Mass Media’s Depictions of Mental Illness
I was particularly interested by the overlapping and interconnectedness of different areas of social inequality, such as the role of race and how it influences hiring practices and employment as well rates of incarceration. However, the role of one area of social inequality, such as race, did not simply act linearly in affecting another area of society – rather, I was intrigued by how even the institution of incarceration affected one’s own racial self-identification.
Because of our readings on institutions and its role in a seemingly cyclical structure of society, I intend to explore the cyclical repercussions of mass media’s depictions of mental illness. I am fascinated how, despite many advances in the area of mental health and psychology, there still remains a pervasive stigma regarding mental illness and those who live with mental illnesses. I believe that mass media contributes greatly to the perceptions and depictions of mental illness among society, and these stereotypical perceptions of mental illness are then reproduced and highlighted to confirm society’s current view of mental illness.
In a similar way that mass media disproportionately depicts black people as criminals and thugs, mass media also portrays people with mental illness as violent and as people who should be shut out of society. Mass media contributes to the continuing stigma of people with mental illness and mental illness myths that exists in society today.
[Image file]. Retrieved from I Am Not Crazy Tumblr site: http://notcrazyorg.tumblr.com/post/68279979263
In fact, mass media’s influence on the perceptions of mental illness begins quite early. In a work entitled "Depictions of Mental Illness in Children's Media" by Otto F. Wahl in 2003 which studied the depictions of mental illness in children’s media, Wahl showed that the common media references to mental illnesses are often more negative than positive. Additionally, persons with psychiatric disorders had images that were unattractive, violent, and criminal (Wahl, 2003). References to mental illnesses within children’s media are typically used to ridicule, put down, and belittle (Wahl, 2003).