Frann Lazzari wrote:
I have found, after posting a recent thread, that many photographers on Model Mayhem will not shoot a model if she has 'i have mental health problems' stated on her bio.

I was wondering. Would you consider to shoot someone with a mental health problem if she posted it clearly on her bio?

I know that a lot of models, photographers and retouchers will have mental health problems BUT when it gets stated on her bio it suddenly changes?

Whats your thoughts?

PS. Please refrain from taking this issue out on ME. Its a question to YOU. It has nothing to do with my profile or anything else.

Thankyou, all. x

I would certainly work with anyone who disclosed that they have mental health problems.  I do work with fellow Veterans with serious mental health problems every week.  Disclosing a mental health problem may be a bad idea with the way our society places bad stigmas on people, but I think things are changing for the better.

AJScalzitti wrote:
Honestly no, any sign of drama (mental health, escorts, weird demands) and I click next.  Just way too many choices to waste time with anything that could jeopardize a shoot that I have invested money into.

Some of the most creative and accomplished people in the art world have mental disorders.  Most of the time, you'll never even know.

Meghan Hale wrote:
"Mental Health Problems" is a big range.

I have clinical depression and it has NEVER effected me at a shoot. That counts as a mental health problem, but it doesn't interfere with my modeling. This is why I don't publicly state it before working with someone, or post it on my page. It's irrelevant to modeling.

However;

Maybe a model is schizophrenic and is likely to change personalities on set, and ruins the whole shoot. Or maybe she has extreme anger issues and will ruin equipment after you tell her you don't like her posing.

Mental health problems may effect the shoot, but also may not. Depending on the "problem".

Even in the case of schizophrenia, I'd work with someone but I have lots of experience dealing with people with severe mental illnesses.  It really just depends on how comfortable you are dealing with certain problems.  Most schizophrenics who are on the right medication and therapy routine would be no problem at all.

Will Snizek wrote:

Some of the most creative and accomplished people in the art world have mental disorders.  Most of the time, you'll never even know.

True, but I do this professionally and don't like risks.  Others may feel differently

Meghan Hale wrote:
"Mental Health Problems" is a big range.

I have clinical depression and it has NEVER effected me at a shoot. That counts as a mental health problem, but it doesn't interfere with my modeling. This is why I don't publicly state it before working with someone, or post it on my page. It's irrelevant to modeling.

However;

Maybe a model is schizophrenic and is likely to change personalities on set, and ruins the whole shoot. Or maybe she has extreme anger issues and will ruin equipment after you tell her you don't like her posing.

Mental health problems may effect the shoot, but also may not. Depending on the "problem".

My point was just 'in general' :')

Thankyou.

Marin Photography wrote:
Honestly Frann this is your third thread on why togs don't seem to want to work with you...Take the advice from the first and the second thread and move on. You seem to just want attention at this point. Are you bored?...

This isn't about why togs don't want to work with me.
Its a general question.

Isn't that what forums are for?

Frann Lazzari wrote:

This isn't about why togs don't want to work with me.
Its a general question.

Isn't that what forums are for?

Yes and it was addressed in the last thread...just saying. You can do as you like, not picking on you.....

Laura UnBound wrote:
That's not something I need to know unless its got the potential to ruin a shoot. I also don't need to know if you're single, if you like dogs, or have high cholesterol....unless its somehow going to screw up a shoot.

If you post personal info like that, that would otherwise have no bearing on the shoot, I'm going to assume you're telling me it because it will cause a problem, in which case I have no wish to work with you.

this

Marin Photography wrote:

Yes and it was addressed in the last thread...just saying. You can do as you like, not picking on you.....

I also am a little bored. I'm ill today with flu

I felt like i needed to make a separate thread because of the fuss i had on the last one when it wasnt created just to discuss mental health :')

Will Snizek wrote:
I don't see a problem with this discussion thread she created.  I'm an advocate for mental health awareness.  Disclosure is pretty brave and shouldn't be looked down upon, but there will always be negative stigmas attached to disclosures that you have to deal with.  There's a consequence for every good and bad action.

There is nothing wrong with the thread.

However, it should hopefully be fairly obvious and easy to understand that posting generic/vague things about mental or physical issues on a profile is going to scare people away.

IF someone feels they need to be honest and disclose things, it makes a lot more sense to be clear and precise so people know exactly what the potential issues are... instead of some ambiguous statement that serves as nothing more than a red flag, whether it has relevance or not.

Honest, clear communication is great, but being cryptic or requiring people to jump to conclusions is often not at all helpful.

DougBPhoto wrote:
There is nothing wrong with the thread.

However, it should hopefully be fairly obvious and easy to understand that posting generic/vague things about mental or physical issues on a profile is going to scare people away.

IF someone feels they need to be honest and disclose things, it makes a lot more sense to be clear and precise so people know exactly what the potential issues are... instead of some ambiguous statement that serves as nothing more than a red flag, whether it has relevance or not.

I completely agree.  Disclosure especially vague will scare people off..that's just a fact of society. Some people will have no problem with it and some will.

C s p i n e wrote:
I thought all women were clinically insane.....

!!

Will Snizek wrote:
I don't see a problem with this discussion thread she created.  I'm an advocate for mental health awareness.  Disclosure is pretty brave and shouldn't be looked down upon, but there will always be negative stigmas attached to disclosures that you have to deal with.  There's a consequence for every good and bad action.

JOEL McDONALD wrote:
Mental Health Issues?

Are we talking maybe multiple personality disorder, in which case it would make for an interesting series of shoots.

Otherwise,

Why even put that you have mental issues in your bio, unless it will directly affect your being a reliable or dependable model. And if it will cause issues with your modeling then you may wish to rethink a modeling career in the first place.

Just my thoughts.

Perhaps its not a career in the first place?

-B-R-U-N-E-S-C-I- wrote:
It's not always a case of "will not shoot" but it will certainly be a red flag for many.

As has been said, depression, bipolar, anxiety... these are all things that many people (including many creative people) suffer from and normally they don't affect a shoot once it has been scheduled. Therefore, they're not really something a person needs to include in their bio.

However, a predisposition to drama, paranoia, making up wild accusations, jumping off buildings, screaming, crying, smashing up equipment, sudden violence... these are the kind of things that photographers will tend to steer clear of and, to be honest, the kind of things that spring to mind at the mention of a vague and potentially all-encompassing term like 'mental health issues'.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
+1
The fact people "normally " will never mention their personal mental health problems ( even if they have lots of them) makes it seem like this is a major issue-- so big it HAS to be  revealed to strangers.
"When in doubt, leave it out..." ( I keep trying to teach myself this lesson.)

Laura UnBound wrote:
That's not something I need to know unless its got the potential to ruin a shoot. I also don't need to know if you're single, if you like dogs, or have high cholesterol....unless its somehow going to screw up a shoot.

If you post personal info like that, that would otherwise have no bearing on the shoot, I'm going to assume you're telling me it because it will cause a problem, in which case I have no wish to work with you.

+1

If someone put "I have mental health problems" on their profile with no further explanation, that would concern me and I would probably press for more info. If they said something like "I have obsessive compulsive disorder and may stop the shoot a few times an hour so I can [wash my hands, or whatever]" that would be fine. I don't mind people letting me know about abnormalities in their behaviour at all, and in most cases I'd be okay with that (i.e. I will be okay with it unless it will put me/others in danger or make it impossible for me to work). Vague, non-specific disclosures can be worrisome.

I have relatively disabling mental health problems (depression & anxiety), but I don't mention it on my profile as they don't really affect shoots; I can cope with 4 or 8 hours of interaction. Once or twice they've caused me to reschedule shoots, but this is really rare and I figure not all that different to rescheduling due to any other form of illness. And because they stop me going to school, I can shoot weekday daytimes, so overall they've probably got me more shoots than otherwise.

Will Snizek wrote:
I'd also like to add that people with schizophrenia do not have multiple personalities that could change on set like mentioned above. That's the Hollywood version of schizophrenia.  People with multiple personalities generally fall under dissociative disorder...something completely different.

+1 to this too! Very common misconception.

Dissociative identity disorder is the classical multiple personalities disorder, and it's ridiculously vanishingly rare. Schizophrenia is something different; I don't know much about it but I believe that in most cases it's manageable and won't necessarily affect the shoot.

New Art Photo wrote:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
+1
The fact people "normally " will never mention their personal mental health problems ( even if they have lots of them) makes it seem like this is a major issue-- so big it HAS to be  revealed to strangers.
"When in doubt, leave it out..." ( I keep trying to teach myself this lesson.)

That is very true but, i have seen a lot of people on model mayhem posting they have physical health problems (I mean like asthma or arthritis) which won't affect the final image per se.

You also need to remember that, seen a lot of times in the modelling industry, eating disorders are also mental health problems and even though you don't need to know (or perhaps they aren't aware they even HAVE this problem?) I bet if a girl fainted on set or lost so much weight by the time you wanted to shoot her you'd call it different.

Its better to out than in. As Shrek always says

Tansy Blue wrote:

Laura UnBound wrote:
That's not something I need to know unless its got the potential to ruin a shoot. I also don't need to know if you're single, if you like dogs, or have high cholesterol....unless its somehow going to screw up a shoot.

If you post personal info like that, that would otherwise have no bearing on the shoot, I'm going to assume you're telling me it because it will cause a problem, in which case I have no wish to work with you.

+1

If someone put "I have mental health problems" on their profile with no further explanation, that would concern me and I would probably press for more info. If they said something like "I have obsessive compulsive disorder and may stop the shoot a few times an hour so I can [wash my hands, or whatever]" that would be fine. I don't mind people letting me know about abnormalities in their behaviour at all, and in most cases I'd be okay with that (i.e. I will be okay with it unless it will put me/others in danger or make it impossible for me to work). Vague, non-specific disclosures can be worrisome.

I have relatively disabling mental health problems (depression & anxiety), but I don't mention it on my profile as they don't really affect shoots; I can cope with 4 or 8 hours of interaction. Once or twice they've caused me to reschedule shoots, but this is really rare and I figure not all that different to rescheduling due to any other form of illness. And because they stop me going to school, I can shoot weekday daytimes, so overall they've probably got me more shoots than otherwise.


+1 to this too! Very common misconception.

Dissociative identity disorder is the classical multiple personalities disorder, and it's ridiculously vanishingly rare. Schizophrenia is something different; I don't know much about it but I believe that in most cases it's manageable and won't necessarily affect the shoot.

I love your answer, and its very well thought out and put across thankyou.

Tansy Blue wrote:

Laura UnBound wrote:
That's not something I need to know unless its got the potential to ruin a shoot. I also don't need to know if you're single, if you like dogs, or have high cholesterol....unless its somehow going to screw up a shoot.

If you post personal info like that, that would otherwise have no bearing on the shoot, I'm going to assume you're telling me it because it will cause a problem, in which case I have no wish to work with you.

+1

If someone put "I have mental health problems" on their profile with no further explanation, that would concern me and I would probably press for more info. If they said something like "I have obsessive compulsive disorder and may stop the shoot a few times an hour so I can [wash my hands, or whatever]" that would be fine. I don't mind people letting me know about abnormalities in their behaviour at all, and in most cases I'd be okay with that (i.e. I will be okay with it unless it will put me/others in danger or make it impossible for me to work). Vague, non-specific disclosures can be worrisome.

I have relatively disabling mental health problems (depression & anxiety), but I don't mention it on my profile as they don't really affect shoots; I can cope with 4 or 8 hours of interaction. Once or twice they've caused me to reschedule shoots, but this is really rare and I figure not all that different to rescheduling due to any other form of illness. And because they stop me going to school, I can shoot weekday daytimes, so overall they've probably got me more shoots than otherwise.


+1 to this too! Very common misconception.

Dissociative identity disorder is the classical multiple personalities disorder, and it's ridiculously vanishingly rare. Schizophrenia is something different; I don't know much about it but I believe that in most cases it's manageable and won't necessarily affect the shoot.

Dissociative disorder is extremely rare.  Schizophrenia occurs in about one out of every hundred people, so it's pretty much impossible to live life without knowing someone who doesn't Have it.  Odds are you'll never figure it out too unless they tell you.