I confirm that I have fully acknowledged all sources of information and help received and that where such acknowledgement is not made the work is my own.

Signed: ……………………….

Dated: ……………………….

Acknowledgements

This dissertation has been made possible thanks to the “Jam Centre” staff at Marjon University, who have taught me a lot in my three years at the University of St Mark and St John. Their support and constructive criticism, as well as great direction has lead to the completion of this dissertation and I’ve learnt a lot during my time at university-both in life and education.

I would especially like to thank my dissertation supervisor Liam French. Liam is a constant fountain of knowledge and has always delivered fantastic lectures during my time at university. An absolute credit to the Jam centre. (Media and Journalism, University of St Mark and St John).

Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their continued support throughout my degree. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.

Abstract

This thesis undertakes an analysis on the ways in which mental illness is portrayed in media texts. The research and methodology included contains statistics from scientific articles, government documents and statistics, popular news articles, scholar texts, television and campaign material; as well as a personal survey in which the data was collected by myself. Mental health charities work tirelessly to end the stigma of mental health and promote good mental health living. Charities such as the “Samaritans” and “Time to Change” are well known and promote positive imagery regarding mental health issues, and there are many more out there working hard to combat the stigma of mental health. Social media has mushroomed over the last few years, and its use has been linked to depression. There is also still a stigma attached to mental health in the media, with tabloidization being part of the problem. I looked at how mental health charities are working to combat the stigma surrounding mental health in the media, and how mental health issues seemed to be reported. It was interesting to see observe how mental health is interpreted by the general public because of the media, the solution to the stigma attached to mental health, and further research that could illuminate the issue further. Mental health reported in an unfair way should be something of the past. It is something the public takes an interest in and mass media influences them, and they need to take responsibility of the part they play in stigma and discrimination aimed at mental health sufferers.

Chapter 1 – An Introduction- Depressed Pilots, Facts and Figures

“When I began to study clinical psychology in graduate school and learn about psychiatric disorders, my television viewing took on added dimensions. I began to notice how frequently mentally ill characters appeared in the shows I was watching, and how commonly those depictions deviated from what I was learning about mental illness. I could not help but notice, in addition, how generally unfavourable television depictions of mentally ill persons seemed to be, with most of these characters appearing as killers and villains.” (Otto F. Wahl, 1997:13.)

It seems now mental health is everywhere in the media especially with the recent increase in campaigns run by charities. Even royalty have had their say, with Kate Middleton recently recording a video in support of “Children’s Mental Health Week” which took place in February, 2015. Kate has been a patron of mental health since 2013. (Place2Be, 2015). Place2Be, the organisation Kate works with, specialise in children’s mental well being and feels it is as important as physical health. Not only do royalty get involved in promoting the anti-stigma campaign but also celebrities.

1 in 4 people in the UK will experience mental health problems every single year. (Mind, 2013).

Mental health problems will affect many, and in recent years statistics have not changed significantly but worries such as jobs and benefits are definitely on the rise leading to concern for the welfare of individuals. In Plymouth, there has been a sharp rise in distressing calls from people threatening to kill themselves urging specialist training to call handlers which has been well reported positively in the local paper. (Plymouth Herald, February 2015).

Not all subjects of mental health reported in the media are positive ones, however. Elliot Rodger went on a rampage in the university town of Isla Vista, California on May 23^rd, 2014. 6 people were killed and 13 more injured. It was later found out he had left behind a 140-page manifesto in which he revealed a hatred of women. (Allen, 2014). He also included the fact that he was a virgin and that he had planned to carry out a “day of retribution”. Soon the media had pounced on the fact that Elliot was mentally ill and a misogynist. More recently, 18 year old Ben Moynihan from The Ridings, Hampshire, attempted to murder 3 women with a 4.5 inch kitchen knife. He was arrested for attempted murder- but of course the press played on the fact he suffered from autism. (Willis, 2015). On the 24^th of March 2015, a man deliberately crashed a Germanwings A320 plane in the French Alps. At first, media reported on how it was an awful “accident” but it wasn’t long before his depression was noted and it turned out the plane had been crashed deliberately by the pilot. BBC news reported how he was “Heavily Depressive” (BBC News Online, 2015) and Piers Morgan writing for The Mail Online stated

“Depressed pilots on medication for mental illness should not be flying passenger planes. That's not insensitive - it's protecting lives.” (Piers Morgan, 2015).

When reading such headlines, without much knowledge on mental health it would be easy to think from the statements that people with mental health should be complete write-offs in society, because they are a danger to those around them (as well as themselves). Such sweeping statements are damaging and stigmatise mental health sufferers.

Figure 1 "Why On Earth Was He Allowed to Fly", (The Daily Mail, 2015).

Figure 2, Twitter Response to Daily Mail German wings front page. (Haig, 2015).

Due to the negative press that circulated about mental health in March 2015 because of one man’s actions, the charity ‘Mind’ reminded the press of their obligations in the following statement-

Clearly assessment of all pilots’ physical and mental health is entirely appropriate - but assumptions about risk shouldn’t be made across the board for people with depression, or any other illness. There will be pilots with experience of depression who have flown safely for decades and assessments should be made on a case by case basis.

Today’s headlines risk adding to the stigma surrounding mental health problems, which millions of people experience each year, and we would encourage the media to report this issue responsibly. (Mind, 27^th March 2015).

People who suffer from mental illness experience all of the key features of stigmatisation and these include being labeled, set apart from others and have many negative connections linked to them. The media has a responsibility when it comes to some of these opinions and the media could be used as a tool for positivity as of course all forms of media reach a vast amount of people. (Link and Phelan, 1999). It seems though despite all the research into mental health and the media, things are slowly taking their time to evolve into something that is positive. The study of how media treat the mentally ill dates as far back as the 1950s. (Taylor 1957; Gerbner 1959).

Facts and figures:

Every seven years, a survey is taken in England to gage the number of people suffering from mental health issues.

Depression	2.6 in 100 people
Anxiety	4.7 in 100 people
Mixed anxiety and depression	9.7 in 100 people
Phobias	2.6 in 100 people
OCD	1.3 in 100 people
Panic disorder	1.2 in 100 people
Post traumatic stress disorder	3.0 in 100 people
Eating disorders	1.6 in 100 people

Figure 3 The Health & Social Care Information Centre, (Adult psychiatric morbidity in England House Hold survey, 2009).

A quarter of the population will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year, with mixed anxiety and depression the most common mental disorder in Britain. Women are more likely to have been treated for a mental health problem rather than men and about ten percent of children have a mental health problem at any one time. However, despite this, British men are three times more likely to die by suicide than British women. Self-harm statistics for the UK show one of the highest rates in Europe: 400 per 100,000 of the population.

(Mental Health Foundation, 2015).

It will be interesting to see how much the media influences the thoughts and feelings of British people living in the UK today when it comes to their judgment of the mentally unwell. It’s also interesting to see how people feel after seeing mental health reported in the tabloids or seeing a mentally unwell person on screen. The rise in the use of social media seems to be having a negative effect on the mental health of people. Studies show that the more time an individual spends on Facebook or other social media, the more likely it is they will suffer from depression. A recent study into social comparison and computer-mediated interactions on Facebook proved that user’s psychological health is impacted. This is due to comparisons made socially which left people feeling inadequate. (Mai-Ly N. Steers, Robert E. Wickham, and Linda K. Acitelli, 2014). It seems that social media makes everyone’s highlights seem like their “behind the scenes”, leading to depression.

There are other illnesses that are popular in the press such as the “Big C For Cancer”or “Live Well” by the NHS campaign which have proven to be very successful. The thing that sets these charities apart from mental health charities is the stigma. Samaritans is still very popular and well received with the public however studies have shown mentally ill people are the most discriminated against group when it comes to having a long-term health condition. People with mental illness are the least likely of any group with a long-term health condition or disability to find work; be in a steady, long-term relationship; live in decent housing or be socially included in mainstream society. (Mental Health Foundation, 2015).

This thesis is made up of various chapters. Chapter 1 (the current chapter) is just an introduction to the piece. Chapter 2 and 3 include my literature review. This includes articles I’ve been reading and researching over the last year or so that are of interest to my chosen subject. These include things such as Mental Health and Celebrity Culture, Film and Television, Social Networking, Tabloidisation, Cyber Bullying, Mental Health in the media and talk of charities. Chapter 4 includes methodology and ethics which continues on to chapter 50- here you can find my survey results. I have analyzed my results in chapter 6 and written a conclusion about my findings and the role of media in the portrayal of mental health.

Chapter 2 - Literature Review- Tabloidization, Media Madness, Film and Television.

Over the last 50 years, in Western countries, there has been an increase in “well-being” and self-improvement. (Barker and Buchanan-Barker, 2008) You could say that emotions are taken very seriously in the culture of today. In a short space of time, major advances regarding mental disorder are now appearing with regularity, particularly in regards to treatment options. Things are changing and for sufferers of mental health disorders, especially in more recent times, as people seem to be “coming out of the closet” in regards to mental health issues. Stephen Fry, a respected English comedian, often speaks of his issues with mental health and his bipolarity. Greater awareness and communication have taken us far from the days were human skulls, dating from thousands of years ago, had evidence of bored holes that were created by other humans’ who had pierced them with sharp, round instruments, presumably to aid the release of evil spirits from inside their heads. (Stephen P. Hinshaw, 2007). The media plays a huge part in mental health activism, with depictions shaping the attitudes of the public through permeating advertisements, newspaper articles, television, radio and film. The media is a means of communication by organisations or individuals with targeted audiences which reaches a large audience and a diverse range of people.

Mass media is always going to be involved in modern culture. There are multiple theories about the influence media has on our culture, and sociologists have studied these theories in depth. These theories include the following:

Limited-effects theory- the belief that people choose what to watch or read based on their own beliefs as a person already and that the media does not have any influence on their views. This theory originated from the 1940s and 1950s. The studies looked at the ability of media to influence voting and the results were that well-informed people relied on personal experience, knowledge and their own reasoning. It is argued however that media “experts” likely swayed those who were less informed.

Class dominant theory- the theory that the media reflects and projects the view of minority elite, who then in hand have control of what is published. People who own and control corporations that produce media comprise this elite. It involves massive corporate mergers of media which limit competition and put big business in charge. The problem with this is that ownership is restricted giving certain individuals the power to manipulate and control what people see or hear. Many companies and networks receive millions of pounds in advertising, from companies such as “Nike” or car manufacturers. Due to this, many companies and networks will not run poor or negative adverts for such products, because they are influenced by money they receive. There is also the argument that the media is run politically. Examples of politically influenced issues on mass media include environmental causes, the anti-nuclear movement and the pro-Gulf War movement. This can be proven with political themed papers, such as the far right “Daily Mail or Labour supporting “Daily Mirror”.

Culturalist theory- a theory developed in the 1980s and 1990s. This theory combines the other two theories and is about people interacting with the media in order to create their own meanings out of imagery and messages from the media that they receive. Audiences choose to watch from a wide range of options, and have the power to take in information at their own digression. Culturalists believe that people approach material based on prior knowledge and experience. This means their interpretation is widely based on things such as age, gender, race, ethnicity or religious background. To finalise, culturalists claim that while the elite may have control over information media produces, perspective plays a bigger role in how it is interpreted. (The Role and Influence of Mass Media, 2014).

The media is the main source of information for most of the public in regards to mental health. Richard C. Barnes and Stephen Earnshaw conducted a study which examined two different formats of newspaper. (Barnes and Earnshaw, 1993).These included “The Independent” (broadsheet) and “The Mirror” (tabloid). They collected all reports related to mental illness over three months from October to December, 1992. The mirror sales averaged around 3.5 million at the time whilst The Independent’s averaged at 386,000. The findings were a total of 5 reports regarding mental illness in “The Mirror” and 46 in “The Independent”. The reports were divided up into four groups. The first group included information about mental illness which totaled 7 (13%) in “The Mirror” and 15 (3%) in “The Independent”. Of the broadsheet articles, 13 were written by journalists compared to 2 written by medically trained writers. The range of illnesses reported was wide, and some of the articles reported directly on published work in psychiatric journals. In comparison, the tabloid newspaper had only 7 articles and no reports of scientific research. Over half the articles were written by the newspaper’s resident medical journalist, a practicing general practitioner.

Reports of individual cases of mental illness formed the second group and the results were 39 (71%) in the tabloid paper and 20 (43%) in the broadsheet items. Despite such large numbers, it was reported that only seven of the cases were reported in both newspapers. This brought the total of 52 cases, 31 which related to criminal acts or suicide. The tabloid newspaper contained a much greater report of suicides (31% compares to 10% in non tabloid). These reports usually involved unusual terminology, such as “Love Rift tycoon’s suicide horror” or “Santa’s suicide plunge”. On top of those cases, 9 people with identifiable psychotic illnesses were reported, and all these circumstances involved crime or murder. They were usually reported with general humorous presentations (“Student Stuns Shrinks”, “My Girlfriend is a Rover Metro”, “Little Boy eats nothing but Spam”). Nine more articles mentioned doctors working in the psychiatric field, and all but two suggest negligent practice.

In regards to terminology, the tabloid paper contained nine examples of said “tabloid terminology”. This is where adjectives which have become associated with the mentally ill are used to describe those unlikely to be so... some examples of these are “Evil Psycho jailed for Life”, “Crazed husband stabs his Wife to Death”, and “Drug-crazed madman holds a baby to Ransom”.

Sadly, this study and results are not surprising and it is no wonder that patients suffering from psychotic illness were represented as violent criminals who commit murder or rape. It seems sensationalism sells papers and psychiatric terminology (used in a negative way such as “psycho”), is extremely popular when reporting horrible crimes.

In conclusion of this study, it is clear to see the media has got an influence on how the public sees those who are mentally ill and can especially influence those who have possibly not been around mental illness themselves. All the blame should not be placed on the tabloids however, and charities working to end the stigma (such as Samaritans and Mind) could work together and hopefully break some of the stigma. Tabloids will always do what they can to sell papers.

Another example of mental health in tabloid media is the Michael Robert Ryan incident. A study was carried out by Appleby and Wessely in 1988. They looked into the Hungerford massacre and the public reaction towards the incident. In Berkshire, UK, 1987 Michael Robert Ryan shot and killed sixteen people, including his own mother and then turned the gun on himself in an unprovoked armed attack.

Figure 4 "Day of the Maniac", (Daily Mirror Front Page, 20th August 1987).

After the Michael Robert Ryan incident, the media focused on his ongoing mental health problems. At the time of the reports, Michael Ryan’s mental state was actually unknown. The study found that the public generally thought that crimes like multiple homicide where usually committed by the mentally ill. However, Appleby & Wessely (1988) conducted another test 6 months later. This newer study brought the conclusion that the amount of people believing such crimes were carried out by the mentally ill decreased. Appleby & Wessely (1988) believe that this was linked to the media and media perception of the crime, which changes as time goes on. The way the media cited the information and language used to report the incident implied that Michael Ryan had a mental illness. For instance, the image above of the “Daily Mirror” front page uses the words “maniac” which is usually a word associated with someone who may suffer from a mental illness. There are other studies such as Phil et al. (1994) that also show two-fifths of the general sample believed that mental illness was actually linked to violence. Those who disagreed with the dominant media message were actually found to have personal experience with mental illness themselves.

From the study, Philo et al. (1994) went on to argue that if there is going to be a destigmatisation of mental illness, the media would need to produce less stereotypical images of people who suffer from mental health problems. Phil et al. (1994) believe that the problems do start with the media, and this can be eradicated with the help of positive mental health promotion and the local media working together. But the question is, would that sell papers?

In 1995, Meagher et al. examined the Irish Daily broadsheets and tabloid papers issued between July and December 1993. What was found included three hundred and eighty articles that reference psychiatric issues and the amount of articles featured on the front page involving psychiatric issues amounted to 69.5%. It was also found out that very few mental health professionals had actually contributed to the writing of the articles, making some articles non-beneficial to the mental health communities and not very constructive nor accurate. Despite the above, mass media is always going to be involved in modern culture

2.2 Mental Health and Celebrity Culture
Within recent years, many mental health charities have popped up in the eyes of the media. They campaign tirelessly for better mental health services, awareness and ending the stigma that may come about from suffering with mental health. These charities go by the names of “Mind”, “SANE”, “Time to Change”, “Place2Be”, and “Samaritans” to name a few. For good publicity, most charities have ambassadors who promote the charity and encourage people to support their cause. In a world full of celebrity culture, mental health charities have jumped on the celebrity bandwagon and taken on celebrities to promote what they believe in. Frankie Sandford, a member of a girl band called “The Saturdays” is an ambassador for Mind. Other famous faces that back mental health charities include Denise Welch, a British actress and presenter who also helps promote mind; and in February 2015 Kate Middleton spoke out in support of children’s mental health issues as earlier mentioned. The press loved Kate’s video, and it was promoted in many tabloids and magazines throughout the UK. The Independent, The Telegraph, Hello Magazine and Daily Mail- to name a few- all wrote articles of praise towards Kate and spoke about how “empowering” her video message was. The coverage “Place2Be” got for using the Duchess of Cambridge was priceless in the publicity that followed from Kate promoting the charity. After all, she is royalty and getting someone like that to promote your charity will generate amazing publicity. It is noticeable that every celebrity has a story to tell- usually about their personal experience with mental health or about supporting a loved one who suffers with mental health problems. Even when it comes to something as serious as mental health- we are reminded daily that we live in the shadow of celebrity culture. Some argue that celebrities getting involved in charities for mental health are tinged with narcissism. Some believe that celebrities may experience an inner emptiness from fame and therefore seek to help others in ways they feel will give them a sense of peace.

Christopher Lasch was a well-known American historian, moralists and social critic. Lasch studied “The Culture of Narcissism” and believes that –

“…people today hunger not for personal salvation, let alone for the restoration of an earlier golden age, but for the feeling, the momentary illusion, or personal well-being, health and psychic security.” (Richman and Lasch, 1979:7).

Barker and Buchanan-Barker more recently commented on the theory Lasch had by stating;

“Anticipating the celebrity age, Lasch noted that in the absence of any sense of psychological peace, meaning or commitment, people experience an inner emptiness, which they try to avoid by living vicariously, through others, or in seeking spiritual masters and other gurus.” (Barker and Buchanan-Barker, 2008:113).

They are citing that celebrities may have other motives than to just help the mentally ill and it is somewhat of a duty they take part in to make themselves ultimately feel better. Lasch calls this “The Therapeutic Sensibility”. He states that people embrace change for personal reasons rather than political reasons and possibly as a form of therapy for themselves- to sum it up, helping others helps you to feel better about yourself.

There is something interesting about using celebrities on mental health campaigns. Frank Bruno, a famous boxer has said,

“As a boxer, you can always see the opponent you’re fighting. Mental health problems, and people’s narrow-mindedness about them, are not so easy to see. That’s why I pledge to support Time to Change – to help make this issue visible and something we can all fight together.” (Frank Bruno speaking on behalf of Time to Change, 2008).

As well as Frank Bruno, Robbie Williams has talked a lot about suffering from mental health issues.

“My first drug of choice was probably fantasy. Fantasising about being an actor or being a singer, going to the moon, whatever. And I don't know if that was to escape a depression. With me, how my depression manifested itself was that I'd stop going out. I lost the cog to socialise. Having said that, I'd get up in front of 40,000 people and say, 'Look at me, I'm ace'. And then as soon as I got off stage, I'd get in the tour coach and go back to my bedroom and pull the duvet over my eyes.” (Robbie Williams, February 2007).

Celebrities are people that everyday people look up to. Having them held so highly above us all can make them seem untouchable. They are constantly worshiped more than your average person, have a fan base and are seen as an inspiration to many. In a way, it’s telling people that it’s OK to have depression or whatever they may be suffering from, and that they are not untouchable to illness in life. No matter how much money and fame you have- it can still affect you. I also think using celebrities in mental health campaigns is a great idea as they help to reduce the stigma attached. I am glad that celebrities have got involved in mental health and the media, despite the fact some may feel they have selfish or narcissistic reasons to do so. When a celebrity talks about mental health, it is reported in a positive way by tabloid papers and media alike. For example, in figure 5 Stephen Fry is mentioned to be “brave” and seems to be a savior to people suffering from mental illness.

Figure 5 "Brave" Stephen Fry made me feel it's OK to tell people I hear voices, (The Sun Newspaper, June 2013).

There is no denying celebrity worship is a massive cult, and the media coverage as well as fans are growing day by day- with the help of online social media platforms also. Psychologists are interested in the link between media coverage, celebrity worship and mental health. It seems to be a coping mechanism that suggests disengagement. Psychologists believe that engaging in celebrity worship may be for intense-personal reasons and not as black and white as liking a famous model or worshiping your favorite musician. McCutcheon et al. (2002) proposed an ‘absorption-addiction’ model to explain such cases of celebrity worship. (John Maltby et al. 2004). According to the model, a compromised identity structure in some individuals facilitates psychological absorption with a celebrity in the attempt to establish an identity and a sense of fulfillment. When looking at the dynamics of the motivational forces driving this absorption it seems that there is some sort of addictive component in worshiping celebrities. This can actually be harmful and lead to extreme behaviours. Extreme behavior can also sometimes worryingly be delusional. The behaviours can become extreme to sustain the individuals satisfaction with the parasocial (one sided) relationship. Low levels of celebrity worship have entertainment values; these can be things such as discussing your favourite celebrity with friends and reading gossip magazines such as “Heat” and “Hello”. This kind of celebrity worship can seem pretty harmless according to Stever (1991). The next type of celebrity worship is Intermediate. Intermediate levels of celebrity worship are a lot more intense. This is when the person thinks things along the lines as their favourite celebrity being their soul mate, and having thoughts and feelings about a celebrity that are uncontrollable. This is a very compulsive obsession. The final and more extreme obsession is labeled borderline worshipping which is pathological. The traits of this can include behaviours such as spending hundreds of pounds on bizarre items from the celebrity (for example, a used napkin) and even going as far as saying they would do something illegal to help out their much loved celebrity. This behavior reflects the individual’s social pathological attitudes and behaviours that are held in result of worshiping a celebrity.

Social pathology came about in the late 19^th and 20^th century when sociologists grouped together human actions which ran contrary to ideals of residential stability, property ownership, sobriety, sexual and in general social aspects of people’s lives. (Sociology Guide, 2015).

2.3 Film and Television

Film and television regularly are entwined with mental health stories- especially British soaps. It seems like they enjoy making a good drama out of a crisis, and after all people do watch such shows for entertainment value and drama. Examples of mental health stories in British soaps include the Belle Dingle storyline on Emmerdale. Emmerdale’s team took great care in their handling of the story as they aimed for an accurate and sensitive portrayal of mental health in the soap. The story was based on a young girl who was traumatised after accidentally killing another cast member and spent time in a youth offenders’ institute. It was handled well and important that the team did approach the issue in a sensitive way and recognised this needed to be done correctly. Another example of mental health in a British soap was the bi-polar story line in Eastenders.

Time to Change run an anti-stigma campaign with Mind and Rethink Mental illness. They work closely with soaps to tackle attitude and understanding of running controversial story lines.

“The story of Jean and Stacey has had a powerful effect on how the bipolar disorder is perceived now," revealed Siobhan. "It has helped people to understand it can happen to anyone at any time. We know that EastEnders episodes get people talking about bipolar disorder and this goes a long way towards understanding what it’s like to live with it. With the return of Jean and Stacey, we’re enthusiastic to continue supporting EastEnders with their storylines so that viewers can learn more about mental health and feel better informed.” (Siobhan O’Neill, Time to Change, 2014).

To help with their campaign, Time to Change worked with Glasgow Media Group. The purpose of this was to review three months of TV drama and identify how mental health problems were being portrayed. It was interesting to look at the research and see the impact that was had on the viewing public. They called the report “Making a Drama out of a Crisis”. Due to the fact television shows inform so many, television is a great way to reach a wide audience and can give information through that channel with things such as diagnoses, symptoms, treatment options and the road to recovery. Following their research, Time to Change asked viewers to recall seeing storylines about mental health and how they felt the characters were depicted. The results of the survey were as follows:

77% said characters often experienced discrimination due to their mental health.

57% said characters are often likeable.

45% said characters often pose a risk to others.

39% said characters are often violent.

54% said that it helped to improve their understanding of mental health problems.

48% said it helped to change their opinion about the kind of people who can develop these problems.

31% said it actively inspired them to start a conversation about the storyline with friends, family or colleagues.

(Statistics calculated 872 supporters of Time to Change survey responses, October 2014).

Those statistics speak volumes and the one that speaks volumes is the discrimination viewers often felt characters experienced. This number is still extremely high but with charities working together it can hopefully be reduced in the near future. I’m glad it helped change opinion on mental health but it’s sad that 39% feel they are portrayed as violent when watching soaps.

The research by Glasgow Media group in 2010 (an earlier study) showed that many TV characters with mental health problems were portrayed as violent. The most recent study in 2014 still proved that there were still violent stereotypes found but it had improved within recent years. This development is of course greatly welcomed by Time To Change and their campaign in ending negative stereotypes. An example of this in 2014 was from a show called “Sherlock” (BBC One, 2014). One of the characters in Sherlock named Moriarty was shown in a padded cell, wearing a straitjacket. This would be understandable and acceptable if the series wasn’t set in the present day. The reinforcement of non-factual information can be damaging.

Even movie theatres are not immune to influencing people- Terminator 2 (1991) is a popular film that has been viewed by millions of people, and made $31,765,506 (USA) (7 July 1991) in the opening weekend. (1991 Carolco Pictures Inc.). As Otto F. Wahl points out, most people would pay attention to its impressive special effects and breath-taking action sequences and not even think of it as involving portrayals of mental illness. However, most of the opening half hour takes place in a psychiatric hospital. The audiences also received inaccurate diagnostic information about schizoaffective disorder. This is negative because although the movie is not meant to be educational, people still come away with opinions as they are absorbing the information. If you have seen something like a popular film portraying something in a certain way, it can stick on your mind as the amount of people who say fictional stories help improve their understanding of mental illness was over half at 54% from the sample of people questioned. (Time To Change, 2014).

According to Bandura’s social learning theory, learning can be achieved through not only direct experience but also through observation. Individuals can learn a great deal about the world through what they see and hear, particularly through media sources. (Bandura, 2002). This is why the media matter as this can be applied to tabloid, television and press. Cultivation theory suggests that heavy exposure and recurrent messages will eventually be engrained in an individual’s mind; thus teaching them how to react or feel when they experience or see certain things. The two most important mass communication theories, (cultivation theory and social learning theory), can explain how the media are responsible for how mental illness is portrayed. The theories work together to create recurrent messages that are being vicariously learned. (P.A. Sout et al., 2004).

Chapter 3- Social Networking- getting connected with Mental Health

Most people will know about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and various other social networking sites. In 1971 the first ever email was sent and now 40 years later social media has reached new user highs. Social media includes multiple internet sites that let people from all over the world interact through discussion, photographs, video and audio. Facebook is one of the largest social media sites in the world. As of October 3^rd 2013, there were 500 million people using Facebook. (Visually, 2013).

British charity ChildLine found cyberbullying on the rise; with a reported 4,507 cases of cyber bullying in 2012-2013 compared to 2,410 in 2011-12. (Childline, 2013). Cyber bullying can affect a child’s mental health massively, with some individuals even killing themselves over abuse they’ve received over social networking. The “Megan Meier” foundation is a charity that has been set up as a result of these unnecessary deaths. Megan struggled with lifelong self-esteem issues and was the victim of MySpace and its 70 million users. Her mother feels that a horrible message which was found on her computer after her suicide resulted in her death. Sadly, this is not a rare case. Ask.Fm, an anonymous site linked to teenagers suicides, vowed to crack down on bullying or shut the site. (The Guardian, 2014). Ask.fm got new owners in 2014 and made it their mission to put an end to bullying. Users of Ask.fm can set up profiles and have their friends and even strangers send them messages and questions anonymously. The site has been labeled a hotbed for bullying. Despite these promises, a quick search shows the site is still up and running and it seems easy to log on and ask anyone a question- anonymously or not. This gives a platform for bullies to bully not only in schools, but in the comfort of their own home which can never be a positive thing. It can cause profound psychosocial outcomes including depression, anxiety, severe isolation and tragically as mentioned above, suicide.

Facebook and Instagram have been linked to low self-esteem and depression also, as mentioned in the introduction. Many studies have proven this theory. An example of these studies include a recent study named “Seeing Everyone Else’s Highlight Reels: How Facebook usage is Linked to Depressive Symptoms” by Mai-Ly N. Steers, Robert E. Wickham and Linda K. Acitelli. They conducted the study by using two different studies which investigated how social comparison to peers through computer-mediated interactions on Facebook might impact users’ psychological health. (Steers, Wickham and Acitelli, 2014). The first study did reveal an association between time spent on Facebook and depressive symptoms for both genders. The results in the end however demonstrated that making Facebook social comparisons mediated the link between time spent on Facebook and depressive symptoms for men only. The study was done using a 14-day diary design book. Study 2 found that the amount of time spent on Facebook and depressive symptoms was uniquely mediated by upward, non-directional, and downward Facebook social comparisons. In study two, gender did not moderate these associations unlike study one. Both studies provided evidence that people felt depressed after spending a lot of time on Facebook due to comparing themselves with others in a bad light.

Social comparison is when an individual compares themselves to other people. People tend to only put up what they want to put up and can portray themselves in a way that may not be accurate to their current situation. The more time spent on social networks, the more time a person has to socially compare themselves to others and this in turn creates an increase in daily depressive symptoms. The reasons contributing to the results of the studies can be proven by previous research. People often display idealized or hoped-for possible selves on Facebook, through various modes of identity construction. (Steers, Wickham and Acitelli, 2014). Frequently viewing these constructions can intensify negative cognitions behind the scenes. This may be because people feel that no one else feels negative emotions in life and everything is always perfect, shown through perfectly executed photographs and statuses that may only highlight good things that happen in their life.

Steers, Wickham and Acitelli say a flaw in their research is the fact that the negative health outcomes associated with Facebook use may not be inherent to the platform, but rather the unintended consequences to how people choose to use this medium. Certain individuals may be more likely to compare themselves to others’ highlighted reels on dimensions they feel are personally relevant and other people may not respond in the same way. The results may also not reflect the general population and only a small percentage.

When it comes to mental health and social media, I do wonder if people should look at the content they see with open minds. As long as there is a healthy “real” life/social media balance, I feel social media can be used in a productive way and the way it was intended- to network with a range of people you may not usually be able to. If you keep in mind that social media does not always reflect reality, it should be easier to stay positive whilst using it. This is a hard balance for young people to decide on however, seeing as social media is the main way in which most young people communicate with friends these days. With anything in life, I feel it’s a case of controlling the usage or amount you take in.

Chapter 4 – Method in the Madness- Methodology.

To look into the subject of mental health and the media further, I decided to do a study of my own. I created an online survey on a website called “Survey Monkey”. I named it “Mental Health Portrayal in Media Texts.” In order to get results, I shared the survey with various people I knew both online and in person. Although on a small scale, I really wanted to get the opinions and views of those around me as well as the results of national surveys. Although I felt the results would sway towards the media having a negative influence on the people around me, I didn’t expect it to be on such a large scale. I also got some text answers, and I wasn’t surprised that most people still believed that there is a negative stigma still attached to mental health issues, especially in the work place. It was important to keep ethics in mind when conducting this survey. I used two methods to research mental health in the media- human participants and pre-existing material.

1) Human Participants

The participants in my survey were human. Human participants are defined as living human beings, human beings who have recently died (cadavers, human remains and body parts) or fetuses and embryos. Human participation can be direct, through physical presence, activity of interaction as well as being indirect. Being indirect would include provision of secondary material such as tissue/body fluids, data, records images or opinions. I decided to go down the data and opinion route.
According to the Data Protection Act of 1998, appropriate consent is the core consideration of formal interaction when involving a person in a defined activity. Organisations such as ESRC, BERA, BPA and SRA all stress that gaining informed consent is regarded as the central element to ethical research. All of my applicants were over the age of 18, so I didn’t need to worry about the ethics that involve children in research. Before people took the survey, there was a disclaimer explaining what the survey was for (dissertation research) and how it would be used. I also took the information anonymously, as I felt it would make people feel a lot more open about sharing information with me. I also filled out the appropriate ethics from and got my supervising lecturer to sign it. This was to make sure what I was doing was appropriate and I understood full the ethics of collecting information.

2) Pre-existing material.

This material may range from statistical data and records to human tissue surplus to routine care. Secondary date sets include data that is from the Office of National Statistics of the UK Data Archive which are anonymised and available in public domain. Any restrictions must be respected.

Chapter 5- Mental Health in the Media Survey Results

Figure 6 How often do you notice mental health issues in the media?

Figure 7 Do you have first hand experience or know someone who suffers from mental health problems?

Figure 8 How often do you see crime and mental health linked in tabloid papers?

Figure 9 How important do you think the medias influence on mental health is?

Figure 10 Have you ever seen a media text that has left you feeling positive and informed about mental health issues?

Figure 11 Do you feel the media should take any responsibility when it comes to mental health and education?

Chapter 6- Analysing Results from my Personal Survey

In figure 6, the graph represents the question “How often do you notice mental health issues in the media?” 37.84% of 37 responses say often (14 people). In comparison only 5.41% say they never notice mental health issues in the media (2 people). The most popular response was sometimes, 21 people answered at 56.76%. Going from previous research into the subject of mental health in the media and my literature review, these results came back as I thought they would. I am shocked however that 2 people never see mental health issues in the media. I assumed that everyone would have at least noticed mental health in the media at some point in their life, but it’s still a low number. Going by the high results of those who chose often and sometimes notice mental health in the media, it is important the media take responsibility as to how they report the illness. People are obviously noticing what is being said in the popular press around them.

In Figure 7, I wanted to know more about the people taking part in my survey. I asked them if they had firsthand experience or known someone who suffers from mental health problems. The reason for this was to see how much they actually know about mental health before answering the rest of the questions. Some people may have had more experience dealing with mental health on a personal level or know someone close to them who has suffered from mental illness. A whopping 89.19% of the participants said yes (33 people). 8.11% have had no experience with mental health problems (3 people). 2.70% preferred not to answer. I was expecting this to be the case. I left the survey open for anyone to answer, over the age of 18 and I assumed people interested in mental health would be the people who would take part in the survey. It doesn’t matter if they didn’t know anyone or had experience of mental health though- this makes it interesting to see the responses for how they feel mental health is portrayed in the media.

I then went on to ask a text response question. This gave the participants a chance to have their say in writing and not just a general yes or no answer. The question was “do you feel there is a stigma attached to mental health?” (Can be seen in Appendix 1). One person decided to skip this question but I got 36 responses in total. Two individuals noted stigma in the work place by quoting; “Slight stigma in some areas (employment)” and “Yes. Especially in the work place”. Another stated “Yes - but I have seen adverts when they have tried to make mental health less taboo”. The majority of people just simply stated “yes”. One participant answered no, saying there is not so much stigma these days. Another two said there is still stigma but it’s not as bad as it was a few years ago. This means the majority do still feel there is a stigma attached to mental health. One participant believes despite the stigma people are becoming better informed on mental illness. I have to agree with that, a few decades ago mental illness was a lot more taboo and the Samaritans was founded in 1953. From the results, only one person said a definite no. This speaks volumes, that despite there being plenty of celebrity support, charities, anti-stigma campaigns and mental illness shown on television; people still think there is a stigma.

My next query how often do you see crime and mental health linked in tabloid papers? (Figure 8). I was expecting the answer for this to be often. Whilst completing my literature review, it was clear to see that many crimes that happened seemed to have some kind of mention to the mental health surrounding the person they were reporting on, and as mentioned earlier they used describing words such as “psycho” in headlines or news stories. I was correct in thinking that the participants would believe that crime and mental health are linked in tabloid papers. Not one person said “never”. 56.76% (21 people) said sometimes and 43.24% (16 people) said often.

When people were asked if they ever had any negative feelings towards mental health patients after reading or watching something produced by the media, the answers were interesting. This was a text response question. I got 35 response and 2 people skipped this section.

Here are some examples of answers, the rest can be seen in Appendix 2:

“I feel that people become scared because when something happens and is reported in the media, the mental health aspect is focused on. Care in the community frightens people also as they do not know enough about mental health conditions and it is this fear of not knowing that frightens people.” (Survey Monkey, 2015).

“My experience has been in the main with children and young people and more recently older people there are the majority of people stereo type behaviour based on media rather than the behaviour being a distress reaction.” (Survey Monkey, 2015).

“Sometimes I feel they haven't helped themselves. Some people play on mental health issues too.” (Survey Monkey, 2015).

“No because unfortunately sometimes it is not the person with mental health issues fault - the person is ill. “(Survey Monkey, 2015).

BBC 'doctors' one of few programmes that portrays mental health issues positively and follows through.many 'murder' programmes love the killer to have serious mental issues.often feels like media is saying ev1 with mental health issues is a psychopath?tabloids often blame people with mh issues for crimes b4 there is any evidence of them even being connected. (Survey Monkey, 2015).

No - but as a healthcare profession who has been attacked by mental health patient in the past I tend to keep my distance. (Survey Monkey, 2015).

The majority of the people replied with no. However, some answers did confuse me. For example, the health care professional who says they tend to keep their distance yet didn’t have any negative feelings towards mental health sufferers. To me, that is a negative stereotype and it seems they have judged mental health patients as a whole even though they don’t think they have. This could be the reason why there is still stigma with mental health- people don’t think they are judgmental but still make judgments. The majority said no they do not judge, giving reasons such as they themselves suffer from mental health problems or that the person who is ill is not aware of their behaviour being different. 5 people said yes about having negative feelings after seeing something in the media. One participant felt it is used as an excuse for bad behaviour. 2 people said they sometimes feel negative after seeing texts in the media.

Figure 9- How important do you think the medias influence on mental health is?

This was answered by 36 people and skipped by 1. 77.78% of people feel that the influence the media has on mental health is important and it sways a lot of people’s views. 19.44% believe it doesn’t change their opinion at all and 2.78% responded with a comment saying the media need to research mental health before commenting on it or publicising it. Again, the numbers are high when it comes to the power of the media influence but from my literature review they are what I expected.

For Figure 10, I asked the opposite of what I asked in Appendix 2. “Have you ever seen a media text that has left you feeling positive and informed about mental health issues?” 54.05% (20 people) of the total responses (37 people) said no. 31.14% said yes (13 people) and 4 people stated other which was 10.81% of the total vote. The other answers where as follows- “sometimes”, “On Facebook”, “Occasionally” and “Unsure. I think I have in the past”. It seems that some people just can’t remember seeing something positive. Over half feel they have never seen anything positive. This is something that should also be taken into consideration by the media.

My final question, as shown in the graph in Figure 11, was me asking if they feel the media should take any responsibility when it comes to mental health and education. 36 people answered this question and 1 skipped. A large 96.67% of people said yes the media should take responsibility when it comes to mental health and education, which totaled 33 inviduals out of the 36 that answered. 5.56% (2) of people said no they shouldn’t and one other person responded other with the following statement-

“as long as the media deals in facts and doesn't use a genuine illness as an excuse to get more viewers/readers” (Survey Monkey Respondants Answer, 2/2/2015).

It is clear to see that people feel the media needs to take responsibility when it comes to dealing with mental health, and they should take part in educating the masses. This is because they do create stigma from what they portray. The results of my personal survey were interesting but as expected from looking at previous readings and research (such as the “Time to Change” statistics in section 2.3). I was expecting people to feel there is a high amount of stigma attached to mental health and the media and I was correct. My dissertation survey was open to both male and females, but I asked them to be over the age of 18 before completing the survey. This was because of ethics and I also wanted people of an older age who may have more knowledge and awareness about mental health in general.

It was only a small sample of people- in total 37. I would have liked to have collected more but I didn’t want to force people into doing the survey. It was also online, so I couldn’t go out in public and ask for the general public to fill out results because of my ethical approach. Instead, I shared it on social media sites I own including Twitter and Facebook. It helps to answer my hypothesis on the link between mental health stigma and the media.

6.1 Time to Change “Stigma Shout” results analyses

Time to Change ran a campaign called “Stigma Shout” in 2008. It was a survey that looked into people’s experiences of mental health discrimination and had some very interesting and thought provoking results. They wanted to change the culture of mental health forever and used a four year programme to help combat the growing problem of mental health discrimination. According to Time to Change, stigma and mental health discrimination prevents people from seeking help, delays treatment, impairs recovery, isolates people, excludes people from day-to-day activities and stops people getting jobs. They got the results from their survey by either on-line results or on paper. 1,790 users responded on paper and 1,248 responded online. The people who responded to the survey were service users but also carers and it helped identify where stigma and discrimination takes place. 397 carer responses were received on paper and 264 were received online. In appendix 3, 69% of people believed they had been treated differently because of their mental health problems and in a negative way. Sadly, the fear of stigma stopped service users doing what they want to do also- 71% felt they couldn’t do what they liked.

9 out of 10 service users (87%) reported its negative impact on their lives. Two-thirds stopped doing things because of the fear of discrimination. This is an extremely high number and saddening to hear. They were also asked who they feel needed educated when it came to mental health. Not surprisingly, the biggest response was the media (see appendix 5). This view was held by both the service user and the carer. The question was “which one location should we target with an anti-stigma campaign?” Yet again, this proves my theory that the media have a big impact on the way mental health is portrayed by consumers.
Their solution to the stigma surrounding mental health was to run workshops and campaigns that actively promote and educate people on the subject of mental health. They also went on to launch a social media campaign in January 2009. Two types of stigma and discrimination were explored which included actual and anticipated.

Disclosure was a great problem for many people, which includes things such as job applications. The anticipated fear stopped people from applying for jobs as they did not want to talk about their illness. This can be seen in appendix 4. People felt more anxious about anticipated discrimination in most cases, and it would help if this was highlighted more often. It would take away the anxiety of certain situations. This can be the result of low-self esteem and lack of motivation. Sadly, there was more actual discrimination in employment than anticipated discrimination. However, the disclosure of mental illness was actually more anticipated stigma rather than actual stigma and discrimination which is a positive. I therefore feel that people need to be educated, both the sufferer and the carer, on actual and anticipated discrimination.

Time to Change came up with a solution to help decrease negative thoughts and feelings about mental health. They came up with various strategies which included ‘open up’- a mix of 32 local and 8 national projects that tackle discrimination in communities, social marketing- using one of the greatest tools out there right now to challenge attitudes towards mental illness, get moving- an annual mass participant event that brings people together with physical activities, legal minds- supporting high profile cases and changing the law to protect people from mental health discrimination, their website, anti-stigma training- aimed at medical students and trainee teachers which support new generations of practitioners and lastly community action. They also felt it is important to educated working people in general, as the mentally ill want people to ‘include them’ and to ‘treat them like any other work colleague’. (Time to Change “Shout Stigma, 2008). I feel this is extremely positive but feel more needs to be done in order for this to grow into something more successful that it already is, as with previous research stigma is still here in 2015. Time to Change believe the best approach to education on mental health and discrimination should be factual (98% of users in the survey said they would like this), hard-hitting (79% of users said this would be best and lastly humourous (69% of users wanted this approach).

6.2 Conclusion

With 1 in 4 people suffering from mental health issues in the UK (Mind, 2013), it’s really not uncommon. There is a very high possibility that someone you know will have a mental illness, or have had one in the past. From this study, I have realised that although mental health charities do work hard to combat the stigma of having a mental illness, there is still a massive stigma surrounding the issue. This is proven with past research and my current research on the subject. A perfect example of stigma actually happened in the press whilst writing this thesis; a mentally unwell pilot crashed a plane. The tabloid papers soon reported how awful it was that he was even allowed to fly in the first place- according to figure 1 he had a long history of depression and was a danger to the life of others. Although there may be some truth to it, some papers worded it in a way that made it seem all mentally unwell people cannot work in jobs of responsibility. This is untrue, in my opinion and if it was the case there would be a lot of people out of work. The results match up to my expectations, however. There is definitely stigma attached to mental illness, and there is a lot of stigma in the media still. It’s still a massive issue that impacts on the life of people and stops people engaging in every day activities.

I also noticed when crime is committed, the media usually picks up on mental illness in the person or may use words such as “psycho” to describe the individual or other demeaning words (figure 4). However, it’s interesting to note if a celebrity comes out with a mental illness they are seen as “brave” by the media (figure 5). The contrast in wording gives a confusing message, but in all fairness one is a positive story and the other is linked to crime. It is important to keep in mind though that despite the media giving out information that may be discriminating, it’s up to people to take from it what they wish. There has been a lot of research put into stigma and mental health over the years, such as the research “Time To Change” has completed. That alone, however, does not seem to completely illuminate discrimination. It is still out there, in our faces, and it’s not hard to find. People are probably subconsciously absorbing negative information daily.

The government needs to be more involved, and slowly but surely they are becoming more aware that something needs to happen- on the 25^th of March 2015 the Deputy Prime Minister realised this was the case. There is progress, and although it’s slow it’s happening. Nick Clegg has promised a £1.25 billion investment to bring about a seismic shift and revolutionise children’s mental healthcare, £31 million over the next 3 years to help up to 40,000 people with mental issues back into work and £8.5 million investment over 5 years to 10 dedicated veterans mental health teams to increases support and treatment for servicemen and women with some of the most complex mental health needs. (Gov.uk, March, 2015). Hopefully, this is the start of big changes to come when it comes to the issue of tackling mental health discrimination, and the government is committed to promoting wellbeing and adopting good mental health policies.

What has come to light is the need for the implentation of education strategies to inform and enlighten professionals who work in the media, about the importance of portraying mental illness in a more positive and accurate way. It is also the responsibility of the Health Professionals to educate the public about mental illness and its treatments. This could be done with education- leaflets in public places and doctor’s surgeries that get the message out there that mental illness is a very common illness and can be treated successfully in most cases. 96.67% (figure 11) is not a figure that should be ignored when it came to people saying yes to the media taking responsibility for what they post and portray when it comes to mental health.

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Citations

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(Li, 2014)

(Media ‘unfairly stigmatises mental illness’, 2000)

(The politics of UK newspapers, 2009)

(The Role and Influence of Mass Media, 2014)

(Edwards, 2012)

(Kilkelly, 2014)

(Robbie Williams, 2007)

(Maltby et al., 2004)

(Social Pathology, Sociology Guide, 2015)

(Steers, Wickham, and Acitelli, 2014)

(Stout, Villegas, and Jennings, 2004)

(How Many People Use Facebook 2013 (Update- 3 October 2013), 2013)

(Hern, 2014)

(Time to Change “Shout Stigma”, 2008)

(Childline, 2013)

Appendices

APPENDIX 1

Do you feel there is a stigma attached to mental health?

· Answered: 36

Skipped: 1

Slight stigma in some areas (employment)

2/16/2015 6:49 PM

Yes.

2/15/2015 11:52 PM

Yes

2/15/2015 7:00 PM

Yes

2/15/2015 6:35 PM

Yes - but I have seen adverts when they have tried to make mental health less taboo

2/15/2015 5:10 PM

Yes

2/15/2015 4:51 PM

Yes

2/15/2015 4:32 PM

No .. not these days.

2/15/2015 4:10 PM

Yes

2/15/2015 10:31 AM

yes

2/15/2015 10:03 AM

Its not as bad as years ago....but yes i feel there is still a stigma attached.

2/15/2015 9:44 AM

Not as much now as years ago

2/15/2015 9:43 AM

Yes

2/15/2015 2:14 AM

Yes, it's invisible so not taken as seriously. It can be seen as 'weakness' rather than illness.

2/15/2015 12:55 AM

Yes

2/15/2015 12:37 AM

Yes

2/15/2015 12:27 AM

Yes

2/14/2015 11:59 PM

Yes

2/14/2015 11:55 PM

yes.

2/14/2015 11:14 PM

Yes

2/14/2015 10:52 PM

Yes

2/14/2015 10:29 PM

yes

2/14/2015 10:26 PM

Yes at all levels of society

2/14/2015 10:21 PM

yes

2/14/2015 9:23 PM

Absolutely. Doesn't help people saying depressed when just a bit blue

2/14/2015 8:58 PM

Yes because it's difficult for people to get their heads around

2/14/2015 8:38 PM

Yes

2/14/2015 8:30 PM

Yes

2/14/2015 8:16 PM

Yes very much so

2/14/2015 7:59 PM

Yes

2/14/2015 7:54 PM

Yes

2/14/2015 7:46 PM

Yes

2/14/2015 7:42 PM

Yes

2/14/2015 7:21 PM

Yes, bit it is getting less as people are becoming better informed.

2/3/2015 9:36 PM

Yes. Especially in the work place

2/2/2015 3:19 PM

Yes, people with mental health issues are often given negative stigma

2/2/2015 1:12 AM

APPENDIX 2

Have you ever had any negative feelings towards mental health patients after reading or watching something produced by the media? Please explain why/why not.

· Answered: 35

· Skipped: 2

Answered by 35, skipped by 2.

No as I have mental health problems and I can understand

2/16/2015 6:49 PM

2/15/2015

2/15/2015 7:00 PM

2/15/2015 6:35 PM

No - but as a healthcare profession who has been attacked by mental health patient in the past I tend to keep my distance.

2/15/2015 5:10 PM

2/15/2015 4:32 PM

2/15/2015 4:10 PM

2/15/2015 10:31 AM

2/15/2015 10:03 AM

I feel that people become scared because when something happens and is reported in the media, the mental health aspect is focused on. Care in the community frightens people also as they do not know enough about mental health conditions and it is this fear of not knowing that frightens people.

2/15/2015 9:44 AM

Not really as I have family experience and can understand enough behind it

2/15/2015 9:43 AM

Yes. They refused help and the next day the murder someone.

2/15/2015 2:14 AM

No. I believe reporting gives you a platform, then you decide for yourself.

2/15/2015 12:55 AM

I have had negative feelings towards my bi-polar family member in the past as I was angry when she went off her meds and then trouble ensued for the rest of the family

2/15/2015 12:37 AM

Yes, they are sometimes portrayed as using mental health issues as an excuse for criminal behaviour.

2/14/2015 11:59 PM

My experience as been in the main with children and young people and more recently older people there are the majority of people stereo type behaviour based on media rather than the behaviour being a distress reaction

2/14/2015 11:55 PM

no. personally i dont believe Everything i read in newspapers.

2/14/2015 11:14 PM

No there is usually a reason why

2/14/2015 10:52 PM

No!

2/14/2015 10:29 PM

no only because I have a family member with mental health problems and I understand how the media can make it a negativity

2/14/2015 10:26 PM

No you have to look past the media even mental health issues that are drug alcohol induced happen for s reason.

2/14/2015 10:21 PM

Yes I have although I do try to put things into perspective and think outside of the media article(s)

2/14/2015 9:23 PM

No u need to understand someone and circumstances. Before u judge anything

2/14/2015 8:58 PM

Yes. Sometimes it's used an excuse for doing something wrong

2/14/2015 8:38 PM

Yes ppl do not understand the issues involved

2/14/2015 8:30 PM

Sometimes I feel they haven't helped themselves. Some people play on mental health issues too

2/14/2015 8:16 PM

Don't think we should judge we have no knowledge on there background until we have the full facts

2/14/2015 8:09 PM

Because I like to find out what happened to them to cause their behaviour rather than judging them for it and I know first hand how much judgement gets placed on people with mental health issue which angers me

2/14/2015 7:59 PM

No because unfortunately sometimes it is not the person with mental health issues fault - the person is ill.

2/14/2015 7:54 PM

2/14/2015 7:46 PM

Ni. They aren't aware of there behaviour being different

2/14/2015 7:42 PM

No! It's not their fault that they should wrongly be accused because of their affliction!

2/14/2015 7:21 PM

No negative feelings.If there was a negative outcome I just surmise that they must have been poorly managed so it's the health professionals i would have negative feelings toward,.

2/3/2015 9:36 PM

No because as someone who has suffered from mental health issues I know it can change you. Therefore I don't feel negative towards others

2/2/2015 3:19 PM

Because of the association with crime it gives the impression that a majority of criminals must be suffering from mental health issues and it also gets mentioned a lot in court cases in the criminals defense

2/2/2015 1:12 AM

APPENDIX 3- “Time To Change” Stigma Shout Survey

APPENDIX 4- “Time to Change” Stigma Shout- Stigma and Anticipate Stigma Graph

Live Laugh Love

Sunday, 8 July 2018

Mental Health and throughout Media Texts.

Table of Contents

Table of Figures

Statement of Originality