Like many other areas of concern, Hollywood really does a poor job at portraying mental illness. There are some exceptions, of course, but for the most part TV shows turn problems like Asperger’s Syndrome or Multiple Personality Disorder into a sensationalized and often “zany” condition. Yet, having characters being pumped down through your dish TV signal who are mentally ill does serve at least one positive purpose, and that is raising awareness of those conditions.
Let’s take a look at some of the TV characters out there who have some sort of serious mental illness condition:
- Tara. Tara Gregson is the title character for a relatively new program on Showtime. This character suffers from multiple personality disorder, and during the course of the program she’ll move from her identity as a mother to “Buck,” a beer-loving redneck man, or to one of her other identities. Multiple personality disorder (also formerly called “Dissociative Identity Disorder”) makes for great TV plots, but it’s also easy to become almost cartoonish.
- Maggie, from ER. Maggie is a character on the hit NBC show ER. Played by Sally Field, this character suffers from bipolar disorder. She’s depicted as a loving parent, but also can be seen in a very distraught condition frequently. This is probably the most sympathetic character with mental illness we’ve seen on TV in a while.
- Doctor Kevin Casey from Scrubs. Michael J. Fox portrays a brilliant doctor who visits the crew at Sacred Heart hospital. He can be seen endlessly washing his hands, as well as exhibiting physical and verbal ticks that indicate he suffers from OCD. The treatment on this show is primarily for comedic purposes, although there is a point at which Casey’s suffering does become sympathetic, as well.
- Doctor Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory. Jim Parsons’ portrayal of the brilliant – yet annoyingly quirky – physicist has won several awards. Although no diagnosis has been discussed on the show, it’s readily apparent that Sheldon suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome. The show’s portrayal is occasionally cartoonish, but Sheldon remains a somewhat enjoyable character as well.
- Doctor Hawkeye Pierce from M*A*S*H*. Few who saw the final episodes of this show will forget how Hawkeye struggled with depression, even to the point of psychosis, at the end of the Korean war. While this portrayal is dated in terms of the actual psychological ideas being tossed around, it still remains a powerful look at what depression does to a person.