Media Depictions of Mental Illness: An Analysis of the Use of Dangerousness

Allen, Ruth; Nairn, Raymond

doi:10.3109/00048679709073847

Cited by 95 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…As noted earlier, previous studies have found that mental illness is frequently presented by the media in a negative manner, and often in the context of crime and violence~Day & Page, 1986;Meagher, Newman, Fee, & Casey, 1995;Philo, McLaughlin, & Henderson, 1996;Allen & Nairn, 1997;Hazelton, 1997;Ward, 1997;Nairn, 1999;Wahl, Wood, & Richards, 2002!. For example, Ward~1997!…”

Section: Media Portrayalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Portrayal of depression and other mental illnesses in Australian nonfiction media

Francis

Pirkis

Blood

et al. 2005

Journal Community Psychology

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This study describes Australian media portrayal of mental illnesses, focusing on depression. A random sample of 1,123 items was selected for analysis from a pool of 13,389 nonfictional media items about mental illness collected between March 2000 and February 2001. Depression was portrayed more frequently than other mental illnesses. Items about depression, eating disorders, and substance use disorders most commonly described policies or programs, whereas items about schizophrenia most frequently portrayed individuals or symptoms and treatment. A minority of items about depression presented information about symptoms, causes, treatment, or prognosis. Although such information was generally accurate, a proportion of items conveyed misleading messages. There is therefore scope for increasing the level of accurate information provided about depression in the Australian media. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 33: 283–297, 2005.

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Section: Media Portrayalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Portrayal of depression and other mental illnesses in Australian nonfiction media

Francis

Pirkis

Blood

et al. 2005

Journal Community Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…This may be because adverse stories are the result not simply of media sensationalism, but of a more subtle collaboration between the assumptions of both journalist and reader (Allen & Nairn, 1997).…”

Section: Information Media and Social Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stigma

Smith¹

2002

Adv. psychiatr. treat

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‘Medicine is a social science, and politics nothing but medicine on a grand scale.’ (Rudolph Virchov, 1848, quoted in Link & Phelan, 1996)Discrimination and prejudice against people with mental illnesses is ubiquitous, pernicious and wrong. The overwhelming case against such stigma has been recognised by initiatives from the UK government, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the US Surgeon General, the World Psychiatric Association and many other organisations

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“…It is possible that portrayals of mental illness as being dangerous fulfil a fundamental human need to build distressing images into familiar narratives, regardless of their objective truth, in order to reduce the uncertainty that they provoke (Salter, 2001). Allen and Nairn (1997) demonstrate how the media exploits the pre-existing common sense of the consumer to construct such narratives, reaffirming established beliefs.…”

Section: The Power Of the Stereotypementioning

confidence: 99%

Psychiatry and the media: from pitfalls to possibilities

Salter

2003

Psychiatr. bull.

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In war, truth is said to be the first casualty. Something similar may be said for psychiatry. The ability of the media to distort public understanding of mental illness is well described (Wahl, 1995; Philo et al, 1994). Psychiatric disorders, their treatments and those who provide them are all subject to overwhelmingly negative portrayals in the print and broadcast media (Hyler et al, 1991). Dehumanisation, inaccuracy and sensationalism seem to be the media's stock-in-trade. Media professionals make no apology for this, citing the provision of impartial, emotionally-neutral accounts as one of their least pressing concerns (Salter & Byrne, 2000). They also reject the notion that they are responsible for the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes, claiming instead that they merely mirror the values and beliefs of our society (Bolton, 2000). This distorting mirror is of great relevance to psychiatry. It is probably no exaggeration to state that the celebrated cases of Christopher Clunis and Ben Silcock have done more to change the practice of community psychiatry than any College President or Secretary of State over the past 5 decades.

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Media Depictions of Mental Illness: An Analysis of the Use of Dangerousness

Cited by 95 publications

References 17 publications

Portrayal of depression and other mental illnesses in Australian nonfiction media

Portrayal of depression and other mental illnesses in Australian nonfiction media

Stigma

Psychiatry and the media: from pitfalls to possibilities

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