Mental illnesses, also known as psychiatric disorders, are often inaccurately portrayed in the media. Films, television programs, books, magazines, and news programs often stereotype the mentally ill as being violent, unpredictable, or dangerous, unlike the great majority of those who experience mental illness. As media is often the primary way people are exposed to mental illnesses, when portrayals are inaccurate, they further perpetuate stereotypes, stigma, and discriminatory behavior. When the public stigmatizes the mentally ill, people with mental illnesses become less likely to seek treatment or support for fear of being judged or rejected by the public. However, with proper support, not only are most of those with psychiatric disorders able to function adequately in society, but many are able to work successfully and make substantial contributions to society.
History According to the Robert Wood Foundation, the primary way Americans gain information about mental illnesses is through mass media, more specifically, television and news. Furthermore, when it comes to believing ideas presented about mental illness, the public more often aligns their perceptions closer to mass media portrayals than information presented by experts in the field. In 2006, Heather Stuart published an article, "Media Portrayal of Mental Illness and its Treatments," discussing how the image of mental illness is mainly negative and those with mental illnesses are often labeled as violent and criminal. As the general public has little access to or experience with clinical psychology, their information about psychiatric patients is primarily obtained from the mass media. With limited knowledge gained through their own experiences, it is feared that the images and stories encountered via mass media can affect the decisions and judgments the public makes when it comes to their own lives or forming their political or social opinions, furthering the public's rejection of psychiatric patients. As the media often perpetuates stereotypes with the use of discriminatory language, misinformation, and mischaracterizations of mental illness, these negative media representations have become the focus of scholarly attention.
Film and television When it comes to portrayals in entertainment, depictions typically represent mentally ill characters as being recognizably different, often exaggerating their mannerisms and appearance to further distinguish them from normal characters. Throughout the last century of filmmaking, they have most commonly been portrayed as villains, often either the victims or perpetrators of violence, and generally dangerous.
Evolution of mental illness representation in film An overused trope used in film and television is depicting villains or murderers as mentally ill. This trope has evolved throughout the history of filmmaking and cinema. First introduced in the early 1900s, films like Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922) and The Black Cat (1934) depicted the mentally ill villains as mad, evil doctors. Then, with the rise of Alfred Hitchcock films, he introduced the serial killer in Psycho (1960), whose character trope was subsequently used in films like Homicidal (1961), Maniac (1963), Paranoiac (1963), and Nightmare (1963). The 1970s and 1980s brought the popular "slasher" film genre, introducing iconic horror characters such as Michael Myers, Jason, and Freddy Kruger from the franchises Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, respectively.
Violent depictions of mental illness The negative stigma that surrounds mental illness has real-life consequences for those who experience these illnesses. Many studies, both in the form of experimental designs and surveys, have concluded that media exposure does affect the stigmatization of mental illness. Despite the media's common depictions of mentally ill characters being violent or engaging in criminal activities, it is much less common in the real world than the media makes it seem. Of the 40+ million people in the U.S. who are classified as experiencing mental illness, violence or criminality occurs only in 10-12% of mental illness cases. However, as film and television programs utilize this trope for dramatic storytelling, the public often falsely assumes that the real world mirrors the mass media depictions. Scholars began analyzing this trend in the 1950s, yet the issue persists into the 21st century. In the late 1950s, the concern regarding mass media portrayals of mental illness started becoming more prominent. At the time, television network censors were used to determine the level of viewing (adults only, family-friendly, or needed altered content) that was appropriate based on the film's content. George Gerbner, before he developed cultivation theory, studied the films that were censored and found that in 1951, only five films contained representations of mental illness. However, by 1957, the number rose to 170 films, demonstrating the growing concern over misrepresentations and their effects. Although the concern over the effects began to grow, the violent depictions remained the same. In a 1989 longitudinal study conducted by the Cultural Indicators Project, they analyzed the portrayal of mentally ill characters on 1,215 television programs between 1969 and 1985. They found that 3 out of 4 characters were involved in violent situations, either becoming victims of violence or perpetrating it. In addition to the mentally ill characters having violent tendencies, they also were distancing themselves from loved ones, and often did not work. Finally, nearly 50 years after one of the inaugural studies that analyzed the overuse of mentally ill, violent characters in media, the misconception persists, even into the 21st century. Diefenbach and West conducted a cultivation study that examined 84 hours of prime-time television among major networks in April 2003. They found that mentally ill characters on television were much more likely to commit violent crimes than real-world statistics. Only 4% of people with mental illnesses in the real world are characterized as violent, while 37% of mentally ill characters on television are portrayed as violent.
Portrayals in film
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