Mental Illness And The Media

Studies have shown that one of the public’s primary sources of information regarding mental health disorders is mass media (Fawcett, 2015). This makes it incredibly important for movies, newspapers, and television shows to provide society with accurate depictions of mental health. While there are media outlets who portray mental health correctly, there are also ones that depict the subject via stereotypes or in a negative light (Fawcett, 2015). This can lead to people developing an unfavorable, or worse, inaccurate view of what mental illness truly is.

We have a tendency of shadowing out individuals who have been diagnosed with a mental illness. Despite our human nature of caring, we place those individuals in prisons or understaffed psychiatric facilities, leaving them to be the burden of others. People with mental illness may not be able to hold employment and may not have that family support. This public perception (stigma) “limits opportunities for individuals with mental illnesses and often prevents them from seeking appropriate help”. (Jeglic, 2015) How is it that the public perception is so strong when most people do not have expertise within the field of abnormal psychology?This perception is influenced by the media. “Information presented in the media can be

Most criminal television shows have some episodes that make someone with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), schizophrenia, or depression the murderer because it makes the vision of whatever incident that happened go away or makes the voices stop. They make the characters seem as if they are irrational and dangerous to be around when in reality most mental illness patients are the ones actually victimized in most situations. In the article Fawcett shares that “it is 10 times more likely for a character who is labeled mentally ill on a television show to commit a violent. In reality, there has been research done that has proved that it is 10 to 20 times more likely to commit a violent crime if you are someone that is not mentally ill.” You cannot blame people for assuming that most mentally ill people are dangerous to be around with the media displaying false information about them. Many people in the United States watch television shows that have something to do with crimes and the law, and while watching shows like those, you might come across an episode or two that illustrate mental illness in a negative way. Since we do not know better we believe the shows which leads up to why we might think a solider for example may be dangerous coming back from war with

It is easy for an audience to be manipulated by the media. The portrayal of an issue like mental illness is totally vulnerable to misrepresentation. Depending on who is writing and their viewpoint, it does not take much to make this issue sympathetic or demonized. If the author of a given piece wants his or her audience to demonize something, the author might use the word "isolation”. If that same author wants a sympathetic response he might use the word "loneliness”. As far as the New York Times is concerned, they opted for a stereotypical portrayal. It is true that Lanza is indeed a mass murdered, but must the story fit the profile now that the deed is done? Apparently, for the New York Times, it must.Accoring to Margaret Price, she is making the same point of how the media represent disabilities. She says the accounts that the media "inflect public myths about mental disability, race, class, nationality and gender ..."

Many pieces of fiction today have examples of mental illnesses and disorders. People watch movies, television shows, and even cartoons that portray characters with mental disorders. This could be why so many people today over look symptoms of mental illnesses because they have become normalized to them. Some pieces over play the symptoms and create a stereotype for certain disorders or illnesses. Despite fiction over playing or normalizing symptoms, it can actually be a great benefit for people who do struggle with an illness or disorder. Mentally ill individuals could form a connection with fictional characters giving the individuals a sense of acceptance, which is something they may not receive from their peers.

The article begins by stating that the country has concentrated their efforts on gun control and have forgotten about mental illness. A perspective on mental illness is given by a mother who has a son that suffers from mental illness. She explains how 3 days before Adam Lanza murdered his mother, she was arguing with his son about his pants. 13-year-old Michael (name changed) insulted her mother about what color of pants he could wear. Michael was supposed to wear either black or khaki pants. However, he insisted on wearing navy blue pants and cursed his mom about it.

Mental illnesses are constantly portrayed negatively throughout today’s media. Even with recent research, media chooses to only give information about the negative events mentally ill patients are associated in. Today’s media mocks mental illnesses in children’s television shows and it has negative effects on the children who are exposed to this. Psychologists and other doctors are making an effort to change the views the media portrays to the public. These efforts are being fought against because “Hollywood” and other large media industries make their profits from making single stories about certain groups because the people want what they already know. Often, Americans have difficulty accepting change, and most times are set in their

Romina, I agree with you I think that the media does play a negative role in how mental illness is view. The media places a negative image on mental illness and it causes people to feel shame. This shame that people feel will lead to them not seeking help (Tartakovsky 2016). The chances of the media accurately portraying a mental illness are slim to none. When we hear or see something from the media, we need to be aware that the chances that they are wrong are high. People with a mental illness shouldn’t feel ashamed and not want to seek help. They should know that there is nothing to be ashamed of and it is okay to seek help.

Mental illness is a disorder that affects behaviors, mood, cognitive reasoning, and impacts the ability to function normally in activities of the daily living. Mental illness is known as one of the common diseases in the society that has many interventions and it is a treatable disorder. The lack of knowledge of what mental illness is all about has made the media to portray the disorder as an overdramatized violent disease. The media contributed to the public stigma towards mental illness by associating violent people in the society who commit crimes with mental illness. This has created a negative perception of mentally ill people. Media also create a negative influential impact on the minds of people who do not have any clue or knowledge

The positives of this film featured several scenes in which Kevin’s psychiatrist provided accurate facts about individuals with DID, including that they possess different handwriting styles, different strengths, accents, and gender identities depending on which alternate personality has taken the light, For reasons such as this, many argue that this film, along with other films representing mental illness, takes an “any publicity is good publicity” approach. To further explain, proponents of the current mental health portrayal in media argue that as long as mental health is getting representation in popular culture, we are on the right track. They often state that including completely accurate representations is too “politically correct” and that no one bases their interpretations of mental illness off these depictions, because they’re “just movies”. While they are correct in saying that it’s a good step to bring mental illness to the spotlight, it’s just as harmful to misrepresent it as it is to not represent it at

In a study conducted by Otto F. Wahl of George Mason University it was concluded that the portrayal of the mentally ill was extremely inaccurate when compared to what mental illness experts uphold.“ … early studies, for example , compared media depictions with the opinion of mental health experts and concluded that ‘ in general , the causes, symptoms, methods of treatment, prognosis, and social effects portrayed by the media are far removed from what the experts advocate.” This shows without the help of experts in character development the mentally ill are seriously misrepresented. Another study conducted by Donald L. Diefenbach and Mark D. West of the University of North Carolina at Asheville to see how television influenced attitudes towards mental illness concluded much to the same. “The study found that the view of mental illness expressed by the mass media was even further removed from health professionals than that of the lay public. “ Once again we see that the lack of professional guidance in the media leads to the flawed depiction of the mentally

Mental disorders and illness, are often portrayed by actors in both film or television. Depending on the nature of the show, the importance of the illness to the story, and the individual research conducted by the authors; the portrayal may either be accurate or far from it. The importance of accurate portrayal of mental disease in media, is that it is through these mediums that many of the populous receive information (perhaps for the first time) about many disorders that affect others. The concept of self-stigma and societal prejudice can greatly impact the rates at which people who are ill, actually seek treatment for their suffering. By having the media create character roles that do an accurate depiction of what the mental disorder is, they are not only providing good entertainment, but also educating people who view these programs.

Peterson, who is a PhD conducted essential research regarding mental illness when it comes to violence. Peterson claims that “When we hear about crimes committed by people with mental illness, they tend to be big headline-making crimes”. She provided us with a big hasty generalization about the typical citizens take on any crime. She asserts that when crime is committed that the offender blames the illness they endure. I think this article is credible because Julian Peterson has her PhD and she also is a part of the American Psychological Association. I think this article will help my research by allowing me to provide examples with accurate numbers to show what she along with her fellow researchers researched on why mental illness isn’t linked

When prompted about their opinion on mental illnesses, it is common for most people to use words such as violent, erratic, or unpredictable. Hearing people jump to such harsh conclusions about mental illnesses raises the question about where these stereotypical, and inaccurate views came from. The simple answer is the media. With the world as technological as it is today, people often become influenced or gain certain opinions due to what the media and press show as well as hide from the public.

With the ongoing advance in technology today, it is no surprise that the media is becoming an even greater source in acquiring and sharing information. But exactly how accurate are these reported information? As mentioned in Otto Wahl’s, Media Madness: Public Images of Mental Illness, Americans tend to retrieve most their knowledge about mental illness through the mass media (Wahl 3). When it comes to mental illness, it is safe to say that much of society views the mentally ill as deviants who are capricious and potentially dangerous. Or at least, that is how they are sometimes portrayed in movies, books, music, magazines, etc. Those who are knowledgeable about the severity and seriousness of mental illnesses often view the