Mental Disorders Stigma in the Media: Review of Studies on Production, Content, and Influences

Abstract

This article analyzes two decades of research regarding the mass media's role in shaping, perpetuating, and reducing the stigma of mental illness. It concentrates on three broad areas common in media inquiry: production, representation, and audiences.

The analysis reveals that descriptions of mental illness and the mentally ill are distorted due to inaccuracies, exaggerations, or misinformation. The ill are presented not only as peculiar and different, but also as dangerous. Thus, the media perpetuate misconceptions and stigma. Especially prominent is the absence of agreed-upon definitions of “mental illness,” as well as the lack of research on the inter-relationships in audience studies between portrayals in the media and social perceptions. The analysis concludes with suggestions for further research on mass media's inter-relationships with mental illness.

The authors thank Professor Itzhak Levav from the research unit, Mental Health Services of the Israeli Ministry of Health, for his enthusiastic support and important psychiatric insights; and to Dr. Peter Lemish for his excellent editorial contributions. Thanks also to the Western Galilee Academic College for the financial support.