articles

Media Portrayal of Mental Health

Nanditha Komirisetty

Introduction

Mental health is a topic that is heavily stigmatized in our society and shows itself in 4 prominent ways: public, self, structural, and associative stigma. Public stigma can cause overt discrimination in daily settings such as the workplace, when an employer passes over an employee for a certain opportunity. This stigma occurs when the general population unfairly stereotypes those with mental illnesses as dangerous, unpredictable, or incompetent. Self stigma is an internalized version of stigma where individuals affected begin to believe they are flawed or weak; they start to blame their mental illness on themselves. This frequently causes shame, lowered self-esteem, and makes it more difficult for those individuals to seek out help. Structural stigma is a type of stigma that is built into rules and institution policies, and creates systemic disadvantages to those that suffer from mental illness, even if it’s unintentional. For example, many mental health care programs are underfunded because many entities and individuals don’t find the topic problematic enough to support. This systemic problem does not root from intentional harm towards those with mental illnesses—it is the combination of lack of reimbursements from insurance companies, not enough awareness of different mental illnesses, and the disconnect between those who try to support the cause. Associative stigma truly shows how mental illnesses impact everyone—even those who are not suffering from mental illness. This stigma projects shame and discrimination onto anyone associated with someone who has a mental illness, which can lead to hiding that mental illness in avoidance of societal judgement. All 4 types of stigma are reasons why many are uninformed or misunderstand most mental illnesses. The representation of mental health in the media further intensifies the misconception of mental illnesses.

Media Representation

Today, mental health has been sensationalized in the film and tv industry; severe mental illnesses are overrepresented, such as antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), bipolar disorder (BPD), dissociative identity disorder (DID), schizophrenia, etc.,while other illnesses like different social phobias and anxiety are often forgotten and underrepresented. For example, according to seattleanxiety.com, “in a study of 60 top-grossing films, schizophrenia and DID were found to be distortedly overrepresented in comparison to their relative rarity in the real world.” Due to this, many viewers can often have a distorted perception of mental illness, leading to misinformation and more stigma towards mental illnesses. This perception of mental illness portrayed by the media often leads to a stereotype that reduces an individual with mental illness as “crazy.” For example, films such as The King Fisher (1991) ostracize the mentally ill as they inaccurately depict mental illnesses and overplay trauma responses. These inaccurate depictions not only foster public stigma, but also deter individuals from seeking help, trivialize real suffering, and romanticize mental illness. Individuals can be deterred from seeking help because the exaggeration shown to them is seen as terrifying and many can see it as a personal failure. Exaggerated media portrayals can also trivialize real suffering because viewers don’t consider the many forms of how mental illness can show up, which restricts mental illness to one specific, inaccurate box; if an individual is not reacting as extremely as a character did in a film, they don’t think it is as important or serious, trivializing their experiences. Certain media depictions can also romanticize mental illnesses because many tv shows and films portray mental illness as unique quirks or personality traits, rather than actual medical conditions that require attention and treatment.

Intended Audience

While media representations intensify the misrepresentations of mental health, they can also help represent those with mental illness, depending on the audience. For example, the target audience for the popular drama show 13 Reasons Why was a younger audience (aimed towards ages 16-25) to spark conversations of mental health and illnesses. Introducing these topics and conversations to younger demographics can help young adults and adolescents get the help they need and improve their mental health at a younger age.

Conclusion

While mental illness depictions can help many feel understood and represented, it can still be skewed. These representations can intensify associative, structural, public, and self stigma that can seriously damage one’s mental health because of their inaccuracy. Media representations of mental illness are not always harmful and inaccurate, but they often can be. Because of this, viewers should keep in mind that not all depictions are accurate and should be careful when they watch films or tv shows with mental illness because many can be influenced by what they watch. Mental health representation in the media doesn’t need to stop, it just needs to become more accurate to help others that have experienced certain conditions.