Mental illness portrayed in media

Mental illnesses, also known as psychiatric disorders, are poorly portrayed in terms of factual accuracy. In different forms of entertainment, such as movies, television shows, books, magazines, and news, those living with mental illness are sometimes shown to be stereotypically violent and unpredictable, unlike how many of those with mental illnesses truly are. Due to these inaccurate portrayals of people with mental illnesses, some people believe that those with mental illnesses should be shunned away from society, locked away in mental institutions, heavily medicated, or a combination of the three. However, not only are those with these disorders able to function normally in society, but they can also lead highly successful jobs and careers, as well as make important contributions to society.

The way that mental illnesses are portrayed in different forms of entertainment can contribute to public stigma. Public (or social) stigma is the awareness of stereotypes that the public and society holds about people who are living with mental illnesses. In movies this often means portraying characters a physically violent and unpredictable, like in the 1978 movie Halloween, in which the villain is a patient that escaped from a mental institution. Public stigma also involves prejudice, or ascribing to stereotypes with negative emotional reactions like fear and avoidance. An example of this would be avoiding someone who has been hospitalized for treatment for a mental illness after viewing the movie Halloween.

In 2012, India Knight wrote a column in London's The Sunday Times about depression. Fellow columnist, Alastair Campbell of The Huffington Post was ashamed to read her article mentioning how "'everybody gets depressed'" and also saying "there is no stigma in depression".

In his article, Campbell discusses the wrongfulness in her word choice. By saying everyone gets depressed is showing that she is a part of that world that either does not accept depression is a disease or they do not believe it is a disease.

Knight's article is proof that there is still a stigma to depression. Campbell goes on to explain how even in the medical profession, people are afraid to even mention to their employers that they have it simply because they would not fully understand like they would understand a physical illness.

...
Wikipedia