
One in five American adults will be effected by a mental health disorder within a year. That is around 43,800,000 people. There are 8 million more adults in the U.S. that are touched by mental illness than there are people currently living in Canada. Yet, only about 25% of sufferers feel that their illness is understood and feel that others aren’t compassionate about their illness (“Mental Health by the Numbers”). So, there are 10,950,000 adults in the U.S. that not only have an illness that effects their mind but also feel isolated, fundamentally misunderstood, and that’s not all. Statistics show that most people with mental illnesses deal with some form of discrimination or stigma and feel that they can’t even talk to close friends about their condition because they are scared of how they will react. Why? Well, mental illnesses are usually not taken seriously by the average person in today’s society. Those diagnosed with such things as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are frequently met with fear. People who suffer from depression and anxiety disorders are often accused of making things up for attention or told to just “forget about it” or to simply “calm down”. In reality, telling someone who is having a panic attack to “calm down” is about the equivalent of telling someone who has been paralyzed to “walk it off”. They can’t, and that’s the problem. However, the common person doesn’t realize this because most people don’t have an extensive knowledge of mental illnesses. This ignorance and the general human fear of the unknown just helps to create wild assumptions and stereotypes. 

It is commonly thought that most people who suffer from mental illnesses are violent, yet studies have shown that these people are more likely to be a victim of a crime than they are to commit one (Tartakovsky). However, people still cling to this belief even though it has been disproven and because of it, those with mental illnesses still must deal with being treated like criminals. Stereotypes such as these create hurtful opinions that lead to discrimination which only make sufferers unwilling to come forward to deal with their diagnoses, and the more people don’t talk about these disorders, the more myths are created. It’s a vicious cycle that desperately needs to be broken. 

Ultimately, ignorance is fought with knowledge. So, educating the public about mental health issues could go a long way to fighting stereotypes. Unfortunately, the truth is that not a lot of people are going to be interested in lectures on the reality of mental health or want to read extensively researched scholarly journals in their spare time. To create change, the public must be attentive and willingly take in new information. The fastest way to present new information today is through media. The media doesn’t only include news sources, but also movies, television, and social media. These types of media outlets provide a platform that allows their specific views to reach a large number of people. They can be highly influential and would be a good tool to use to help stop the spread of the stigma surrounding mental health. Yet, there are many representations of mental illness in the media that are inaccurate or view people with these afflictions negatively. This must be changed. The views in the media tend to be widely accepted views, and if the media is perpetrating stereotypes it only works to spread ignorance and discrimination. Accurate representation of mental health in the news, movies, television, and across social media is extremely important for providing sympathy and support for those who are touched by mental illnesses and without it, the damaging stigma of mental health only grows and degrades the quality of life for these sufferers.

Mental health is hardly discussed seriously by most news outlets. In fact, as John Oliver points out on the Mental Health episode of his satirical show “Last Week Tonight”, one of the only times that issues surrounding mental health are actively brought up is soon after mass shootings. Even then, the topic is mainly used as a conversational tactic to divert attention away from highly controversial issues such as gun control. Oliver then shows a clip of Dr. Harold Schwartz, a psychiatrist, that states “even when we do talk about mental health, we don’t talk about it well.” (Oliver). Mental health is discussed in the context of mass shootings because of the notion that most gun violence is committed by the mentally ill, which is untrue. The American Journal of Public Health reports that less than 5% of gun-related killings are perpetrated by someone with mental illness. So, on the unlikely chance that mental health is actively brought up in the media, the information that is presented is not only exploited and used to help further their own political agenda, but are also fundamentally inaccurate. John Oliver fishes for a laugh when he puts it this way, “It’s like passionately delivering a speech on proper English grammar by saying ‘We need to thunk better about how we does word stuff. We need to get it did!’” (Oliver). While that is a funny comparison, it is also very true. The average person is presented with false information about the mentally ill and when it is regarded as the truth, the stigma is spread. The notion that mentally ill people are violent is not only incorrect but also an extremely dangerous stereotype to spread. Often times when someone is having a psychological crisis, the police are called due to this fear of the mentally ill being uncontrollable. Even the police are effected by the stigma and tragically, nearly half of the people shot and killed by police were suffering from a mental illness and could have received help rather than being killed (Oliver). When even law enforcement isn’t always trusted to help, it is easy to see why those with mental illnesses are often reluctant to come forward.

Not only is mental illness subject to misrepresentation in the media, but it is frequently used as nothing more than a source of entertainment. As John Oliver so humorously states, mental illness is “the thing actors pretend to have in order to win Oscars.” (Oliver). Oliver receives another laugh for this statement, and once again, the statement is fairly accurate. Movies such as Black Swan, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, A Beautiful Mind, and Silver Linings Playbook often exploit mental illness to create an interesting plot. Many people in the mental health community find problems with this. For example, after Silver Linings Playbook was released, Richard Brody felt so strongly about the fallacies in the movie, that he published an article in “The New Yorker” criticizing the way that mental health is portrayed. He felt mental illness was depicted so inaccurately that he called Silver Linings Playbook “the year’s most artificial movie, more […] impossible […] than the flying vehicles of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ or Iron Man’s space-leap in ‘The Avengers.’” (Brody). While that seems like a bit of an exaggeration, it goes to show how vastly the view of mental health presented in entertainment differs from what someone with experience with mental health knows to be true. The inaccurate views that are prevalent in media are not only bad in regard to giving the public false information, but also sufferers themselves. The general “coverage of health and medical developments can save lives in a crisis; [but] can also be alarmist and mislead[ing]” (Arkin). For instance, Silver Linings Playbook offers what Richard Brody calls “a faith-based view of mental illness” meaning that the movie advocated for a treatment plan for mental illness that is focused around emotional redemption and is critical towards medicine regimens. Even the actions of the doctor portrayed in the movie are perceived as “misguided” or sometimes “cruel”. Whether or not faith-based treatments are effective or not is irrelevant. The main attitude towards mental health in this movie is that faith-based treatments are better for someone’s health than other methods of treatment. That statement may be correct for some cases, but not necessarily true for all instances, as different treatment styles do not work exactly the same for everyone. Since those with mental health disorders are often reluctant to come forward, they don’t have a lot of information about their illnesses. But, if popular movies like Silver Linings Playbook deliver treatment information, it is more likely that that information will be heard. Pharmaceuticals can be extremely effective for treating mental illnesses, but if all that someone hears is that these drugs are harmful, as preached in the movie, they are less likely to use drug therapy as a form treatment. This could be very detrimental to that person’s overall well-being. If someone suffers from a heart condition, but are told that their medication is unhealthy and thus stop taking it, that person is obviously more at risk for serious heart problems. The same concept applies to mental health. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and there are many different types of treatment that are very effective for mental health, but when a widespread media source, like a movie, puts forth their views it results in much more than just an interesting plot point.

Many television shows have attempted to address mental illness as well, but once again many fall short. The main goal of most television shows is to entertain their viewers and not necessarily to educate. The stigma of mental health is most prominent in comedies and, surprisingly, in children’s shows. Cartoons and other animated programs utilize their drawings of a character to emphasize aspects of that character’s personality. For example, cartoon villains are usually drawn with sharp eyebrows and harsh frowns while heroes in cartoons are normally depicted with strong, broad, shoulders and big smiles. These types of animated shows that portray characters with some sort of mental illness have drawn these characters with such features as “unruly hair, widely spaced and/or rotting teeth, a prominent nose, heavy brows with thick arched brows (for villains), narrowed artificial eyes (for villains) and large round eyes (for comedic characters)” (Eisenhauer). These portrayals paint the mentally ill as being unhygienic or lazy and sometimes cruel. In shows that aren’t animated and the mentally ill look as everyone else does, the characters “were still repeatedly referred to with ‘disparaging terminology’” (Eisenhauer) such as “psycho”, “twisted”, “disturbed” or “freak”. These types of remarks are extremely insensitive and offensive to those who suffer from mental disorders, but kids would not recognize it as harmful because it had been normalized. This subtle stigmatization can affect the way that kids who watch these shows will approach mental illness in the future. If these children are always looking at mental illness jokingly when they are young, it’s likely they will not take it as serious in the future. So, not only are the representations in the media misinforming adults and interfering with medical advice, these depictions are subtly conditioning children to be less sympathetic towards these issues in the future, creating a society where the mentally ill are still discriminated against.

Perhaps the most frequently used branch of media is social media, and as with the previously mentioned aspects of the media, it too has contributed to the spread of mental health stigmatization. Social media programs are used to connect people across the globe, but the average person has likely discovered that social media is abundant with jokes and memes. One such meme that has appeared recently is the “triggered” meme, where a sequence of images is shown where a well-known person or character is shown observing a normal object, but then the object is cropped to convey a new meaning which startles or angers the character. For example, in one of these memes the logo for the car company Toyota is shown next to a photo of the character Buzz Lightyear from Pixar’s Toy Story. Then, the logo is cropped so that the only letters displayed spell out “toy”. The next picture is of Buzz with the caption, “triggered”. This references the fact that in the Toy Story movie, Buzz believes he is a real astronaut and “space ranger” and refuses to believe that he is actually a children’s toy. The meme plays on the fact that a “trigger” is something that PTSD sufferers experience when something makes them relive past trauma. For instance, when a veteran hears a lawnmower start and they interpret the sound as machinegun fire and have a flashback. The meme meaning of being “triggered” however, has been reduced to mean basically that someone is annoyed or angry due to trivial things. By doing this, it pokes fun at PTSD sufferers by insinuating that they over-react or “freak out” over things that are unimportant. As one sufferer puts it, “[It makes me feel] like I’m shrinking. It takes me out of enjoying [a] hobby, and my gears start turning on my Thursday-evening therapy session that is either looming or has just passed. It trivializes the concept, which steadily perpetuates the powerless feelings that my original trauma created: you’re being too sensitive. Your feelings don’t matter. Be quiet. It’s all in your head.” (Dillon). Many people have criticized this meme, and just as many have criticized these criticisms, saying that “people need to learn to take a joke” or complaining how it’s impossible to make a joke without offending anyone, but most of these people don’t realize how damaging their actions can be and don’t understand the pain that people with PTSD go through when they have to relive their worst memories and feel endangered even though they know they are perfectly safe. Insulting someone’s insecurities isn’t comedy, it’s exploitation. Jamie Dillion, a writer who has PTSD, tried to describe the reaction she had to this meme she states that she doesn’t expect everyone to “bend over backwards to help [her] out” as that is impractical, but she urges people to believe her when she says, “it’s much more enjoyable to spend time, money, and mental bandwidth on the hobbies I love versus defragmenting the trauma in my brain.” (Dillon). Dillon states that she goes to social media to connect with friends and decompress from the stress of her daily life, but when what she thought was a safe place attacks her, it just reminds her how difficult her condition can be.

Jamie Dillion is not the only person to seek solace in social media. Many people use it to become closer to people all over the globe and it is a very effective method of communication. Social media gives people access to people and information that otherwise, would be impossible for them to reach. This is very important in the mental health community. As stated before, many sufferers do not have access to information regarding their illnesses. So, if social media could provide these people anonymous access to solid information, many more people would likely be able to make more informed decisions about their mental health. Also, by connecting with people all over the globe there is an opportunity for sufferers to share their experiences and support. The sometimes-anonymous nature of social media would allow people to feel confident enough to talk about the issues without fear of judgement and the less threatened that these people feel, the more help they are likely to receive. Social media, when used in this context and not used to ostracize others, can be and extremely useful tool for helping prevent the spread of the mental health stigma.

In the same way that the spread of false information is what helps to create a stigma, the spread of accurate information can help to eradicate the stigma. The main problem with the stigma of mental health is that since the mentally ill feel so marginalized by society, they don’t speak about the issue and as a result, the majority of people don’t understand how the illness effects people or don’t realize how common mental health disorders can be. This is another reason why proper representation in the media is so important, the more accurate information the public is presented with, the safer society becomes for the mentally ill. For example, the popular show Homeland depicts a main character with bipolar disorder and has since been praised over their realistic portrayal. By making a well-liked character suffer from something so challenging, the viewer builds sympathy. In fact, a study has shown that 54% of people that view a character properly portrayed with a mental illness, have reported an increased their knowledge of mental illness (Campbell). Also, 48% of people have said that their opinions had changed about who mental illness can affect and 31% said that these portrayals have prompted them to discuss mental illness with family members or friends. Saying that positive portrayals of mental health can improve the lives of sufferers is no longer just a hypothetical solution, it is a proven fact. The more mental illness is discussed correctly, the further society advances.

Unfortunately, the harmful stigma of mental health has touched nearly all aspects of society. Health care and judicial systems are biased against the mentally ill and because of it, many do not receive the help that they need. The overwhelming prejudice against those who suffer from mental health disorders rigs the system against them. If the stigma continues, diagnoses for mental illnesses will become isolation sentences as society moves further and further away from understanding their struggles. However, there is a chance to correct society’s mistakes and for there to come a time where those with mental health disorders aren’t ostracized, but are supported and cared for the same as any person. When positive depictions of mental illnesses are shown in the media and correct information is reported, we move closer to this hopeful future and can attempt to correct the wrongdoings the mentally ill have suffered at our hands.
