The Power of Literature: Mental Health Education in The English Upper-Secondary Classroom

Abstract

This thesis investigates how and why English literature should be used in the upper-secondary classroom to increase awareness, knowledge and empathy in relation to mental health, for the purpose of decreasing the stigmatization of mental illness and mental health problems. This thesis conducts a literature analysis of the novel Normal People (Rooney, 2018) and the memoir Reasons to Stay Alive (Haig, 2015), focusing on stigmatization of mental illness and mental health problems (institutional stigma, public stigma and self-stigma). This thesis also includes the concept of normality and the debate on normal versus abnormal in relation to the mental health diagnostic system and stigmatization of those who are judged as different. Mental health is an important topic to include in the educational system because different studies and statistics show that a concerning high number of individuals in the younger generation experience problems or challenges with their mental health. The classroom is a safe and natural place to increase the student’s mental health awareness, general knowledge about mental health and conduct stigma education with the help of Normal People and Reasons to Stay Alive.