Media portrayals of mental illness, or is it madness? A review

Abstract

Representations of persons with experience of a mental illness in the mass media are problematic for individuals seeking recovery and for services charged with providing quality care in the community. Upon reviewing 21 original research reports that are grounded in the social construction paradigm and an understanding of mass media production practices, it is argued that media depictions are underpinned by traditional, lay understandings of madness. Those traditional portrayals represent persons living with a mental illness as other than or apart from normal people whom they threaten. While the reviewed findings recommend specific responses, they are consistent with efforts to establish the humanness of people living with a mental illness.