Impact of Media on the Mentally Ill People - Literature review Example

Impact of Media on the Mentally Ill Introduction Consider the some of these movie characters - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Freddie Kruger (A Nightmare on Elm street 2010), Norman Bates (Psycho, 1960) and all the characters in the movie Shutter Island (2010); the link is unmistakable – all these characters are mentally unstable, are violent and dangerous. Perceptions of mental illness in the media, has always been an undesirable, scary and something that happens to ‘others’ and therefore ‘better left alone’, and people who suffer from mental illness are considered outsiders (Olstead, 2002). This essay shall discuss the manner in which media like television, soap operas, novels, newspapers and magazines, and depicts mental illnesses like schizophrenia and depression, and the impact of such depiction on the people who are mentally ill. It shall argue that most media portrayal has been negative rather than accurate, and have contributed to the fear mystery and stigma associated with the mentally ill, and has exacerbated their suffering. A lot more awareness has to be brought in to change the deeply entrenched perceptions of fear and suspicion in the minds of people to accept the afflicted as legitimate human beings who are victims and need to be helped. Depiction of Mental Illnesses in the Media Nimira Lalani and Carlyle London (2006) point out that, when a jogging woman was murdered by an unknown attacker in the year 2003 near Victoria Park, East London, and there were no records of previous crime statistics in the area, and the police the automatically assumed that the murder was committed “by a deranged psychiatric patient living in the community” (p. 1). A wide range of mass media (Wahl, 2004) is used to get information regarding the behaviour of mentally ill people; given in Table 1 are some such media types. Of these, visual media like cinema and television and now the internet, have the inherent power to entertain as well as inform and influence; “What they do see can color their perspective, leading them to fear, avoid and discriminate against individuals with mental illness” (Tartakovsky, 2009). In some cases regarding mental illnesses the influence of visual media on people is so intense that it even supersedes personal experiences of those people and their associations with the mentally ill (Philo, 1996 cited by Rose, 1998). As cited in the examples in the beginning or this essay, movies too portray dangerous people as being associated with mental illnesses, and vice-versa. Empirical as well as theoretical data point out that, media portrayals of the mentally ill seem to have strong links with danger, violence and a propensity to crime (Cutcliffe and Hannigan 2001, cited in Harris, 2004 p. 34). Kismet Baun (2009) echoes the observation and states that, “Movies, television, newspaper articles and books often present people with mental illnesses as dangerous or unstable” (p.27).  This researcher goes a step further to point out that “Persons identified as mentally ill are all too often embraced by the media as the secular version of the devil, transmogrified into the out-of-control madman bent on a rampage of seemingly inexplicable death and destruction” (Baun 2009, p. 27). Even children’s books and films are no exception to this slander of image regarding the mentally ill. In the United States, a recent study (Wahl 2003) on the depiction of mental illness in children's media there, found repeated references to mental illness and pertinently the portrayal of positive perspectives of the mentally ill characters were far less as compared to the negative images of the mentally ill characters that connected violence and crime (Stout, Villegas and Jennings 2004, p. 553). Four Aspects of Distortion in the Depictions A detailed study undertaken by Katie McCracken, Mick Carpenter, and Fred Fabre (2008) of England reveals that attitudes and misconceptions regarding mental illness or the mentally ill have hardly changed. “Disapproval or ridicule of people with mental illness rose from 72% to 75%, and 17% as opposed to 21% of people felt that it was easy to tell mentally ill from normal people” (p. 19). Various researchers point to important gaps and distortions in the way that mental illness and the mentally ill are depicted in the media and reality, which are explained in detail in the following pages: 1) The most striking gap is that in most cases the mentally ill are portrayed in the media as being dangerous and the general public as victims of crime; in reality, the mentally ill are more likely to be victimized by the public. Be it a movie or a reality show, a news channel or soap opera, the media continues to broadcast the stereotype the various misconceptions regarding mental illness.  Like the movie Psycho (1998), the main character of Mr. Bates is himself depicted as having been a victim of mental abuse by his mother. In reality too, experts like Cheryl K. Olson, Sc.D., co-director of the Centre for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Psychiatry observe that “research suggests that mentally ill people are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence” (cited in Tartakovsky, 2009). 2) People with mental illness are painted as very different from ‘normal’ people who form a society; this makes them be identified primarily through their illness more than any other trait, making them appear almost as ‘others’, who have to be separated and closeted. For example, McCracken, Carpenter, and Fabre report the following, “A number of participants across the focus groups expressed the view that Joseph Fritzel (The Sun, 3rd October, 2008)…could not have been ‘mentally ill’, because he had ‘planned his actions’ and had managed to keep his abuses from the community for so many years” (2008, p. 36). 3) Distortion or misrepresentation of facts like depiction of mental health professionals as unscrupulous, exploitative, mentally unsound, and unethical on one side- Tartakovsky cites Dr. Olson to illustrate a recent episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit in which the psychiatrist is depicted as “greedy and arrogant” and as one who “exploited his patients” and furthermore, he is revealed to be the killer (2009); and on the other hand, ambiguity of the disease suffered by mentally ill patients – for example schizophrenia is often mixed with multiple personality disorder and depression as resulting from chemical substance abuse etc; Olstead (2002) describes this as "lacking in markers of social identity" (p. 625), and argues that representing people with mental illness in this one-dimensional light supports a depiction of such individuals as subhuman. 4) Men are more represented in the media as having mental illnesses while depression in particular is considered to occur more in women, “Gender bias, too was found in direct-to-consumer advertising of antidepressants that frames depression as a female condition; in doing so, it perpetuates the stereotype of females as biologically depressive” (Grow, Park, & Han, 2006, cited in Klin and Lemish 2008, p.438). Positive portrayals of mental illnesses and handling them successfully with reintegration into the society are rare, like in the movie A Beautiful Mind (2001). Impact of Negative Media Portrayal on Victims and the Society The first and unmistakable impact is the stigmatization of mental illnesses and the people who have such conditions. A research on attitudes towards mental illnesses on 154 university undergraduate students by Granello and Pauley (2000 cited in Stout et. al 2004) reveals that in about one-third of the participants “amount of time spent watching television was significantly and positively related to intolerance toward mental illness, was associated with authoritarian views toward people with mental illness, and was associated with less positive attitudes of benevolence” (p. 554). One of the most significant and detrimental effects of the stigma associated with mental illnesses and mentally ill people is that it sets in motion these chain of events; the negative depictions influence public perceptions with a bias against the mentally ill; and in addition, they also impact the mentally ill, with an inferiority complex and lowered self-esteem. This leads to a reduced incidence of seeking remedial measures/treatment for mental illnesses and the mentally ill. The fear of stigmatization may often push those in need of treatment, to stay away from it and exacerbate the situation. Tartakovsky (2009) observes that workers may even falsely admit to petty crimes and be jailed rather than reveal that they have been to a psychiatric hospital. Researchers Rose, Thornicroft, Pinfold and Kassam (2007) conducted a qualitative, cross-sectional study to investigate the degree of stigma associated with treatment avoidance in 14 year-old school students in England, by studying the manner in which they refer to people with mental illness. The researchers conclude that the findings revealed the “lack of factual information about mental illness, and those which reduce their strong negative emotional reactions towards people with mental illness” and remedial measures sought “by the mentally ill young people may be improved by interventions” that address the aspects mentioned here (p. 4). It is pertinent to quote from the study titled “Mental Disorders Stigma in the Media: Review of Studies on Production, Content, and Influences” by researchers Klin and Lemish (2009) who underline the necessity of detailed research on the subject as it can hold “potential contribution to understanding the mechanisms that create and reinforce mental illness stigmas as well as their contribution to their reduction. Reduction of stigmas will encourage the ill to request assistance that may ease their suffering, assist their integration into society, prevent harm to their self-image and family life, and prevent economic damage to health and employment systems. Similarly, a thorough and consistent discussion of mental health policy issues may influence decision makers in the allocation of appropriate resources” (p. 444). Conclusion Misconceptions regarding mental illness and the mentally ill have always been existent in the minds of people. They have found expressions through the popular media like newspapers and magazines, television news and reality shows on television, books and movies, and more recently in youtube clips in the internet. Studies have revealed that public gain much of their knowledge regarding mental illnesses through mass media and furthermore, are influenced by it. The influence of the media is so powerful that it sometimes even negates personal experiences of people with people who are mentally ill. Distorted images of the mentally ill and their interactions are of four types – that the mentally ill victimize people with their violence and propensity to commit crimes, while in actuality they are victimized more than the ‘normal’ people; they are ‘labelled’ as being different from the majority and hence are ‘others’ who do not belong to the society and therefore have to be confined; psychiatric practitioners are exploitative, while the treatment seekers are ‘sub-human’ or inhuman; and lastly the gender bias associated with mental illness – that men are more susceptible to illnesses such as schizophrenia while depression always affects women, and so on. The most important impact of the negative media portrayal of mental illness and the mentally ill have a sort of rippling effect in the society, with stigma being attached to the victims. The stigmatization in turn leads to lowered self-concept in the affected and prevents their seeking treatment, which in turn exacerbates the condition and magnifies the problem. In order to prevent further deterioration, deep analysis and research to improve and sensitize content in the media should be undertaken. This study has offered deep insights into the complex interactions between the media and how the public receive it and respond to it by stigmatizing and condemning those marginalized sections of the society that is desperately in need of help. Table 1. Source: National Mental Health Association- 1997 (USA) in "Stigma Matters: Assessing the Media’s Impact on Public Perceptions of Mental Illness" cited in Hottentot, E. I. (2000). Print media portrayal of mental Illness: An Alberta study. Draft. [Edmonton]: Alberta Mental Health Board Consumer Advisory Council. Popular Sources of Information about Mental Illness TV newsmagazine shows 70% Newspapers 58% TV news 51% News magazines 34% TV talk shows 31% Radio news 26% Other magazines 26% Internet 25% Non-fiction books 25% Talk shows on radio 18% Women’s magazines 18% References Baun, Kismet (2009). “The role of the media in forming attitudes towards mental illness” WWW.MOODSMAG.COM WINTER 2009. Available at http://www.ontario.cmha.ca/admin_ver2/maps/moods_media_200812.pdf Harris, R. (2004) Media representation of people with mental health problems. Nursing Times; 100: 34, 33–35. Klin, Anat and Lemish, Dafna (2008). “Mental Disorders Stigma in the Media: Review of Studies on Production, Content, and Influences” in Journal of Health Communication, 13:434–449, 2008. Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. ISSN: 1081-0730. From http://people.oregonstate.edu/~flayb/MY%20COURSES/H549%20Mass%20Media%20and%20Health%2020Winter%202012/Readings/Klin&Lemish08%20Mental%20disorders%20stigma%20in%20the%20media.pdf Lalani, Nimira and London, Carlyle (2006). “The Media: Agents of Social Exclusion for People with a Mental Illness?” in UK Health Watch. Available at http://www.pohg.org.uk/support/downloads/media&mentalmar2006.pdf McCracken, Katie.; Carpenter, Mick .; and Fabre, Fred (2008). “Mental Health, the media and public perceptions- Findings of exploratory focus groups” Available at shift.org.uk/files/media/focusgroups_report.doc Olstead, R. (2002). Contesting the text: Canadian media depictions of the conflation of mental illness and criminality. Sociology of Health & Illness, 24(5), 621–643. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com Philo, G. (Ed.). (1996). Media and mental distress. London & New York: Longman. Rose, Diana.; Thornicroft, Graham.; Pinfold, Vanessa.; and Kassam, Aliya (2007). “250 labels used to stigmatise people with mental illness” in BMC Health Services Research. Available at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/7/97 Stout, A. Patricia. , Villegas, Jorge., and Jennings, A. Nancy (2004). “Images of Mental Illness in the Media: Identifying Gaps in the Research” Schizophrenia Bulletin, 30(3):543-561, 2004. Tartakovsky, M. (2009). Media’s Damaging Depictions of Mental Illness.Psych Central. Retrieved on March 12, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/2009/medias-damaging-depictions-of-mental-illness/ Wahl, O.F.; Wood, A.; Zaveri, P.; Drapalski, A.; and Mann, B (2003). “Mental illness depiction in children's films”. Journal of Community Psychology, 31(6):553-560, 2003. Wahl, O.F., (2004). Stop the presses. Journalistic treatment of mental illness. In L.D. Friedman (Ed.) Cultural Sutures. Medicine and Media (pp. 55-69). Durkheim, NC: Duke University Press. Read More