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False portrayal of mental illnesses in media
False portrayal of mental illnesses in media
Mental illness misrepresentation media
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I was interested in how the media portrays people with psychological disorders. I wondered if the negative really outweighed the bad. I found out that many more depictions of mentally ill people were negative. Children nurture these negative stereotypes that they learn from these movies and television shows. This will most likely cause the continued development of stigma towards people with psychological disorders. Throughout history, movies and television shows have often included characters that are mentally ill. Unfortunately, many of these depictions are negative. Because of these portrayals, many people inaccurately assume mentally ill people are dangerous and cannot be productive members of society. The media stereotypes people with psychological disorders as violent and dangerous which increases social stigma. Stigma deprives people with mental illness from participating fully in society. The negative attitudes that people have greatly affect not only the lives of mentally ill people but their recovery as well. Most scientists agree that stigma doesn’t just emerge during adulthood. These stereotypes are perpetuated from childhood. Children gain their knowledge and understanding of mental illnesses in many ways. Scientists agree that one of the most significant ways is through media. Images of mental illnesses are common in media and are more often negative than positive. Whether it is in movies, television shows, books, or comic books, these images are everywhere. Many villains in comic books start out as a scientist who then goes crazy; basically claiming that madness turns good people into villains. In the Harry Potter book and movie series, Harry is warned to stay away from Sirius Black because he is mad. A study conducted in New Zealand by Wilson, showed that 46% of the episodes of children’s programming they watched contained one of more
In his research, Wahl used the film One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest and measured the difference of his students attitudes toward mental illness before watching the movie and after. Results prior to the movie show no significant differences in attitudes towards mental illness, but after results strongly skewed towards the negative outlook on mental illness. Domino then showed a documentary of real life mental hospitals juxtaposing One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest to students who had watched One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest and those who had not. “Those who watched the movie opinions still skewed significantly towards negative attitudes, but those who had just seen the documentary were skewed towards the positive side. Thus showing the impact of the film, that is fictional severely impacted individuals to not trust reality of mental hospitals depicted in the documentary” (Wahl 348-349).
There is an umbrella of different mental disabilities that are not shown on television. Common disorders are usually depression, anxiety, and less often, bipolar disorder (Bastién 12). Even more common, when disorders such as schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder, and antisocial personality disorder are portrayed on television, they tend to give off a negative connotation on mental disorders. Not all people with mental disorders are “idiosyncratic serial killers” like Hannibal or “grotesquely destructive characters” like Elliot on Mr. Robot (Bastién 13). If society is not developing a stigma of those with mental
The stigma and negative associations that go with mental illness have been around as long as mental illness itself has been recognized. As society has advanced, little changes have been made to the deep-rooted ideas that go along with psychological disorders. It is clearly seen throughout history that people with mental illness are discriminated against, cast out of society, and deemed “damaged”. They are unable to escape the stigma that goes along with their illness, and are often left to defend themselves in a world that is not accepting of differences in people. Society needs to realize what it is doing, and how it is affecting these people who are affected with mental illness.
Many recent movies contain this same concept, one of which is The Dark Knight. The most famous villain in the Batman series is The Joker. The Joker is considered a mass-murderer, a psychopathic killer, and an unstable character. Like Norman in Psycho, “…the Joker has often been casually diagnosed with schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder,” showing that through how the villain is portrayed, the viewers classify them with a certain disorder without fully being aware of what the actual symptoms of the disorder is (John Goodwin and Izzat Tajjudin). As people are classifying mental illnesses with no background information other than what is given in the movie, stereotypes for mental disorders are formed. These stereotypes vilify those who are mentally ill because they have a predetermined outlook on each illness based on a movie. Because the movies have mentally ill villains, like the Joker, the viewers will automatically think that the mentally ill are very capable at turning into a psychopathic killer. Therefore, movies like the The Dark Knight cause the viewers to believe that those who have a mental disorder can easily become monstrous due to their state of mind. The movie does not give them a chance to prove it
Everyone has experienced some type of stress in their life. Whether it has been from work, school, or troubles at home, stress is stress. If anyone had played sports in high school, you know the challenge of balancing school and sports. Imagine that stress, then multiply it exponentially. Everyone knows that college is a much more rigorous version of high school. The only reason some athletes made it to college is due to scholarships for their performance on the field. If they don’t perform well on the field, that scholarship might get cut. This makes practicing the athletes main priority. However, college athletes have to concentrate on their grades so they don’t drop out of college. These athletes know they may not make it to the pro’s, so they know they have to have a back up plan. This back up plan is called a college degree. So college athletes have to concentrate both on sports and classes. Sounds kind of challenging. This is why I believe student athletes should be allowed to miss classes occasionally due to their sport. Athletes are under much more stress, are required to attend practices and classes, and complete their homework. This is simply impossible to do, at least for a human. I believe that this is an important topic because it affects all college athletes.
This stereotype contributes to the stigma individuals’ face and encourages social exclusion and intolerance, especially in schizophrenia (Ray & Brooks Dollar, 2014). Ken sought out help and went to the emergency room because he recognized he was severely depressed. There, the doctor promised he would not be put in restraints, yet when he was taken to the hospital, he was placed in restraints because it was company policy (Steele & Berman, 2001). Due the stigma that individuals with mental illness are violent, Ken was not treated fairly (Stuart & Arboleda-Florez, 2012). Stuart and Arboleda-Florez (2012) are very credible authors to be writing on the effects of stigma in mental health. Both authors have experience in psychiatry, combatting stigma and mental health issues.
Stereotypes and stigmas promote a dangerous, single-minded perspective. These incomplete or half-truths are often far more duplicitous than lies, as they are more difficult to detect. When these perspectives remain unchecked, they can result in far-reaching, adverse consequences. It is the individual’s duty to refuse to perpetuate this single story perspective. Due to misinformation presented by the media, the stigma surrounding mental illness has created a discriminatory single story perspective; however, through honest and open dialogue, particularly with those suffering from these diseases, these stereotypes can be abolished.
Throughout her presentation, she explains how public stigmas, once again, cause label avoidance pushing many who need help away from treatment. She then goes on to explain how these stereotyped behaviors cause discrimination towards people with a mental illness from employment to housing which only leads to the creation of more stigmas. Finally, she states how the impact of stigmas is associated with the reduction of self-esteem, overall poor health, and problems with interpersonal relationships (Willits). By using this presentation I am able to connect what we have learned about mental health stigmas to my article. First off, for example, Morris explains how psychiatric units invoke people to imagine a frightening place where insane patients are strapped down and poked and prodded for care (Morris). This stereotypical idea relates to how Willits described general stereotypes associated with mental illness such as crazy and dangerous (Willits). On top of that, Willits explained how these stigmas have negative consequences for patients (Willits). This relates to Morris’s explanation on how the stigma around institutions has caused these units to shut down forcing many people to be homeless or live in jail
There is a great need to push psychopathological studies to include more connections between the mental ill and their potential to commit violent acts. Not everyone who has mental illness will commit violent crimes. Corrigan suggested, “Although, we must proceed with caution before isolating those with mental illness, it still warrants a deeper look into changing how this population is cared for and monitored. The discrimination and stigma associated with mental illnesses stem in part, from the link between mental illness and violence in the minds of the general public (DHHS, 1999, Corrigan, et al., 2002). That stereotype has
The two different types of stigma have different effects on the attitude towards those with mental health issues. The public stigma can lead to discrimination and prejudice. The prejudice and discrimination that result from the public stigma can prevent those diag...
People with schizophrenia are inaccurately portrayed in the offensive and stigmatizing film Me, Myself & Irene. The only way to prevent the stigma associated with these films is to get involved. Watch your own attitudes and behaviors and educate yourself and others as much as you can. Comedy and fantasy have their place in film but not at the expense of children and adults who struggle daily to overcome mental illness. A comedy that similarly made fun of cancer or AIDS would never be tolerated. The entertainment industry must learn that this exploitation of mental illness is unacceptable. Unfortunately, the entertainment industry continues to present people with mental illness in a negative light. They have wide ranging consequences for the lives of those with mental illness and for the ways people act towards others with psychiatric disorders.
These harmful depictions of people who suffer from mental illness only serve to fuel the stigma surrounding them, and they are usually only included in media for the sake of tension and constant drama. Or it might be used to pull a laugh out of people, which, an example of this might be someone who is struggling with depression offhandedly mentioning they might kill themselves in an apathetic way. And yes, people laugh at this, because most people take something like that as a joke, because it is frequently written as one. I am not completely blaming the audience here, in fact, I’m not blaming them at all, I place all of my blame on the writers and directors of these shows and movies. The audience is just manipulated into believing what the writers tell them is
The stigma is created by the lack of knowledge, narrow-minded attitudes, and the acts of judgment against people who have a mental illness. The stigma results in extensive consequences for the individuals being affected. The stigma ends up becoming worse than the mental illness itself because it prevents individuals from seeking help during the early stages of the mental illness. There is even a vast availability of mental-health treatments that are effective, yet the majority of people experiencing problems related to mental-health does not seek help. 28% of the adult population of the United States have a diagnosable mental condition and only 8% seek treatment. These statistics help prove that stigma is one of the main reasons for individuals not willing to seek help. The individual fears being stigmatized. They fear being rejected by their loved ones and the general public. They do not want to be devalued. The way that individuals with mental illnesses are called “the mentally ill” in the media just makes the stigma even worse. This makes the person feel defined solely by their disability, which is inhumane. The person begins to feel less of a human being. In the media, they are viewed as being dangerous and violent, which results with inhumanity towards the individual. This just increases the negative stereotypes towards individuals with a mental
Most Mentally ill people are not violent and repeated studies have shown that there is only a small significant association with mental illness. Many people presume that crimes that are committed are committed by people with mental illness due to not knowing the facts because most people shy away from educating their selves about mental illness and what it is.
Mass media “references to people with mental health problems found more than four in ten articles in the press used derogatory terms about mental health and nearly half of press coverage related mental illness to violence and crime” (Esseler, 244). This is causing for people to look down upon the mention of mental illnesses and many times ignore the importance of confronting this issue. Therefore the importance of removing this stigmatization is crucial. Education allows to make more informed decisions and then changing the perception of mental illness can lead towards policy changes toward the improvement of mental health (Sakellari,