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An Analysis Of Media Portrayal Of The Mentally Ill

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Introduction After a mass shooting, America, in a state of loss, looks for the cause of the sudden and violent event. The mentally ill are repeatedly blamed, despite the fact that there is little correlation between violence and mental illness. The incorrect placing of blame distracts from finding the actual source of the problem and a justified solution. In the past few decades, there have been many widely publicized mass shootings in which the shooters were mentally ill, such as the Virginia Tech shooting in Blacksburg, Virginia and the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. These few detailed examples of violence by the mentally ill give an impression that these are common occurrences, but they are not. America’s tendency to blame the mentally ill for mass shootings is likely due to the media’s portrayal of the mentally ill and the stigma surrounding mental illness. Media Portrayal of the Mentally Ill In recent years, the …show more content…

Television dramas use appearances, sounds, reactions from other characters, camera shots, and contrasting lighting to signify danger and accentuate the difference between characters who are mentally ill and those who are not (7). These television dramas are popular in America. Among 53 students who said television was their main source of information about mental illness, daytime soap operas were in the top three most watched television content (8). Children’s shows also negatively portray the mentally ill, depicting them as violent or as criminals. A review in 2003 of children’s media showed that the common images of mental illness directed towards children are similar to what is shown in adult media (7). This means that children are developing stigma from an early age, due to the negative portrayals of the mentally ill that they see frequently. The media exacerbates the already detrimental negative attitudes toward the mentally

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The purpose of the article is to explain how media furthers the stigma on mental illness and its correlation to violence. The situation of the article is negating the research found that links mental health conditions to violence towards other people in over a third of all news stories (Holmes). Unfortunately, statistics prove that whenever mental illness makes an appearance in the media, it’s accompanied with acts of violence. According to the article “Changes in Mental Illness Stigma in California During the Statewide Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Initiative,” “more

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Dr. Reid Meloy gives the author his opinion on the mental health issue behind the national gun control debate. Dr. Meloy believes that mental illnesses cannot and should not be the excuse for gun violence. He is a noted psychologist who has written books and worked for the FBI and CIA, so I believe he is extremely reliable. Also, this blog was posted in February of 2015, so it is more recent than other articles I’ve read about my topic. I used the interview with Dr Meloy in my argument and rebuttal of the mental health issue behind this controversy.

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Although many of these shootings occur every year, there many steps that can be placed in order to prevent them from occurring in the future. Creating gun laws that provide better background checks on the buyer and family can help lessen the chances of a mentally ill person from obtaining a gun. Spreading awareness of a person with a mental illness-or generally spreading information of the many different mental illness- can also help prevent mass murders such as Sandy Hook from occurring. Finally, researching ways to prevent mental illnesses from forming can help prevent these violent crimes. If the blame is on the illness, why not find ways to cease them from affecting more people?

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The way mentally ill people are treated within their own families due to beliefs, difference in age, religious and spiritual beliefs, or simply the family’s dynamic and dysfunction. Severely mentally ill people (such as people with schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder) and neurodivergent people (people with Autism Spectrum Disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), tourette's syndrome), have little representation and information and understanding to get the proper care they need for their own unique experiences, and they way they get treated in general for their neurodivergence contributes to their mental health as neurodivergent people are more likely to have a comorbid mental illness. The way mentally ill people are treated within the healthcare system doesn't make it any better, since many healthcare professionals misdiagnose and mistreat mentally ill people, as if they’re less than human. Their negligence to properly treat mentally ill individuals can cause said person’s mental health to get worse, causing more problems that may be hard to fix. Mentally ill people in the media are portrayed as just insane

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