Dangerous, Mentally Ill

We pay attention to the portrayal of black people in the media. We look at gender-biased language. Now we need to add mental health to that list.

One particular misconception reinforced by the media is that there is a tendency of people with Mental illness to be violent. However, research indicates that the vast majority of people with mental illness are NOT violent. This is not to say that people with mental illness do not get violent, but the key to understanding the previous statement is the following: when violence does occur it is not at any significantly higher rate than the general population.

But all too often in newspapers, violence co-occurs with the topic of mental illness. It’s only the rare, dramatized, sensationalized incidents that make the front page.

Some hints at improving newspaper coverage given at the Association of Health Care Journalists Conference:

-Ask whether or not mental illness necessitates being part of your story

-Edit wire stories for coverage issues

-Be cautious of language, terms like “schizo rage” associate violence with mental health unnecessarily

-Watch headlines because many people don’t read beyond them. Headlines like “Mind of a Madman” and “Dangerous, Mentally Ill” promote stereotypes before the reader even gets to the story

Ironically, the very next day after the mental health panel, "Dangerous, Mentally Ill"* by Carol Smith of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer won an AHCJ award, placing second.

Wow. Yes, I’m almost screamed out during the luncheon, “It’s promoting stereotypes!!”
But I held it in, and am now writing a blog instead.


*If you click on the link to the story, you will notice that the title is different. This may in part due to the fact that print headlines are often shorter or it could be that they sought specifically to improve the title. Hmmm??

Here are more resources on mental health coverage:

Background Information and a Guide for Reporting on Mental Illness

The Realities of Severe Mental Illness: A Media Professional's Guide