#danconnor

I never realized how progressive Roseanne, the t.v. show, was until I started watching re-runs as an adult. I tend to hear static around the show regarding the feature of a lesbian kiss or a prominent lesbian character, played by Sandra Bernhard (and a prominent gay male character, Leon). I applaud the boldness of forethought those character decisions brought to the public awareness. However, what I think Roseanne did really, exceptionally well was to address the topic of mental illness.

I have never since seen a program tackle the everyday battle of everyday depression and even clinical depression. For example, Roseanne's daughter on the show, Darlene, begins to slowly and evenly check out of the pleasure she used to find in her everyday life, her everyday activities. The shift in Darlene is not necessarily strong enough (or noticeable enough) to warrant a trip to the doctor's office, but it does bear discussion. And, Roseanne and the family do address this issue. They do it in a very realistic way, in that they may casually mention Darlene's behavior or obviously dance around the subject. Sometimes, the behavior is characterized as universally teenage behavior, and sometimes there is real concern shown.

An interesting aspect of the trajectory of Darlene's depression is that it was never cured. Yes, the character does seem to move on in her life. She goes to college. She even marries. However, her depression in some ways seems to accompany her. It is not addressed all the time, but it may or may not be present. This is realistic of mild or everyday or cyclical depression. The person maintains her life, but there is a melancholy that may accompany her at times or all the time. Functional depression, this is sometimes called. The condition is handled on the show much the same way it could be handled in real life, and the fact that it was even mentioned as a character trait of Darlene feels significant.

Roseanne had a lot of characters that were not necessarily doing the smartest or most helpful thing to propel their lives forward. These characters were decidedly different than ones who had more severe mental disorders. I recently watched an episode that featured the mental illness of Dan's mother.

I really appreciated how that mental illness was handled. Her condition seemed to be clinical--and a lot more severe than, say, Darlene's. Yes, Dan ended up putting her in a mental hospital. But, that was not an automatic cure all for his mother. She would be evaluated. The aspect of this story line that I thought was sensitive and realistic had to do with the family of this woman. When a person is mentally ill--especially if they are needing to be in a psychiatric hold--the condition affects the family. Dan, as an adult with a family of his own, was made to care for his mom. More than that, he felt compelled to address other family dynamics, which, of course, compounded the stress that he already endured.