.

Version 2

Oratory By Rachel Rosenberg

Mental Health in Pop Culture

Lizzie Mcguire, Orange is the new black, thirteen reasons why,

psyco, Law and order, Pretty Little Liars, Criminal Minds, Silver Linings
Playbook, Rainman. All of these shows are completely different, right?
Well, yes , but all of these shows have more in common than you think.
Each of these shows contain one or more characters with mental illness
during its airing.

Today I will be talking about the negative ways mental illness is

portrayed in the media. First, I will explain what mental illness is. Next, I
will give examples of how the media creates false stereotypes about mental
illness. Finally, I will discuss ways to positively approach mental illness in
pop culture.

Mental Health can be defined as a person’s emotional, psychological, and

social well-being. Mental illness refers to a wide range of health conditions
and disorders that affect mood, thinking, and behavior.

There are all types of mental illness, including anxiety disorders, eating
disorders, behavior disorders, depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, and
suicidal behavior. The Huffington Posts reports that over 60 million
Americans suffer from some form of mental illness. That’s equivalent to 1 in
every 4 americans. Mental illness doesn’t only affect adults. Twenty
percent of adolescents may experience a mental health problem in any
given year and one of ten young people will face a period of depression.

Most people in today’s society get their information about mental

illness from tv shows, movies, the internet, newspapers, magazines, and
other types of media sources. Brian Smith in his research on mental illness
stigma and the media. “In the case of mental illness, considerable research
has shown that the media is the public’s most significant source of
information regarding mental illness”

Smith’s analysis shows shows that on television 10 percent of the

programs involve mental illness, and 4 percent of major characters are
identified as having mental illness. 73 percent of characters with mental
illness are portrayed as being violent.

The media influences how society perceives mental illness, and

people believe what they see. When someone repeatedly sees mental
illness misrepresented on television, it gives false understanding of what it
really is.

In the media, mental illness is portrayed negatively and shown as a

type of weakness. People with mental illness are shown as dangerous,
violent, unbalanced, or socially undesirable. When someone sees these
shows with characters with mental health issues, they believe these
stereotypes. Kismet Baun from the Canadian Mental Health Association
says, “The majority of people who are violent do not suffer from mental
illnesses. ….In fact, people with mental illnesses are far more likely to be
the victims of violence than to be violent themselves.”

Law and Order, NCIS, or Criminal Minds are crime television shows .
that have plots and characters with mental disorders. The issue with this is
that they portray people with mental illness as being dangerous criminals,
which is not the case. These shows often bring in a doctor to diagnosis the
defendent as insane. This builds incorrect stereotypes of mental illness.
Nikki Marks, who has bipolar disorder says, “In real life, mental illness
shows up differently in everybody. The media does not represent the
complexity of mental illness in general. There’s this sense that it’s just a
one-name-fits-everybody, or one-title-fits-everybody.”

Another example of misrepresentation of mental illness in the media

is the popular Netflix show, Thirteen Reasons Why. This popular series
follows main character, Hannah Baker, as she lists different reason why
she decided to commit suicide. CNN claims that, “After the premiere of "13
Reasons Why," the search phrase "how to commit suicide" rose 26% above
what would normally have been expected for that time; "suicide prevention"
went up 23%; and "suicide hotline number" climbed 21%, based on the
paper's data.” Instead of talking about the tragedy of suicide, the show
glamorizes suicide as a way to gain power. It doesn’t address the real
reasons people commit suicide or that ninety percent of people who commit
suicide suffer from mental illness. This is a problem because 800,000
pages eople die by suicide each year.

Schizophrenia is another type of mental illness that is used is often

portrayed incorrectly in the media. Schizophrenia is a disorder that affects
the ability of a person to think, feel, and behave clearly. According to
mentalhelp.net, about 3.2 million people in the American population suffer
from this disorder. In TV or movies, people with schizophrenia are the scary
one, the villain, or the insane one. In her research on schizophrenia in
the moives, Dr. Patricia Owen reviewed more than 40 movies that
depict characters with schizophrenia and found that “most of the
characters showed violent behavior, almost one third showed
homicidal behavior, and one fourth committed suicide”.

But in reality, schizophrenics are not dangerous or violent. Evan

Kats, a leading therapist and author, says “Most people who have
schizophrenia are not high-risk or dangerous. They just make people
uncomfortable because people aren’t used to seeing someone just talking
to themselves outloud.”
The horrific events in Parkland Florida has brought public attention to
the issues of mental illness. As media reports of the shooter’s history come
forth, it’s more important than ever to not portray stereotypes. Not all
people with mental illness will become school shooters. Immediately after
the shooting, President Trump went to twitter calling the shooter a “savage
sicko”. “Hearing language like this is a punch to the gut,” says Ron Honberg
of the National Alliance of Mental Illness. “When it comes to mental health,
language really matters. It’s about wanting to do everything we can to get
health treatment that works.”
Despite how common mental illness is in society, it is not openly OR
COMPASSIONATELY discussed by our politicians or our media. In a
recent Deseret News article, Jessica Lane shares her experiences when
diagnosed with depression and anxiety at the age of fourteen. Since then,
she has had trouble talking to others about what she has been going
through because of what she sees in the media. Lane thought that people
with mental illness were shown as “Weird and off, sad loner types,
criminally insane”, and she didn’t want to be considered any of those. So
she avoided reaching out to others to talk about what she was dealing with.
Eventually, she started opening up about her struggles. People reached out
to her, because they too were struggling with mental illness." My
perception shifted as I realized that it was more common than I had
previously thought. Rather than hiding and being ashamed, I came to
realize that depression, anxiety and mental illness — like any other
disease — require treatment, support and a plan of action," she said.

Education about mental illness is critically important so that

everyone can know about it. If people have the right facts they would know
how common it is in today’s society. Dr Tony Bates, the founder of the
National Center for Youth Mental Health says, “Mental health is probably
the most important health issue for young people. Schools are where most
of them are living. So should there be mental health taught in schools? It’s
a no brainer, of course there should.”
 It’s time for Media and pop culture to change how they look at mental
health and mental illness. They need to stop reinforcing negative
stereotypes and start putting out positive and accurate messages about
mental health. Education about mental illness is extremely important and
perhaps if it was discussed more, it wouldn’t be such an uncomfortable
topic. So, next time you see a character in a movie or a TV show who
seems different or a little off, really consider whether you believe that the
way mental illness is being presented is truthful and accurate. Those who
are struggling with mental health issues are justified in expecting truth and
accuracy about this devastating problem. Please join me in supporting their
right to expect an honest portrayal of mental illness. Commented [1]: Rachel, there are some edits in the final
paragraph to give a more definitive call to action. If this works
for you, let me know so I can print it out. Really work on
getting the edits all memorized by Wednesday and lets listen
to it in class that day.