How the Media Is Enabling the Stigmatisation of Mental Illness
*Hello 1 person reading this post (my mum), I just wanted to say this is not going to be as sarcastic or satirical as usual but it is a very important topic to me so I would appreciate you reading and being impressed by my investigative efforts😛.*
For my Dad's Christmas present I bought him tickets to see author Matt Haig speak in Brighton. Whilst I had only read one of his fiction novels, I was aware of his writings about his own experiences with mental illness in "Reasons to Stay Alive" and, "Notes on a Nervous Planet".
In short, the talk was brilliant. Haig was not only interesting and engaging, but was able to bluntly discuss topics we often shy away from. Yet, I did not leave feeling depressed, in fact I felt refreshed. Haig was not telling a 'woe is me' play-by-play of his own breakdown, but was trying to normalise mental health issues, whilst presenting some thought provoking ideas about how the modern world is seemingly targeted to make us as anxious as possible.
My reason for writing this post was Haig's discussion of how mental health issues are reported in the media.His comments reminded me of a Psychology project I did in school, where we had to go through newspapers and note the context of any story involving mental health. I remember what I found being quite disheartening, so obviously I thought I'd try and make everyone reading this sad by doing it again, to see if anything has changed. I know, this is a huge journalistic investigation, I'm doing God's work, you're all welcome.
Relaying what Haig bought up, there is an odd phenomenon surrounding reports of celebrities' mental health struggles, whereby the phrase "admits" is often used.
The issue is that the word 'admits', for me anyway, brings an instant association with someone who's finally exposed some dark secret in order to free themselves from the burden of keeping it hidden. I know that sounds overdramatic, but these are the other stories that came up today when I searched "admits" into the news engine on google:
Call me old fashioned but I don't think Katy Perry discussing her depression is comparable to slavery or murder? Whilst it is good to read that people you may look up to have also struggled, at the same time using words like 'admits' means people start to believe that suffering from a mental illness is something that needs to be admitted, and therefore kept secret as long as possible - like committing a crime. This only perpetuates the issue of feeling isolated and embarrassed, and does the opposite of normalising the problem. Interestingly, the interviews themselves often include the person saying how important it is to get help and open up, but if the headline doesn't portray this important message, then the damage is already done.
Why are we sensationalising but also trivialising something so sensitive that is also innately human?
In fairness, you could say I'm being too sensitive about the headlines, I'm not, but I understand. However, the irresponsible reporting of mental illness doesn't end with celebrities. Another worrying trend is the association the news creates between criminality and mental health issues through its over use of mental health-related terms in reports of crime. Especially when one is unrelated to the other. Murder has never been a symptom of anxiety.
Don't get me wrong, if someone's crime has been excused on mental health grounds or a psychiatrist has determined they did something heinous due to a mental illness, this is arguably necessary information to report. Yet, in all the above cases that is not what's happened. Too often the media looks for mental health issues to explain and excuse malign behaviour. Not only does this enforce stigmatisation surrounding the functioning of those with mental illnesses, but for those suffering and worrying about losing control, such stories only enforce their fears and self-loathing. No-one's going to want to "admit" to their illness if they think everyone else is going to judge them negatively.
Essentially, I just wonder whether it's necessary to report an offender's mental health issues if they have not been seen as relevant by the court itself. You wouldn't care that a mass shooter had a heart condition, so why is their bipolar disorder relevant if judges and psychiatrists have dismissed it? To reiterate, such claims are sensationalist and create a negative association between mental health disorders and criminality.
I would like to see a headline like, "Girl, 20, leaves room and goes to uni after a week in bed". The reality is mental health issues aren't fun and they can over take your life, but at the same time they are mostly outwardly mundane. There are literally millions of people who are successful and functioning with severe mental health issues, something I think needs to be celebrated more. Stop scaring sufferers with the extremes of mental health and present positive examples of people who have overcome issues. Why aren't their stories with headlines like, "Jane Doe, who suffers from depression, found a potential cancer cure"? If we're going to add people's illnesses to negative stories why not just do it for everything so that both sides are represented? If you think thats unnecessary then why is it necessary in any other context.
If that left you feeling deflated, fear not, for I have linked below some positive sites that encourage the much needed, honest conversation about mental illness, as well as those containing personal stories on overcoming the 'struggle':
https://medium.com/mental-health-league/7-inspiring-stories-on-mental-health-you-should-read-bb5bf1552e95
https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2017/02/02/take-time-to-talk-about-mental-health/
https://adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/personal-stories
https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/personal-stories
https://www.philly.com/opinion/commentary/teenage-suicide-social-media-statistics-20190327.html
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It goes without saying that our attitudes towards mental health issues nowadays, are miles ahead of those of even our parents' generations. However, we still have a long way to go. This is no better highlighted than the medias presentation of all things mental health.
For my Dad's Christmas present I bought him tickets to see author Matt Haig speak in Brighton. Whilst I had only read one of his fiction novels, I was aware of his writings about his own experiences with mental illness in "Reasons to Stay Alive" and, "Notes on a Nervous Planet".
 |
| credit: Amazon. (but more so Matt H who wrote the actual book) |
My reason for writing this post was Haig's discussion of how mental health issues are reported in the media.His comments reminded me of a Psychology project I did in school, where we had to go through newspapers and note the context of any story involving mental health. I remember what I found being quite disheartening, so obviously I thought I'd try and make everyone reading this sad by doing it again, to see if anything has changed. I know, this is a huge journalistic investigation, I'm doing God's work, you're all welcome.
Celebrities
Relaying what Haig bought up, there is an odd phenomenon surrounding reports of celebrities' mental health struggles, whereby the phrase "admits" is often used.
 |
| Finding these headlines took me no time at all, most are only from the last year. |
The issue is that the word 'admits', for me anyway, brings an instant association with someone who's finally exposed some dark secret in order to free themselves from the burden of keeping it hidden. I know that sounds overdramatic, but these are the other stories that came up today when I searched "admits" into the news engine on google:
Call me old fashioned but I don't think Katy Perry discussing her depression is comparable to slavery or murder? Whilst it is good to read that people you may look up to have also struggled, at the same time using words like 'admits' means people start to believe that suffering from a mental illness is something that needs to be admitted, and therefore kept secret as long as possible - like committing a crime. This only perpetuates the issue of feeling isolated and embarrassed, and does the opposite of normalising the problem. Interestingly, the interviews themselves often include the person saying how important it is to get help and open up, but if the headline doesn't portray this important message, then the damage is already done.
Why are we sensationalising but also trivialising something so sensitive that is also innately human?
Criminality and mental health
In fairness, you could say I'm being too sensitive about the headlines, I'm not, but I understand. However, the irresponsible reporting of mental illness doesn't end with celebrities. Another worrying trend is the association the news creates between criminality and mental health issues through its over use of mental health-related terms in reports of crime. Especially when one is unrelated to the other. Murder has never been a symptom of anxiety.
 |
| Just a few of the many articles linking mental health to criminal acts, regardless of the fact that the subjects were still charged regardless |
Don't get me wrong, if someone's crime has been excused on mental health grounds or a psychiatrist has determined they did something heinous due to a mental illness, this is arguably necessary information to report. Yet, in all the above cases that is not what's happened. Too often the media looks for mental health issues to explain and excuse malign behaviour. Not only does this enforce stigmatisation surrounding the functioning of those with mental illnesses, but for those suffering and worrying about losing control, such stories only enforce their fears and self-loathing. No-one's going to want to "admit" to their illness if they think everyone else is going to judge them negatively.
Essentially, I just wonder whether it's necessary to report an offender's mental health issues if they have not been seen as relevant by the court itself. You wouldn't care that a mass shooter had a heart condition, so why is their bipolar disorder relevant if judges and psychiatrists have dismissed it? To reiterate, such claims are sensationalist and create a negative association between mental health disorders and criminality.
I would like to see a headline like, "Girl, 20, leaves room and goes to uni after a week in bed". The reality is mental health issues aren't fun and they can over take your life, but at the same time they are mostly outwardly mundane. There are literally millions of people who are successful and functioning with severe mental health issues, something I think needs to be celebrated more. Stop scaring sufferers with the extremes of mental health and present positive examples of people who have overcome issues. Why aren't their stories with headlines like, "Jane Doe, who suffers from depression, found a potential cancer cure"? If we're going to add people's illnesses to negative stories why not just do it for everything so that both sides are represented? If you think thats unnecessary then why is it necessary in any other context.
 |
| Just a happy pic. to break up the rant- for some fab positive stories visit: https://medium.com/mental-health-league/7-inspiring-stories-on-mental-health-you-should-read-bb5bf1552e95 |
Tabloid's Language
Arguably, the worst offenders for insensitive content are the tabloids. With exaggerated headlines needed to grab the attention of readers, I wanted to see whether mental health is also misrepresented within the articles' content. To do this I took the text from around 10 of the most recent articles from the 'The Daily Mail" that used "mental health" as a keyword. This included a story about a celebrity 'struggle', a few on the UK's 'mental health crisis' and one story on a man who joined ISIS.
 |
| As you can see from the screen grab of my search there's a lovely range of stories from objectification, political content and the classic ISIS mental health link. Already off to a good start. |
Worryingly, the most common word of all stories was 'suicide', despite the fact that only a two out of the many was a report of a suicide itself. Similarly, 'ISIS', 'young people' and 'youth' came up a lot; as did 'struggles' and 'fighting'. To be honest, I'm baffled by the prevalence of "ISIS" as only one article explicitly focused on it (and that article did not account for all mentions of the word). Perhaps this is indicative of the scaremongering and sensationalising tactics used by tabloids to entice readers? Who knows. No matter the reason, as said a million times already, the associations formed from such language only adds to the stigma surrounding mental illness.
Equally, the fact that phrases like 'youth' or 'young people' are so commonly used, highlights the misguided belief that mental health is only a problem for young people. Yes, research seems to suggest a surge in diagnosed mental health issues in 'millennials' and younger, however over-emphasis on this fact has the potential to diminish the struggles of any 'non-youths'. Arguably, it could cause people to dismiss a young person's mental health issue as typical 'snowflake' behaviour, as many of these articles blame the rise on trivial matters like social media or exams. Whilst such things can undoubtedly harm our wellbeing or exacerbate a developing/developed problem, such causal conclusions serve to misrepresent the true impact of a mental illness, and ignore the need to to find a solution not a blame.
Similarly, those over 21-25 may dismiss their own symptoms thanks to a reinforced belief that mental illness is something you should have grown out of, or only suffer from if you are a weak 'snowflake'. Any misunderstanding increases the want to avoid getting help for fear of judgement, thus risking a more severe outcome of an untreated mental illness. We wouldn't tell a young person that thought they had a breast lump not to get it checked out because only old women get breast cancer, so why should those of a mature age be encouraged to think the same about mental illness?
Ultimately, it would appear reporting still features a negative bias towards representation of mental health issues (whether intentional realise it or not). I believe the media needs to be held accountable for their role in educating society on the truth of mental illness. Whilst there's no doubt education in schools needs to improve, the media is where the majority turn to to be informed, and like it or not, it has a huge influence on the formation of our beliefs. There needs to be better monitoring on subjective reporting of sensitive issues that could be detrimental to our understanding of mental illness. On a more general level, there should also be consequences for papers that report any story (mental illness related or not) in such a sensationalist manner that it loses all fact and is simply grabbing at straws to provoke readers.
If that left you feeling deflated, fear not, for I have linked below some positive sites that encourage the much needed, honest conversation about mental illness, as well as those containing personal stories on overcoming the 'struggle':
https://medium.com/mental-health-league/7-inspiring-stories-on-mental-health-you-should-read-bb5bf1552e95
https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2017/02/02/take-time-to-talk-about-mental-health/
https://adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/personal-stories
https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/personal-stories
https://www.philly.com/opinion/commentary/teenage-suicide-social-media-statistics-20190327.html
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