Professor: Giovanna Pompele Sample Syllabus:Sample Syllabus Course Overview: Mental Illness, Gender, and Psychiatry Course Description: The understanding of "mental illness" has undergone dramatic changes in the last two centuries, and these changes have accelerated at the end of the 20th century. What counts as mental illness? How do we approach it? How do we "treat" it? In this class we will discuss various constructions of mental illness as well as laws, policies, and cultural attitudes that purport to address it and "help" those who suffer from it. We will take in consideration the genderization of mental illness and the pathologization of "devious" sexualities and bodies. We will utilize academic studies as well as first-person narratives and online testimonies, the last of which have proliferated immensely in the last decade.
