Media and Mental Illness

Question: Analysis the Relationship between the Media and Mentall Illness. Answer: Introduction Mental illness is considered as being one of the most stigmatizedsituations for humans in the society (Cockerham 2016). People who are suffering from mental illness face all the key elements of the stigma process. They face situations like being tagged or labeled, set to one side, connected to detrimental traits and largely discriminated against (Cockerham 2016). People who are victims of serious mental illness face challenges doubly. The common forms of mental disorders are mental health disorders, like depression, generalized anxiety syndrome, panic syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia and social anxiety syndrome. Over the last couple of decades huge amounts of research have been conducted that shows the power that media holds, in association with the regularity of its usage, making it one of the most significantly influencing factor of the society (Riff, Lacy and Fico 2014). Generally, media is understood as the different means of communication or a collective noun to refer to the press or news reporting agencies (Kaplan 2014). What is shown or said on the media influences the daily life of the people. Media has gained such a powerful position because the amount of trust people tends to put on the messages delivered by them is huge. The media in this way accept a key part in embellishing people's outlook about the world they live in, and in addition, the overall public they team up with consistently. However, it is important to consider what happens when the media sends a dependable message that makes unfriendly perspectives toward a social event of people (Adam 2013). Media and Mental Illness: Theory, Representation and Impact The World Health Organization (2014) defines mental health as a state of well-being where all individuals acquires awareness regarding his or her potential, gains the ability to deal with the everyday normal stresses of human life, has the capacity to exert productively and fruitfully and is even able to contribute significantly to the community. World Health Organization or WHO, in their definition of health, stresses on the positive dimension of mental health as being an important element of wellbeing(WHO 2014). Mental health acts as a spectrum that applies to everyone like a continuum and is a part of the human condition (Adam 2013). The WHO introduced the concept of mental wellbeing in the year 1948. Social wellbeing is largely related to the concept of mental wellbeing, existing in the context of social and earning disparity, social capital, social trust, social contact and social networks. All these aspects largely influence mental health and wellbeing separately as well as collectively. People who are blessed with mental wellbeing have the capacity to take good decision in support of others.It is therefore easy to comprehend that the promotion of mental wellbeing of everyone, especially those who are in powerful positions, is crucial to the step taken towards the prevention of social inequality and unhealthy policy (Fph.org.uk 2017). The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states that the common mental health disorders might affect approximately 15% of the population at any one point of time.There is impressive variety in the seriousness of normal emotional wellness issue; however, all can be related with huge long-term disability (Nice.org.uk 2017).The below table shows the increase in rates of mental illness prevalence in UK from 2007 to 2014. Table: Prevalence of common mental health problems (16+ years) Source: (Stansfeld 2016) The Department of Health changed this plan of deliberate studies on the recurrence and regularity of schizophrenia and other psychotic issue in England. Incidence is the number of people who develop a sickness shockingly, consistently, in a given place; inescapability is the degree of a portrayed gathering who starting at now have or develop a malady at a particular time then again in the midst of a predefined period. Psychotic issues are a social affair of enthusiastic infections depicted by fantasies, dreams and distinctive issues of thought and feeling. Schizophrenia is a particular kind of psychotic issue, as are enthusiastic psychoses that can consolidate psychotic debilitation and bipolar issue (Kirkbrideet al. 2012).Schizophrenia is aserious issue of the mind and brain;anyway, it is furthermore exceedingly treatable. Schizophrenia is a staggering issue for a large number of individuals who are plagued, and costly for families and society. Today the principle theory of why peop le get schizophrenia is that it is an eventual outcome of a genetic slant joined with a characteristic exposure and additionally stresses in the midst of pregnancy or youth that add to, or trigger, the turmoil. Starting at now researchers have recognized a couple of the key qualities - that when hurt - seem to make a slant, or extended peril, for schizophrenia. The qualities, in blend with suspected natural segments - are acknowledged the components that result in schizophrenia. A champion among the best areas of schizophrenia research today is in the domain of recognizing confirmation of early risk components for headway of schizophrenia, and neutralizing activity of schizophrenia in those people who are slanted to the illness (Nhs.uk 2017).The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) found out that prevalence of all the common mental health in females are more than males in UK, with special significance on GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder), phobias, panic disorders and CMD-NOS ( CommonMental Disorder- Not Otherwise Specified). Women are more prone to mental health issues and anxiety disorders. In UK, 10% of mothers face mental health issues compared to 6% of fathers. One in five women face CMD, compared to one in eight of men (Mentalhealth.org.uk 2017). Figure: Prevalence of common mental illnesses by sex Source: (Stansfeld 2016) Stigma and isolation related with mental illness has been recognized as genuine limits upsetting individuals with mental illness from perceiving their mental medicinal issues and searching for healing (Wang et al. 2016). Such stigma and isolation can be reduced by giving precise factsconcerning mental illness and its treatment, and through engaging the change and appraisal of novel approaches to manage the diminishment of stigma. The wide interchanges, counting TV and convey news, are the basic wellspring of facts about mental illness (Zhang et al. 2016). The examination of media meds of individuals with mental illness backpedals to the 1950s (Link and Phelan 2014), with highlight on the redirection media's effects on the individual. While TV has been seen as having anessential part in partner individuals and offsetting lifestyles (Cao 2014), individuals acquire prosperity information from several sources. Gardner (2015) joins redirection media, and news and story media, despite prosperity specialists and prosperity capable affiliations, and diverse individuals as either immediate or meandering effects on individuals' prosperity information and prosperity pictures. Regardless of the way that the media are anyway one wellspring of the communication, it is overall envisioned that expansive interchanges pictures of mental illness engender mental illness stigma. Attempting to grasp the effect of mass media on individuals' perspectives and practices has been an imperative convergence of mass communication research. Two mass communication hypotheses, cultivation theory and social learning theory, are predominantly valuable to perceiving how the media go about as a socializing administrator and therefore may affect the advancement and spread of mental illness stigma. Cultivation theory prescribes that significant introduction to steady and dull messages on TV would rehash, insist, and manageprinciples and outline impression of social reality to fit in with those showed on TV (Potter 2014). According to cultivation theory, Potter (2014) introduce that the people who contribute more vitality while living in the domain of TV will likely watch this current reality to the degree the photos, qualities, portrayals, and conviction frameworks that create through the point of view of TV. Applying this theory to mental illness stigma would prescribe that people who watch a lot of TV would acknowledge a TV world point of view of mental illness.On the other hand,Jamieson and Romer(2014) specifically follow the cultivation theory approach of Gerbner and Gross in predicting the result of prolonged exposure to TV violence, saying that its consequences are fear of crime, pushing people towards the mean world syndrome. They say that instead of TV violence affecting perceptions of crime rates, it directly predicts fear of crime, mediated by perceptions of crime rates. Accordingly, as demonstrated by social learning theory (Jennings and Henderson 2014), learning could be refined through straight inclusion and furthermore through observation. Individuals could take in an unprecedented game plan about the world by what they see and tune in, predominantly through media sources (Jennings and Henderson 2014). Jennings and Henderson (2014), in line with Banduras social learning theory, exhibited that as people sit before the TV they acquire data about practices and social customs, for instance, principles of lead. In addition, as demonstrated by social learning theory, those practices that are repaid will presumably be educated and invoked than those practices that are repelled or unrewarded. Toward the day's end, the nature of the representation has proposals for the lessons learned. Application of this theory to mental illness stigma will suggest that TV demonstrates to social standards of generally accepted methods to care forpeople with mental illnes s. Jointly, these two theories work by combination with each other; cultivation examination gives depictions of the tedious messages that are in actuality vicariously learned through recognition (social learning theory). Without bona fide contribution for people with mental illness, individuals might rely on upon the media for their impression of the people who have mental illnesses (Naslundet al. 2016). At that point, the media have a propensity to dependably interface delineations of people with mental illness and unpleasant direct to anamount more significant than this present reality association (Gentile 2014). This irregular representation can incite to learning through media presentation that individuals with mental illness are unsafe, are to be scared of, and must be avoided. Late research backs this thought, finding that the people who observe a significant measure of TV embrace contrary points of view of people with mental illness than do the people who watch just to some degre e (Gentile 2014). Shannon and Weavers communication model from 1949 is also considered in health care, especially mental health as a form of person-to-person communication. In mental health, the model considers the individual characteristics of each person for considering the process of communicating (KeepanasserilMcKibbon and Iorio 2013). The model stresses that in taking care of patients, especially people with mental health issues, professionals need to maintain effective communication so that no information can be misinterpreted, confused about or lead to hostile situations. Cooleys perception of the looking glass selfenunciated that thoughts regarding ourselves are significantly formed by how we trust others see usthat one's self idea is socially built. Subsequently, negative judgments from others are regularly joined into one's self idea, bringing about disgrace (Markowitz 2014).Later this was extended by highlighting the characteristically social part of vilification, characterizing stigma as n egative judgments we demand against each other in light of degraded gathered personalities. These ideas have been connected to the social-separating and segregation frequently confronted by individuals encountering or named with dysfunctional behaviours, attracting part on hypothesis in regards to other underestimated personalities. Depictions of mental illness occur over a couple of media stages, including film, TV and popular magazines (Allen 2013). Specifically, the media tend to show genuine, psychotic issue. Individuals with mental illnesses were depicted as being deficient, unlikable, and risky and as lacking social identity. Characters with mental illness were portrayed as unemployablethey were less disposed to be used outside the home and more slanted to be seen as frustrations when used (VH1 News 2016). A great deal more unsurprising were representations of brutality and peril related with media pictures of mental illness. Television was by a wide edge the most focused medium and radiated an impression of being the fundamental advocate of mental prosperity information. In any case, late research on pictures of mental illness in the media exhibits that while TV continues tolerating a not too bad measure of thought, research respect for other media sources, including day-by-day papers, general dispersal m agazines and film is creating (Polatis 2014). Some thought is being pulled in to new media, for instance, the Internet. Over the earlier decade, investigation on media content has exhibited creating respect for pictures of mental illness in print media, both in every day papers and in standard magazines. Past research on every day papers demonstrates an association among violence and mental illness. U.K. day-by-day papers have a normal schedule of seeing in the element that misconduct was executed by a man with mental illness (Muncie 2014). Later research on every day papers fuses slant examinations that demonstrate that references to danger are lessening in the articles that discussion about mental illness. Two or three late surveys have examined how mental illness, especially symptomatic arrangements, for instance, schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD), is presented in properly understood magazines by considering the sort and precision of the information showed to the general populace (Kress et al. 2016). Pessimisticrepresentations of characters with mental illness in like manner materialize in children's films (Phelan et al. 2014). The media have great impact on the individuals as well as the overall population. The population is exposed to various medium such as radio, television, games, films, social media, advertising and others. The excessive influences of the media can have a detrimental effect on the psychology of the youths. Research shows that excessive television viewing in teenagers and youths can make them mentally ill, in turn turning them materialistic, resulting in affecting the relationship they have with their parents and their health(Daily Mail Online 2017). The public perception agrees with the fact that the teenagers try to imitate the television advertisements, especially the ones featuring their favourite celebrities. It is a common belief that the youths are getting increasingly addicted to alcohol and drugs, which lead to negative emotional response, aggression, anxiety, stress, depression and sometimes even suicide, self-harm and psychosis, in turndamaging their health in the long run (D rinkaware.co.uk 2017). The media also affects the individuals in UK as well as all over the world. The media affects the physical as well as mental well-being of the people (O'Shaughnessy and Stadler 2012). The youths are getting increasingly addicted to the social media websites and they are suffering from anxiety and social insecurity. The teenagers often face the pressure of being active on the social medium websites which affects their sleep patterns. A macrosocial level of examination uncovers an alternate game plan of components that incite to exploitation of people set apart as judiciously debilitated. Two such components are: (1) plans of private and authoritative associations that intentionally restrict the odds of people with broken conduct, and (2) methodologies of foundations that yield unintended results that demolish the choices of people with enthusiastic disorder (Corrigan, Druss and Perlic 2014).Then again, at the individual (micro) level, social communications are essentially shaded by the attributes of labelled people, their dysfunctional behaviour, and those with whom they interface (Rugksaet al. 2014). The media creates a misconception regarding the schizophrenic patients. The improper depiction of the schizophrenic patients often leads to conflict, confusion and false beliefs among the masses (Rosen et al. 2014). This causes a social stigma regarding the mental health patients, which in turn causes a negative effect on them. However, mental health is represented positively too by the media. Authentic portrayals of mental illness, especially schizophrenia, are rare and only in bits and pieces. Like in the movie Julien Donkey Boy, schizophreniawas provided the justice it deserves, by means of the depiction of the illness in the dysfunctional family of the protagonist. Soap operas and news reports about emotional wellness can assume a profitable part in expanding comprehension of depression, uneasiness and schizophrenia, and in urging individuals with issues to look for help, studies has recommended. Research carried out showed that individuals with a psychological health issue said they were urged to look for help in the wake of seeing or perusing a news story.Soap operas have enhanced from a period when storylines including individuals with psychological issues were as often as possible shown in light of negative generalizations. The media also affects the social care organizations and the health care professionals to a large extent. These kinds of organizations are increasingly using the social media network, microblogs, blogs, media-sharing sites, gaming environments and others (Ngai et al. 2015). The social media plays an important role in carrying out the day to day functioning of the organizations. The social care organizations are able to recruit candidates suitable for their organizational vacancies. The organizations are using the professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, focussed websites, blogs and others to search the best candidates who would match with their job roles ((Ngai et al. 2015). The social organizations would be able to facilitate the customer rating as well as feedback by greater use of the social media websites. There are situations when the organizations link their company website to the personal blog of the blogger. When the present customer or the prospective customers sees v alue in the peer reviews, then they would avail the services of the firm, which would increase their profit generation factor (Norton and Strauss 2013). The organizations are able to introduce new services and create more awareness among the masses. According to Wimmer and Dominick (2013), the impact of media lies between the universal scale of good and bad. The various psychologists views media from a theoretical perspective by incorporating social cognitive theories. They agree that it is true that media provides an informative platform for the children because of the wide variety of rich content available there. Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi(2014) oppose this by saying that television has an adverse effect on the mental health of the children or youth. The violent acts shown in the television, including nudity, have a detrimental effect on the child psychology and they are more likely to display such behaviour in their own lives. It is important to create a social awareness campaign (for schizophrenic patients) in the different social media site. This would spread positive awareness about the mental health patients and educate the public regarding the clinical risks of the mental health patients. As opined by Torous and Kesha van(2016), the social media websites can be useful in addressing the negative symptoms as well as various impairments in the social cognition, which is often common in cases of schizophrenia. As commented by Watson and Hill (2015), there are various influences on the media such as pressure groups, political influence, pressures of corporate, industrialists and others. There can be political figures who can suppress the media for deriving their own benefits. This prevents the media from publishing or featuring important information, which may otherwise affect the image of the political leaders. The big multinational companies are also constantly manipulating with the media and prevent them from featuring anything that can go against company goodwill. The consequence of this act prevents the media from covering the alternative views or any critique against the companies. The social media can be used in a proactive way for improving the communication between the company and the customers (Roberts and Candi 2014). The social medium should be used as an effective corporate communication medium so that there is transparent interaction between the employees. There are certain organizations which use the social media platform to declare board meetings or give reminders for the deadlines. It is also a powerful tool in communicating well with the customers. The organization can use the same message to deliver them on multiple platforms in order to gain a wide range of audience. It is also an effective tool for educating the customers regarding a new medication or a new medical app, which would be useful to them. The social media would also help the organizations to gain the customer perspective regarding a particular mental health service. Conclusion In this case study, mental illness has been discussed in the purview of media. Schizophrenia has been mainly focused on as an illness, in the context of UK. Media and mental illness have been broadly described and supported with theories, concepts and evidences form different authors. Along with that the media representation of mental health has been covered over the ages.This case study has effectively discussed the impact of the various media sources on the wellbeing of the individuals and the various social care organizations. 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