“Nobody wants to be normal. We prefer to suck to show the world that we are not boring “. This is said by Nico, a sixteen-year-old girl whom schoolmates call “fish” because she speaks little, remains on her own and is withdrawn. In reality Nico, who dreams of pursuing a career as a singer in London, convinced that he has won a scholarship that, in reality, exists only in his head, suffers from schizophrenia, of hallucinatory and lizard-like figures that persecute her and lead her to see and hear things that do not exist.
His admission to a psychiatric clinic is the point from which he develops Mental, the first Italian series to deal with the theme of psychiatric disorder among adolescents and available on RaiPlay from 18 December, with all 8 episodes loaded simultaneously.
Directed by Michele Vannucci and produced by Rai Fiction e Stand by me, Mental, based on the original Finnish format I’m confused, talks about this: the psychological discomforts of four very different young people who find themselves sharing a piece of life together, multiple personality glimpses that try to smooth out in order to return as soon as possible to what they themselves call “the outside world” , that of perfection, that in which people behave as they should behave and say what they should say. Together with Nico (Greta Esposito, already seen in Sea Out), we also meet Michele (Romano Reggiani), borderline drug addict boy with a difficult relationship with his father; by Emma (Federica Pagliaroli), anorexic self-injurious and nomophobic, expert in manipulating others; and Daniel (Cosimo Longo), a talkative bipolar convinced that he was detained in the clinic only for the need to be controlled and neutralized by the doctors.
With her raw and direct language and a spasmodic attention towards a representation as close as possible to reality, suggested thanks to the scientific advice of the doctor Paola De Rose of the Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit of the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital, Mental leads us by the hand through the emotions, the vices and the desire to split the world of the tormented sixteen year olds, forced to compete every day with hallucinations, drug addiction, self-harm and the desire to escape from everything. The message of the 8 episodes written by Laura Grimaldi and Pietro Seghetti is, of course, to raise awareness among the youngest by trying to break down the stigma of mental disorder among adolescents, often downplayed and reduced to a simple age-related transitional phase. Studies by Professor Stefano Vicari, Head of the Infantile Neuropsychiatry Department of the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital, reveal, in fact, that in Italy suicide is the second cause of death among the under 20s, while depression affects almost 1 in 10 children. Through Mental, which makes use of a cast ranging from Anna Bellato to Simone Liberati, from Marco Cocci to Milena Mancini, Rai is proposed as a real public service, supporting a social campaign that aims to encourage children not to be ashamed and ask for help from experts in case of need.
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
