Saturday, April 25, 2009
Blog #12
I believe the media has played a major role in making people with metal illnesses feel shame. When you in the past have seen shows with “crazy” people, they are always ranting and raving and paranoid. This is a fear that many people with forms of mental illness face. People need to recognize that there are many forms of mental illness from severe to mild. There is no reason to be ashamed of something that you did not choose to have. People are embarrassed to tell people they may need medication for anxiety or depression and this heightens the feeling of shame and embarrassment. People need to realize that mental illness can be controlled and people can actually recover from it. There is a need for education for people to realize that mental illness is not necessarily what you see in the movies. The fear of people with mental illness is not accurate or logical in many cases and our embarrassment in things we can’t control needs to be brought to the forefront by health educators.
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I agree that the media largely contributes to negative ideas concerning mental illness. Most people remember the “crazy” murderer wearing a hockey mask named Jason. The popularity of horror films has perpetuated an erroneous idea of what is considered mental illness. Exaggerated stereotypes of mentally ill people have served to reinforce a negative view of mental illness as being violent. In reality, people suffering from mental illness commit violent crimes at the same rate at the rest of the population. Approximately 80 to 90 percent of people suffering from a mental illness never commit a violent act. However, crimes connected to mental illness are more likely to lead the news or be on the front page of the newspaper. Television depicts 45% of all characters as violent, compared with mentally ill characters where 72% are depicted as violent. This even includes women, who are statistically less violent than their male counterparts (Levin, 2001).
ReplyDeleteHowever, many movies and television series are moving away from the crazy killer stereotype to characters that are more troubled than frightening. For example, in “A Beautiful Mind” a brilliant mathematician is depicted with a realistic view of mental illness. Several television series such as “House” often give a physical explanation concerning mental illness and provide a more sympathetic portrayal of mental illness.
Reference:
Levin, A. (2001, May 1). Violence and Mental Illness: Media Keep Myths Alive.
Psychiatric News,36(9), 10. Retrieved April 24, 2009, from http://pn.
psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/36/9/10