Media Representations of Mental Health Essay Example

It is quite rare for most mainstream media to correctly interpret and explain mental health. Studies consistently prove that any type of media exposure almost always leads to the portrayal of mental health in a negative light. Examples of this include being misinformed, segregating mental health patients from individuals with a healthy mental mindset, and binding a sense of shameful stigma and trivialization among society. Therefore, a vital factor leading to mental health in the media.   

The consequences of the negative portrayal of suffering from mental illness are profound. They impair self-esteem, help-seeking behavior, medication, fear, and overall recovery. Individuals lack confidence in stepping up and talking about mental health due to this negative portrayal. Ever wondered why ‘ordinary men’ have never stepped up to talk unless a celebrity did or being an anorexic is not just about food? Therefore, the leading cause of the negative and irrational portrayal in the media. As Newmark quoted “For lots of men, both white and of color, seeking help is a sign of weakness and we still have this awful misbelief — not just in this country, but in other countries too — that mental illness is shameful and means you were not strong enough to overcome it,” explains Newmark. “If they think that being emotional with their friends isn’t manly, it is easy to see how that leads to social isolation, anxiety, and depression.”

All forms of media including televisions, magazines, newspapers, and social media, have been criticized for spreading negative stereotypes and inaccurate descriptions of those suffering from mental illness. For example, an individual such as Kanye West has suffered due to the negative views that social media has pressured on his mental health. They stated that he was crazy for no reason. I think that was harshly inappropriate to judge someone. The media stigmatized and trivialized Kanye West for his previous unacceptable decisions. The media allegedly decided to portray his personal relationship matters to society because of the fame but did not understand that he suffered from bipolar disorder. 

While the importance of social connections and encouraging groups of networks for improving human mental health is well-documented, we have close to zero familiarity with men’s social support networks or how men go about seeking help for mental health or illness. The media starts talking about mental health month but never talks about how November is Men’s mental health month. The trivialization of men’s mental health and how the media thinks that men are just all about masculinity is not acceptable. To quote from an article “I think it may be this macho thing… a lot of guys do not want to admit they have this problem. They still see depression as a sign of weakness,” said Dr. Raymond Hobbs, a physician consultant at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in an interview with Healthline. Just as society expects women to behave in a particular way, men are expected to look tough. In my opinion, this toxic expectation pushes men to be ambitious as possible even if it is not wrong, but they start ignoring the signs that they are mentally straining themselves.

At times, media pass stigmatized comments that portray the celebrity or the mental illness in a way that suggests the topic of the comments s the issue rather than the comments themselves. To quote from an article "You can reduce stigma simply by using the appropriate language,” the media should gain knowledge regarding where and when to speak a certain word. Imagine how Simone Biles, Kanye West, and Serena Williams felt when someone judged them for their decisions because of their mental health. Instead of letting matters settle quietly, the media blows incidents out of proportion, publishing article after article using different views to attract publicity. Due to the prevalence of stigmatizing and portraying that speaking certain words is okay, an individual would not be able to see themselves as anything other than stepping back.

The media can also trivialize mental health either by promoting mental health as not being severe, more severe, or is less severe than it really is. For instance, people suffering from anorexia feel that their condition is made out to be less severe than other conditions. This misunderstanding occurs because people with this condition portrayed in the media often minimized the seriousness and hide the severe consequences of this illness. While the truth is, that there is a higher death rate for people with anorexia. As they discussed “In one oft-cited meta-analysis published in JAMA Psychiatry in 2011, researchers analyzed 36 studies representing 17,272 individual patients with eating disorders and found that 755 of them died.” Mental is often oversimplified by the media. For example, patients with OCD are often depicted as being concerned over cleanliness and perfectionism whereas the fanatical considerations that drive their impulses are neglected or absent.