Three Perspectives on Mental Health Told through StoryCorps’ “Liza Long and ‘Michael’”

Jessica C Tomazic, Joy O Ogunmuyiwa, Gretchen A Ferber

By examining mental illness through the lens of intimate firsthand accounts of caregivers and patients, including caregiver blogposts and a conversation between Liza Long and her son as recorded by StoryCorps, we demonstrate how new media can be leveraged to shift societal perceptions of those with mental illness from blameworthy potential perpetrators of terror to vulnerable persons in need of compassion and support. Exploring patient, caregiver, and societal roles through a close reading of new media firsthand accounts, we argue for shared responsibility in caring for those with mental illness and, in particular, for physicians to leverage their unique knowledge of the patient experience by promoting media coverage of stories of mental illness recovery.