Anne Ferrari, associate professor of Psychology at Mount Saint Mary College, will kick off this semester's Investigating Research on Campus (iROC) series with "Celebrities in the Classroom," on Thursday, February 3.
The talk will take place virtually via Zoom. It is free and open to the public, but you must register to attend. Register at www.msmc.edu/irocCelebs
Worldwide, one in four people will be diagnosed with a mental or neurological disorder at some point in in their lifetime, including college students.
"One would think the ubiquity of mental illness would create acceptance of treatment, but great stigma abounds in terms of how we perceive mental illness in ourselves and others and this stigma impacts our likelihood to seek out help," notes Ferrari. "The majority of individuals afflicted with a mental illness do not seek treatment and stigma has been posited to be the reason why."
Contact with those struggling with mental illness is a powerful way to change preconceived notions one might have about another's illness, but opportunities for this may be a challenge, especially in environments such as the college classroom.
Celebrities, especially with many of their recent public disclosures of mental illness struggles, offer an opportunity to provide a kind of contact with an individual diagnosed with a mental illness. This may go a long way in reducing public stigma toward mental illness and increasing help seeking, notes Ferrari.
Ferrari began studying mental illness and stigma in 2014 when she devised an alternative pedagogy for teaching her psychopathology courses. To reduce stigma toward mental illness in her students, she taught each mental illness through the lens of a celebrity who self-disclosed their diagnosis. Using a pretest-posttest design, it was discovered that stigma was reduced in students taught using the celebrity method compared to the control group who were taught using traditional methods. This research was published in 2016 in the journal Teaching of Psychology. In 2019, Ferrari examined whether the stigma reduction obtained in 2016 persisted six months later in students taught using the celebrity method. Analyses revealed that it did, and this research was published in 2020.
The goal of the college's iROC is to provide a forum for Mount faculty, staff, and students to showcase their research endeavors with the college and local communities. Presentations include research proposals, initial data collection, and completed research projects.
Mount Saint Mary College, ranked a Top-Tier University by U.S. News & World Report, offers bachelor's and master's degree programs for careers in healthcare, business, education, social services, communications, media, and the liberal arts.