Mental illness as consumer vulnerability: Ambivalent attachment to the college campus
Abstract
In this study, we examine how consumers understand and negotiate mental illness in a marketplace that does not always offer empathy. We employ theory on place attachment and spatial vulnerability to discover how person-place bonds form (or not) when consumers’ agency and power may be restricted in complex, protracted ways. We situate our research in the context of the college campus, mobilising data from semi-structured interviews with 25 college students diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression. Students’ narratives are enriched with their hand-drawn maps of the campus and surrounding community, a process called countermapping. Data were interpreted using hermeneutics. Findings show a form of ambivalent place attachment that develops through consumer perceptions of physical, social, and symbolic (in)security. Students’ attempts to regain power within and control over their environment takes the form of often-maladaptive coping mechanisms that threaten students’ personal and academic wellbeing.