You must register here: https://american.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4ZxgTFuEbsoHYXP In the media, political sphere, and social conversation, speakers often describe hate, bigotry, violence, anger, and irrational behavior as mental illness. We sometimes also use mental health language and metaphors for emphasis. These choices are often unconscious, and very rarely accurate? How does the choice to use mental health imagery affect the people and issues we care about? Can the choice to conflate violence and mental illness affect policy making, and how? Does “crazy talk” affect community members with mental health disabilities, and how? Learning Objectives -Identify and analyze mental illness imagery and metaphor in political and/or social discourse; -Consider the types of things (from violence to chaos) we use mental health imagery to express; -Explore the impact of “crazy talk” on a public policy or social issue, or upon community members with mental health disabilities; -Examine our own understanding of what mental illness means and its connection to or disconnection from its literal meaning;