Mental Illness in the Media

A recent study conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) found that 18.2 percent of America's adult population endure some form of mental illness every year. That's just about one in five. Statistically speaking, you could have two or three co-workers suffering from a mental illness in your office. If all of my classmates were eighteen, up to five of my peers who I talk to on a daily basis could be mentally ill. These numbers, of course, are not evenly blanketed throughout the country, and probably not in my city either. While the 1-in-5 principle is likely, it is not certain.  I researched this statistic to introduce today;s topic, and what I found was entirely unexpected. I mean, yeah. I knew there was a fair number of Americans who suffered from depression, but 18.2 percent...well, that is a significant number. Am I the only one who is surprised? Maybe. This might be a old news or I may be a poorly informed individual. I wouldn't put it past myself, I am a high school student afterall, but for a moment let's assume that this is a marginally surprising figure to most American people (which could be true because most Americans are poorly informed individuals). Why is it surprising? I think it's because mental illness is something we expect to be easily noticed. To many, "mentally ill" is just a euphemism for "crazy," "psycho," or even "dangerous." Mental illness is stigmatized in a way that no other mental illness is. A significant factor of this is the way mental illness is portrayed to the American people. In the media, we see the mentally ill exploited and misrepresented for the sake of entertainment time and time again.

We've all seen the classic horror movie cliches. The ax murderer, the psychopath with the tragic backstory, the man with the "bad voices" in his head telling him to kill people. Whether it's through Alfred Hitchcock or Stephen King, mental illness has been a convenient backstory for bad guys throughout the ages. This applies to television as well. When it comes to prime-time shows, 73 percent of characters with mental illnesses are portrayed as violent, compared to the 40 percent of "normal" characters. Violent or criminal behavior is often times over sensationalized to better grasp an audience's attention. In the words of Robert Berger, Ph.D, former professional consultant for the 2009 TV drama Wonderland, "“People aren't interested in watching someone with a minor illness go to a self-help group.” As a thriller enthusiast who loves movies like Psycho and The Shining, I can whole heartedly agree to this, but that doesn't mean writers have an excuse to blow mental illness out of proportion, or only show viewers extreme cases. It is possible to be accurate and entertaining. A champion of balanced portrayals of mental illness in the media is the ongoing series Homeland which features a successful CIA agent with bipolar disorder whose characterization isn't centered around her disability. The problem is, being balanced requires more work. It's so much easier to slap the "crazy" label on a supporting character without feeling the need to do any research on the disorder that is being portrayed. Accuracy is also seen as a limiting factor in the creative process. Sometime fudging a couple of facts makes an episode that much more compelling. What writers and directors don't take into consideration is that people actually let these portrayals affect their perception of the mentally ill. Surveys show that 61 percent of Americans believe that people with schizophrenia are likely to commit violent actions against others. Mental illness has been proven to be connected with some cases of violence, but they do not go hand in hand. Mental illness is not a sure indicator of violent behavior later on in life. Psychiatry studies explicitly state that Other variables- for example substance abuse, history of violence, demographic variables (e.g., sex, age) and the presence of stressors all play a role in one's likelihood to commit violent acts. These contributing factors usually need to be paired together for something big to happen, but mental illness isn't always that factor. Any T.V. show or movie saying otherwise is just being unfair.

This isn't limited to the silver screen. Negative portrayals of the mentally ill also exist in reality. News reports emphasize the mental instabilities of criminals while tabloids feed off of the suffering of celebrities like Lindsay Lohan after serious breakdowns caused by mental illness. We like to find what's different in other people so that we can tell ourselves we can never become it. This kind of mentality is the very definition of prejudice, and it needs to stop.

As a society it's our job to look past the stereotypes we see in the media and make judgements on who individuals are for ourselves. This applies to the mentally ill just as much as anybody else. Being mentally ill doesn't make somebody a liability or dangerous or helpless in any way. There are ways to get better and most people do. They do not, however, turn into ax murderers. The mentally ill should not be shunned, but supported, not unstable but inspirational. Physical battles are one thing, but getting through seemingly insurmountable battles within the mind takes a special kind of courage that I admire more than anything else. I think that's where the headline belongs.