Mental Health Is Now An Open Subject On Primetime TV

TV networks are beginning to address mental health issues thoughtfully and realistically. Orange Is the New Black has broke small-screen ground in representing class, gender, sexual, and racial lines, as well as in its deliberate sensitivity regarding mental illness. At FX, the comedy You're the Worst revealed last season that its heroine has suffered from chronic depression since childhood. At Lifetime, the Bachelor-esque satire UnREAL features multiple women who talk about their struggles with depression and needing therapy or medication. In the new comedy Lady Dynamite, stand-up comic Maria Bamford stars in a new sitcom centered partially around her experiences with bipolar II disorder. The National Institute of Mental Health states that anxiety disorders affects approximately 18% of the population.