Understanding mental distress in film and media: a new agenda?

Abstract

This paper surveys some recent developments in media criticism and recent developments in film and media representations of mental distress. Focusing on a representations drawn from various forms of media, the paper argues that media and film images of mental distress are in many cases 'positive' and sympathetic, although they can also contain sexist, racist and other problematic elements that are not commonly identified by anti-stigma campaigners. It also suggests that while still valid in many ways, existing anti-stigma criticism tends to focus on a rather undifferentiated notion of 'violence to others' as the sole criterion against which media images are judged. Finally, the paper proposes that critics and campaigners pay closer attention to how the particular form or genre of any media text influences its treatment of psychological distress.

The Horror of Stigma: Psychosis and Mental Health Care Environments in Twenty-First-Century Horror Film (Part II)

“…Considering the research demonstrates that people experiencing mental ill health are either just as likely (Hyler, ) or even less likely (Baun, ) to commit violent crimes, this link is a fallacious one. Psychosis is often confused with psychopathy (Harper, ; Poseck, ), which is perhaps the reason for this fallacious link. However, this does not excuse the misinformation provided by these films, misinformation that has a stigmatizing effect (Wedding & Niemiec, ).…”

“…If we combine these results, we see that 69.7% (or 23 out of 33 films) either directly or indirectly link psychosis with identity disorders. Cinematic portrayals of mental ill health are often inaccurate (Pirkis et al., ; Poseck, ; Wedding et al., ), and schizophrenia is often confused with identity disorders, most notably DID (Harper, ; Wedding et al., ). In fact, schizophrenia is often used as a general term to describe any form of mental ill health (Wedding et al., ).…”

Madness in the movies: An evaluation of the use of cinema to explore mental health issues in nurse education

“…Furthermore, cinematic portrayals of mental illness can have a significant impact upon public perceptions of and reactions to people who experience mental health issues particularly around stigma, marginalisation and discrimination (Chouinard, 2009). Although some representations are negative, some commentators argue that many film images of mental distress, though challenging, can be positive and empathetic (Harper, 2008;Kelly, 2006). However, the depiction of available treatments and the role of mental health practitioners are generally negatively portrayed (Baghar, 2005;Byrne, 2009).…”

“…Cinema, as a powerful medium, has the capacity to invoke strong emotions and feelings and may influence the viewer's knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and ultimately their behaviours (Byrne, 2009). In terms of mental health issues specifically, several studies have investigated creative ways of tackling stigma and innovative ways of addressing government concerns about societies' negative responses M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 3 towards people who experience mental health problems (Dale et al, 2014;Harper, 2008). Some studies have looked at film depictions of treatments such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and its perceived use as an instrument of social control (McDonald and Walter, 2009;Sharma and Malik, 2013).…”

The Pedagogy of Saneness: Sane-Centricity in Popular Culture as Pedagogy

“…Slasher films best represent the realities of mental patients in crazed states of mind (Nowell, ; Worland, ). The slasher subgenre conflates ‘psychotic’ (Chmielewski, ) or ‘psychoses’ with the ‘psychopathic’ (Harper, ). These psychopaths suffer from all of the indignities of psychoses, delusions, and hallucinations (Owen, ).…”