The+Days+of+our+Lies+-+How+does+the+media+portray+mental+illness?

Name: Rebecca Preston Student Number: 8306044 Tutor: Sophie Miller 3-4 Thursday

__Cultural Artefact:__
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The chosen artefact is an advertisement for an England organisation called Time to Change which aims to eliminate the stigma and discrimination that people with mental health problems face. The advert uses humour and exaggeration to highlight the difference between expected reactions of a person currently experiencing a mental illness and their actual reaction. The office worker’s expectations of his colleague’s reactions reflect the stigma of mental illness and how it’s affected public views and treatment of people facing mental problems. The media often portrays mental illness to be synonymous with erratic, somewhat violent and chaotic behaviour and outbursts and tends to display mostly negative misconceptions (Pirkis, Blood, Francis & McCallum, 2006).

**Public Health I****ssue:**

A mental illness diagnosis can create more problems for the individual than just the illness itself. One of these problems is the issue of stigma and how it affects the way they’re treated by members of the community and can also distort their own views on their illness. Media plays an important role in public opinion and treatment of people with mental illnesses in the way it portrays people diagnosed with a mental disorder (Stuart, 2006). Many television shows and movies negatively exaggerate and dramatise the symptoms of mental illnesses and fail to correctly describe the treatments the character would need to undertake to overcome their problem (Pirkis, Blood, Francis & McCallum, 2006). The following essay will cover the issue of media influence on mental health stigma and the social and cultural groups most affected by this issue and offer improvements and strategies that could be employed to minimise the impact of negative media coverage.

**Literature Review:**

In 2007, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that 45% of Australians (7.3 million people) reported that they have, at some point in their life, experienced a mental disorder (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). One in five Australians had experienced the symptoms within the 12 months prior to taken the survey (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011). For such a common issue, why is society continuing to treat individuals with mental illnesses as social outcasts?

The answer is stigma. Specifically the stigma attached to mental health caused by inaccurate media representations. However it isn’t only the public being affected by the media’s distortions. Mental health stigma can specifically affect both public and self. Corrigan (2004) describes public stigma as the actions made by the public against the stigmatised group on the basis of the initial negative opinions. Self-stigma is described as what a member of a stigmatised group may do to themselves if they accept the beliefs of the public stigma group. For example:



The public stigma can manifest into prejudiced actions which may lead to rejection of people with mental illnesses purely on the basis of public opinions, not fact. Meanwhile, self-stigma can hold back an individual with a mental illness due to a heightened feeling of shame and will refuse to accept that there is a problem that needs to be helped. The individual tries their best to avoid being labelled by the community as ‘mentally ill’ to escape the judgement and discrimination that comes with the diagnosis (Corrigan, 2004). This dilemma of purposeful ignorance isn’t helped by the lack of treatment information included in news media coverage. The Australian Government Department of Health and Aging wrote a report on the media’s portrayal of mental health and described the newspaper coverage of mental illness (including suicide) issues and statistics often lacked support information, such as hotlines and organisations designed to provide assistance (Department of Health and Aging, 2001). The viewer/reader is then given the impression of ‘other-ness’, where the mentally ill person or group in the report is seen as separated from reality with no pathway back to the general community through support systems such as this.

A major affecting factor towards mental health stigma is the media’s representation of illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder, to name a few. Wahl & Lefkowits (1989) conducted an experiment where participants were shown one of two films, one which negatively (and violently) depicted a character with a mental illness and the other which was unrelated to mental health and used as a control. The first film was shown both with and without a trailer educating the participants on the lack of realism of the film however this was seen to have little effect on the participants’ opinions on mental illness sufferers which were significantly negative in comparison to the participants who watched the control film. If, after viewing one film which negatively depicts mental illness, the 86 participants were able to be persuaded to believe the misrepresentation, consider the influence of these distortions on young children.

During their first years of life children learn from their environment and what they hear from parents, influential adults and what they see on the television. Between 2000 and 2001, 12 of the 49 children’s films released included one or more characters with a mental illness. Of these 12 films, 67% included violent depictions of these mentally ill characters (Wahl, Wood, Zaveri, Drapalski & Mann, 2003). With such a high number of negative representations of mental illnesses in children’s films, it is a potential issue that this will influence them later in life and add to the already problematic stigma of mental health problems.

**Cultural and Social Analysis:**

The far reaching capabilities of the media means that almost every member of the public is affected in some way by the false portrayal of mental illnesses seen in print and on screen. However, the worst affected group is the mentally ill members of the community. The influence of the media on the views held by the general public has the potential to diminish their freedom of life by reducing their chances of being hired for jobs or being rejected by friends and family.

So why are the media’s mental health inaccuracies important? Until the media and other information outputs begin to accurately describe mental illness, the wider public will continue to believe the distorted views presented and will act according to these new beliefs. Even from a young age children are taught by what they see in the media and learn from their parents that mentally ill people are to be avoided and are viewed more negatively than other groups (Wahl, 2003). As such an important factor which shapes our views and beliefs, changes need to be made to the allowances that can be made in television and film for the sake of drama.

In the interest of improving public attitudes towards mental illness, focus should be placed on film and television portrayals and the accuracy of the traits caused by the character’s diagnosis. To do this, mental health professionals and advocates could offer consultation on films and advice on how to appropriately portray mental illnesses, specifically the level of violence displayed by the mentally ill characters which needs to be reduced. Children’s programs and films, especially, need improvement to educate the next generation and teach them to be open to differences in other people without discrimination based on stereotypes. While children’s media is currently failing to truthfully and positively present the issue of mental illness, news media has shown improvement. A recent study on news pieces on television reported that 66% of 264 news items centred on individuals with mental illness were reported in a positive or neutral manner (Henson, et al., 2009).

An Australian mental health organisation, SANE, aims to reduce the inaccuracies and stigmatising material being presented on Australian television with the help of volunteers who report inappropriate portrayals of mental health. While the goals of the project are well meaning and shared by those affected by mental health problems, the organisation lacks progressive action. The most this initiative could do is gain an apology from a reporter who incorrectly depicted a mental health illness. An example of a successful campaign to reduce mental health stigma is Time To Change, a UK organisation which, since 2007, has seen a 4% reduction in discrimination experienced by people with mental illnesses (Time To Change, 2011). This can be attributed to their confronting ad campaigns, community activities, support networks and mental health specific training for nurses and GPs (Time To Change, n.d.). A similar program in Australia could possibly wield equally successful results to the one in the UK and with the addition of a media education program, the reduction in stigma and discrimination could be reduced even further.

**Analysis of the Artefact and your own Learning Experience:**

The Time To Change video artefact represents the substantial difference between the stereotypical actions of a mentally ill person and the reality of the way they act. The video shows a worker’s imagination going wild at the idea of talking to a colleague who recently had time off work due to a mental illness. The worker’s head is filled with scenes in which the colleague reacts in a stereotypical ‘mental’ way while the truth is that his colleague is no different to himself or any of the other people working in the office. The absurdity of the worker’s imagined reactions emphasises the irrationality of current mental health stereotypes while using humour to get a serious point across to the viewer about discrimination and prejudice.

Growing up as a child who was exposed to stereotypes and inaccurate representations of mental illness through children’s films and watching the news with my parents, I believed the phrase “mentally ill” to be synonymous with ‘crazy’ and ‘dangerous’. It was only until starting my psychology course that I began to realise that maybe the way I was thinking wasn’t right. After viewing this video and completing the essay, I’ve realised just how much influence the media has had on the lives of people suffering from mental health problems and the inaccuracies of film and television portrayals.

**References:**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2010). //Year Book Australia, 2009-2010. Feature Article 2: Mental Health//. Retrieved from: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/1301.0Chapter11082009%E2%80%9310

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2011). //Measures of Australia’s progress, 2010: Mental health.// Retrieved from: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/1370.0~2010~Chapter~Mental%20health%20%284.1.6.7%29

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Corrigan, P. (2004). How stigma interferes with mental health care. //The American Psychologist,// 59(7), 614-625. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.59.7.614

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Department of Health and Aging. (2001). //How the Australian media report and portray suicide and mental health and illness: the case studies//. Retrieved from: []

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Henson, C., Chapman, S., McLeod, L., Johnson, N., McGeechan, K., & Hickie, I. (2009). More us than them: Positive depictions of mental illness on Australian television news. //The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry,// 43(6), 554-560. doi: 10.1080/00048670902873623

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Pirkis, J., Blood, R. W., Francis, C., & McCallum, K. (2006). On-screen portrayals of mental illness: Extent, nature, and impacts. //Journal of Health Communication,// 11(5), 523-541. doi: 10.1080/10810730600755889

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Stuart, H. (2006). Media portrayals of mental illness and its treatments: what effect does it have on people with mental illness? //CNS Drugs,// 20(2), 99. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Time To Change. (n.d.). What are we doing? Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Time To Change. (2011). Our impact. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Wahl, O. (2002). Children’s views of mental illness: A review of the literature. //Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills//, 6(2), 134-158. doi: 10.1080/10973430208408430

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Wahl, O. F., & Lefkowits, J. Y. (1989). Impact of a television film on attitudes toward mental illness. //American Journal of Community Psychology,// 17(4), 521-528. doi: 10.1007/BF00931176

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Wahl, O., Wood, A., Zaveri, P., Drapalski, A., & Mann, B. (2003). Mental illness depiction in children’s films. //Journal of Community Psychology,// 31(6), 553-560. doi: 10.1002/jcop.10072

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">**Reflection:**

Wiki: Lost in Translation - Technical Takeover of Generation Y Subject: Love the artefact! Message: Your artefact is brilliant. Very powerful and it really gets the message across to the viewer. I particularly liked your point in the Cultural Analysis of reducing health risks associated with the technology instead of the usual unrealistic demand to eliminate all technology. Very interesting read!

Wiki: Health impacts of the sexualisation of mass media and marketing on children and teenagers Subject: Brilliant artefact! Message: I love your chosen artefact and how powerful the last line is. I never knew that the media and advertising industry was that minimally regulated. I really enjoyed reading your essay :)