Ethical Implications of Using Research-Based Theater to Challenge Hegemonic Narratives About Mental Health. (February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Spring, Lauren
• Other Names: Cox Susan guest-editor.; Guillemin Marilys guest-editor.; Nichols Jennica guest-editor.; Prendergast Monica guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Qualitative inquiry. Volume 29:Number 2(2023)
• Page Start: 354
• Page End: 364
• Publication Date: 2023-02
• Subjects: trauma -- mad studies -- research-based-theater -- military -- mental health; Social sciences -- Methodology -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 300.72
• DOI: 10.1177/10778004221097638
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1077-8004

Abstract

Many health researchers have started to see the benefits of partnering with playwrights to use theater as a tool to analyze and present complex findings. Such projects about mental health, however, remain few and far between and are especially fraught. This article argues that research-based theater can be an ideal tool for exploring and sharing counter-hegemonic "mad stories"—especially if the plays created can help interrupt, among other things, problematic biomedical narratives about individualized approaches to supporting those who are suffering. This article also incorporates excerpts from the script the author wrote as part of her doctoral thesis project about military trauma to highlight how, guided by mad theory and mad aesthetics, she has creatively woven some of the weightiest ethical conundrums encountered during the research and development process into the play itself, so that, their nuance and magnitude become a critical component of the story being presented.