrace from people. He is beaten brutally and cut off from medication, which triggers his spiral behavior of engaging in violence, anarchism, delusions, and eventually a notorious criminal.

Viewing this movie from a social science perspective, it is clear that working and living conditions are strong determinants of a human’s social, mental, and physical well-being, as Nyman & Nilsén (2016) contend. In addition, supportive structures for a person’s well-being and health are primarily influenced by the interactive process between individual, organizational and societal levels where resources, social position, and social context play a crucial role (Nyman & Nilsén, 2016). In this case, the social context and economic resources are insufficient to enable Fleck’s well-being. Rather, they work against him on the one hand, in terms of stigmatization from the society meant to embrace him and support him emotionally, socially, and mentally. On the other hand, it is during tough economic times that threaten his occupation and ambition to become a comedian.

According to the Latent Deprivation Theory by Jahoda, employment provides latent resources linked with psychological needs and manifest resources linked with economic factors, including financial resources like income (Probst et al., 2018). Latent resources may include regular activity, personal identity, status, social contact, taking part in a collective purpose, and time structure (Probst et al., 2018). Thus, like the body needs vitamins for physical health, there are also ‘vitamins’ needed for psychological health, such as an opportunity to use skills, an opportunity for control, availability of money, environmental clarity, and externally generated goals, among others. In this case, Fleck lives in a tough economic time where money is tight, and there is no opportunity to exercise his comic skills in society. Coupled with the harsh treatment from the community, his mental health deteriorates.

This social science lens supports the initial lens of emotional support by showing that a person’s identity in society is essential in terms of connecting with others and exercising skills. However, in Fleck’s case, society isolates him, making him feel less than he actually is, thus affecting his self-esteem and, eventually, his mental health. Besides, Pinket (2017) finds that people with social lives tend to live longer, and since Fleck is isolated by the society he is supposed to be social with, his life is in jeopardy.

References

Nyman, C., & Nilsén, Å. (2016). Perspectives on health and well-being in social sciences. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 11(1), 31468.

Pinket, S. (2017). https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_pinker_the_secret_to_living_longer_may_be_your_social_life?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

Probst, T. M., Sinclair, R. R., Sears, L. E., Gailey, N. J., Black, K. J., & Cheung, J. H. (2018). Economic stress and well-being: Does population health context matter? Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(9), 959.

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So far in this course, we have explored wellness through the lenses of history, the humanities, and the natural and applied sciences. In this module, you will wrap up your Final Project Part One draft with Milestone Four, and the social sciences lens is the last piece of the puzzle. Review the topics you chose to discuss in previous discussions, select one, and reexamine it now through the social sciences lens. In your initial post, address the following:

Integrating Social Sciences into Wellness Understanding- A Comprehensive Analysis

Describe or summarize your previous topic.
How has your understanding been affected by the social sciences lens?
How does the social sciences lens support the lens you previously used?

Last Previous Discussion Selected
Topic: Joker Movie
Share a link and/or summarize your topic so that we all have enough information to understand your discussion, even if we are unfamiliar with the example.

For this discussion and topic, I selected the Joker movie. Even though I found it considerably disturbing, it made me think about how many more people suffer from mental illness in silence but do their best to conceal their sadness with phony smiles and laughter. Joker revolves around Arthur Fleck, who is a wannabe stand-up comic. He suffers from several mental illnesses, including one which causes him to laugh hysterically when he is nervous and often gets him into unsettling circumstances. His mental health causes society to reject him and look down upon him when all he expects is to be accepted by others. After being brutally beaten and having his medication cut off, his life begins to spiral downward out of control into delusions, violence, and anarchy until he ultimately transforms into Gotham’s notorious criminal mastermind, known as the Joker. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiDDlaJYep8

Discuss how your example relates to the concept of wellness as defined in this course and to specific challenges or supports of wellness.

My example relates to the concept of emotional wellness as defined in this course because a man is mentally deteriorating as his violent acts become more frequent and severe. Although we do not specifically know what illness he is struggling with, we see him continue to lose touch with reality. The challenge is comprehending when something like stress starts to become more. Even though emotional tension is a normal part of life, everyone reacts differently. The emotional dimension recognizes awareness, acceptance, and healthy expression of one’s feelings, such as happiness, hope, love, joy, sadness, anger, fear, and/or stress. Emotional wellness encompasses optimism, self-esteem, and self-acceptance. It includes the capacity to manage feelings and related behaviors, including the realistic assessment of limitations, the development of autonomy, and the ability to cope effectively with stress.

What are the social implications of this message? Briefly discuss any potential social impact or response to the example.

The social implications of the message in the Joker movie is to practice kindness and empathy. The film also highlights how society ignores and disassociates from the need for more mental health awareness. Raising mental health awareness can help to understand symptoms, find professional treatment, and, perhaps most importantly, break the mental health stigma that leaves so many people suffering in secret.