Did Degrassi Say Physical Illness Is More Important Than Mental Illness?

NotAVampyre discusses Grace and Maya's relationship in Degrassi Next Class season 3 and explores if Degrassi has a stance on if physical illness is more important than mental.
Disclaimer: Some clips have been mirrored due to YT trying to run ads. Here is the vid.me upload so that you can watch the video as it was intended: vid.me/78Qw5
Thank you ever so much to TheVeryMask for your brilliant art! theverymask.wordpress.com/
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[@Shananescence]

Thank you for this. It's beautiful to have a different perspective that does not demonize Maya while she's depressed. While she didn't talk about what she was going through with someone so close to her, Maya was so realistic in pulling away. Sometimes it can be so hard to talk and share. People who don't have depression can't understand and that's another element of this story that is so poignant and important

[@notwerkinginthishouse8634]

Everyone has problems And u choose if that will define u or not And I can agree that some people know people have emotions but thye refuse to understand depression,anxiety and similar stuff Grace had every right to cut her,bc Maya wasn't there for a music project and Grace thought Maya was hurt but in fact,Maya was portraying death And Grace had a condition for smth she never told anyone And Maya didn't say anyone and I know its not anyone's job to help her but she did show the signs And u can't know what other ppl think

[@MiniMeags]

I wish they didn’t give Grace CF now I look back. They gave a HORRRRRRRRRRIBLE representation of how sick CF patients really are. If she was on oxygen she would NEVER of been at school! It was really unrealistic and to me as someone who’s known people with CF and known people who have passed from CF it makes me really mad.

[@GamingWithJazz]

Grace would have been out of school or something?

[@emilyryan892]

@@GamingWithJazz Ya she would have. She was depicted as incredibly sick so she'd probably have been in hospital for most of the semester. She literally couldn't breathe on her own so her being in school where doctors couldn't check in on her is pretty dangerous. But I guess the writers didn't think it was convenient for her to be in hospital for weeks at a time even if it's unrealistic that she wasn't.

[@bcrunch4232]

I feel so sad for Grace as well as Maya. I love Grace as a character so it's sad to see her suffer so direly. I also feel bad for Maya. Degrassi is as strong as ever in how it makes me feel for some characters.

[@NotAVampyre]

+BCRunch #DegrassiGiveTheFeels

[@bcrunch4232]

Yep. Also.. Umm... What do you think we can look forward to i season 5?

[@NotAVampyre]

+BCRunch Not entirely sure, but definitely some direct focus on Esme because she didn't graduate and there's much to discuss with her. Probably exploration of Hunter and Yael's relationship, if they still have one. Certainly seeing Saad and Lola as a couple, and I'm hopeful they'll make it to graduation together. Though, I'm not certain about Rasha and Shay and their respective partners. I have a terrible feeling one of their college bound SO's will meet someone else. Speaking of Shay, I think we'll see if she gets scouted and if her hard work payed off. Frankie... well. Who knows with that girl.

[@Shycrochetqueen]

Maya mirrored cam going so well. I also wish Eli was able to talk to Maya because after all he found cam.

[@NotAVampyre]

I'm not sure he could've said anything of use to her though. What could he really tell her that she wanted to.know?

[@Shycrochetqueen]

@@NotAVampyre well not at that particular time but I felt at one point during the show they should have addressed that like snake mentioned to Eli he found claude dead as well.

[@jessicalynch222]

I knew she was depressed straight away. And for people that don’t really have experience with mental illness it would be harder to pick up those signs as well

[@the.legit.batman]

Absolutely love your Degrassi videos :) You give a unique perspective that i really enjoy.

[@NotAVampyre]

Thank you!!

[@invadertifxiii]

i understand maya, as someone who battles depression there was a time i didnt have feeling about things i should have, and there was a time it was manifesting as anger.

[@howtoaca7504]

I binge-watch your videos about Degrassi the last past days again😃 Thank you for your great work!🙂❤ I started to watch Degrassi around 2010 with season 10🙂 I stopped watching it and didn't see the newer seasons, but I really like your videos about it, especially the ones Mental-Health-related🙂❤

[@NotAVampyre]

I'm very glad! I love highlighting the work Degrassi has done to depict mental health and I always hope people find it helpful as they travel their own mental health journeys.

[@howtoaca7504]

@@NotAVampyre I agree, Degrassi has done amazing work🙂❤ I find it very helpfull and your videos have an amazingly empathic and caring persperctive🙂❤

[@roxiehorror8079]

As someone with BPD and bulimia, I can safely say that, yes, physical illness is a more important issue. I can always change my life and my outlook, seek help and get better, but if I had terminal cancer there would be nothing I could do.

[@wordofrevival91]

No, they didn’t. However, it’s interesting how much of a difference there is between how Maya is ultimately seen due to her mental health struggles as opposed Esme and Hunter. Any thoughts on that?

[@NotAVampyre]

The difference between Maya and Esme is that the show was able to depict Maya's recovery but not Esme's. I am 100% certain we'd all view her favorablely if we got a season 5. With Hunter, more of the disfavor in the end comes from how he responded to Yael rather than his mental health struggles because those were resolved by that point. But, like with Esme, we didn't get a chance to see him figure out how he feels about Yael.

[@allisonfunk-mq9ew]

I just don’t understand why it’s an either or issue with most fans. Do people really think Grace’s physical illness wouldn’t affect her mental health? Or that depression like Maya’s doesn’t have physical symptoms?

[@NotAVampyre]

Yeah, and I don't get why people want to think of this as one is somehow always worse than the other and therefore one matters less. It's kinda like, if someone doesn't have it the absolute worse, people think they don't deserve to be in distress over their situation.