Why Accurate Depictions of Mental Illness in the Media are Crucial
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
In the last installment about the stigma of mental illness in the media, I gave examples of harmful representations in film and television, which perpetuate societal discrimination against those who suffer from mental illness. Now, I will continue in the discussion by diving deeper into the negative impacts of these portrayals, and explaining why the spread of misinformation is incredibly harmful. We began the last post by talking about social stigma versus self stigma. To recap: self stigma is derived from social stigma. When something is stigmatized in a society or culture, at large, those widespread beliefs are internalized by individuals. This is incredibly harmful because, not only does it cause non-mentally ill individuals to feel negatively towards people with mental illnesses, but it causes people with mental illnesses to feel negatively towards themselves. This manifests in many ways. According to Stuart (2006), the consequences of negative media images of mental illness include the impairment of:
Self-esteem
Help-seeking behaviors
Medical adherence
Overall recovery
The fear, rejection, and social ridicule that results from negative portrayals of mental illness cause overwhelming shame and self-loathing, which prevents many people from reaching out for help. In mental health care, we recognize that there are countless individuals, worldwide, who are not being treated for their mental illnesses. Stigma prevents people from seeking the help they may need, or deeply desire. Acknowledging the great power that media holds over social thought and hegemony allows us to see the flaws in our society. Still, this is not inherently a bad thing. While media representation of mental illness throughout history has done much to harm those with mental illness, this says a lot about the potential power it has in shifting the narrative. If the media has had this much of a grip on societal beliefs and values, there is great potential for things to turn around. As a matter of fact, we are starting to see these shifts today, in movies like The Skeleton Twins (2014), and Silver Linings Playbook (2012). We will discuss these examples of accurate representations of mental illness in our third and final post in this series. The more accurate, and less dramatized, the portrayals of mental illness are in the media, the more we can normalize such conditions, which will allow for people to get the help that they need.
References
Stuart, H. (2006). Media portrayal of mental illness and its treatments: what effect does it have on people with mental illness? CNS Drugs. 20(2):99-106. doi: 10.2165/00023210-200620020-00002. PMID: 16478286.