Mental Health And The Media - 982 Words

Mental Health and the Media Mental illness in general carries an enormous stigma. People have respect for and take seriously physical ailments but when it comes to mental illness there is still immense discrimination. The stigma that comes from having a mental disorder such as, bi-polar depression, schizophrenia, or panic disorder comes with an enormous societal cost and can cause people not to talk about it. They may feel ashamed, embarrassed or fear stigma. Not seeking treatment causes people living with a disorder to live an unfulfilled life and suffer in silence. This paper will discuss how the media perpetuates the myth that people with mental illness are violent, unpredictable, and evil and how that contributes to stigma. On October 31st newspaper headings all over the internet read, â€Å"Mentally ill son who beheaded mom was off his meds,† â€Å"Disturbed man beheaded mom 2 days before meeting to get meds† and â€Å"Man who decapitated mom was mentally ill.† Headings like this perpetuate the myth that mentally ill persons are violent, unpredictable, and evil. With the majority of people gaining their information from media and making hasty generalizations this causes a stigmatization of the mentally ill population. When the general population read of these few people with mental illnesses who do violent, unpredictable and evil crimes they tend to generalize that to the whole population. This is the fallacy of hasty generalization. The truth is the vast majority of people withShow MoreRelatedSocial Media and Mental Health998 Words   |  4 Pages The negative impacts of social media In 2012, Anxiety UK conducted a survey on social media use and its effects on emotions. 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Before narrowing our focus on the media, we must clarify the terms mental illness and stigmaRead MoreThe Effects Of Social Media On Mental Health1580 Words   |  7 Pagesof social media. The relationship between an individual’s social media habits and mental health is complex. In this report many concepts will be explored thoroughly such as, the effects of social media on mental health, how it is concerned with substance abuse, the advantages and disadvantages of social media and which social media site is cyberbullying occurred on the most. Firstly, there have been significant links between our online presence and other aspects of our mental health, which hasRead MoreEffects Of Social Media On Mental Health1206 Words   |  5 Pageswas sent. This was the beginning of social media. Social media is a form of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other contents. 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