Violence, drugs, and psychiatric disorders: news from the Brazilian press

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe the way that the Brazilian press reports on episodes of violence involving people with substance-related problems or psychiatric disorders. To develop this documentary study, we analyzed news reports from September 2009 to August 2015 in two major Brazilian newspaper who make their published articles available electronically in the Lexis Nexis Academic® database. The analyses were conducted using descriptive statistics and association tests. We identified 269 news stories related to these themes during the study period. The reported events occurred mainly in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and 68% of the stories suggested a causal relationship between substance use or mental illness and violence. A marked minority (10%) of the stories made reference to prevention or treatment for the conditions studied. We concluded that the Brazilian press issues incomplete reports on episodes of violence involving people with substance-related problems or psychiatric disorders, emphasizing the relationships between these conditions and potential danger, particularly in cases involving drugs.

Keywords:

• Press
• media
• psychiatric disorders
• drug use
• violence

Acknowledgments

Psychiatric Nursing and Mental Health Study Group (GEEPSM) São Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP 2016/25142-0.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Notes

1 https://brasil.estadao.com.br/

2 https://oglobo.globo.com/

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP 2016/25142-0).