Mental Health & Comics: Representations of Mental Illness and Therapeutic Use of Comic Books

A19 - RPCC

Saturday November 9, 2019 - 3:30 pm to 4:20 pm


This session will focus on how the comic book medium is being used to help in the area of mental health. One part will focus on how mental illness is represented in comic books and discuss critiques of it. Examples from various genres will be discussed to give attendees some ideas of works to read on the topic. The second part will go over the emerging use of comic books and superheroes as part of psychotherapy. This will talk about how therapists are starting to co-read comics with their clients that cover themes of issues they are also dealing with in their lives. Also, it will go over the field of graphic medicine and how practitioners are including the comic book style as part of art therapy practices, including the Department of Defense funded computer software War Stories Platform for use with military veterans.


Guests