ABSTRACT

This article views dominant media portrayals of mental illness, the mental health interventions and mentally unstable, and examines with emotional, social and treatment related effects the above scenarios may have. Research shows that both news media and entertainment industry display distorted and overwhelmingly dramatic picture of mental retardation or any kind of illness related to mental health. These institutions are also behind modeling disastrous reactions to the mental victims, starting from derision, rejection to fear. The positive and negative attributes of this depiction towards the treatment and care of mentally retarded persons. How this depiction is portrayed in movies and media and its effects on my work as a practitioner in this field. This assignment will also cover the stereotypes and stigmas, and the difference between reality and labels about mental illness shown in electronic media and movies. Different diagnostic methods, types of care, ethical and legal issues that might arise and needs consideration.

INTRODUCTION

A mental illness is a mental disorder that affects the way we think, feel, and act. It has an impact on our daily activities as well as the lives of our family and friends. The most common mental illnesses are mood and anxiety disorders. A mood or anxiety disorder has affected one in every seven Singaporeans at some point in their lives. Clinical tests and observations are used to make a diagnosis. Despite their prevalence, people with mental illnesses are still stigmatized and discriminated against.

As a result, many of these people are hesitant to seek help and treatment. Mental ailments, including heart disease and diabetes, are medical conditions. Mental illness has genetic and biological causes, according to research, and they can be effectively treated, especially with early detection and intervention. The specific causes of mental illness are not yet fully understood. Stress and factors such as genetic predisposition and abnormalities in brain chemicals are possible contributing factors.

Mentally disabled people are no more abusive than the general public. They are much more likely to be the victims of violence than to be the perpetrators of violence. Mental illness, like physical illness, can strike anyone, regardless of intelligence, social status, or financial status. Mathematician John Nash, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Ludwig van Beethoven, Vincent van Gogh, and Ernest Hemingway are all prominent people who suffered from mental disorders.

Today’s most effective therapies for severe mental disorders are extremely effective. Most people dealing with severe mental disorders will substantially reduce the effect of their condition and experience a fulfilling sense of success and independence with the aid of effective treatment, psychotherapy, and recovery services. Gain experience in designing methods to control the illness process is a core idea. Many people are eager to mark the perpetrator "crazy" in the wake of an unconscionable act of senseless abuse. Even if the criminal has a mental disorder, labelling them "crazy" automatically does a disservice to those who deal with mental illness every day. In fact, someone suffering from mental illness is much more likely to be a survivor of violence than a perpetrator. Using the word "crazy" to describe a violent offender spreads a dangerous myth and obscures the nuanced relationship between crime and mental illness. Media portrayals of people with mental illnesses often stigmatize or trivialize them. According to Goffman (1963), stigma is "a profoundly discrediting characteristic" that transforms someone "from a whole and ordinary person to a tainted, discounted one." As a result, all forms of media have been chastised for spreading negative perceptions and misleading representations of people with mental illnesses, including television, film, magazines, newspapers, and social media.

ROLE OF NURSE MAINSTREAM MEDIA TOWARDS MENTAL HEALTH

Rather than framing mental illness as a social problem, media reports prefer to concentrate on the person with mental illness. As a consequence, media viewers are more likely to attribute the disease to a single individual. Overgeneralization of media portrayals can also damage people with mental illnesses. A person suffering from a mental disorder is expected to show the same characteristics or symptoms. For example, stereotypes abound that all people suffering from depression are suicidal, and that all people suffering from schizophrenia have hallucinations. In fact, auditory hallucinations are encountered by only 60 to 80 percent of people with schizophrenia. Visual hallucinations affect an even lower proportion of the population.

It’s also not unusual for media portrayals of mental illness to ignore the fact that many people with mental disorders don’t have to expose their condition to anyone.

Instead, mental disorder is often misunderstood (whether by intention or not). The media also portrays circumstances in which everyone in a character’s life is aware of their mental illness. Mental illness may also be trivialized by the media, which promotes mental illness as not being severe or as being less severe than it is.

Many individuals with eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, believe that their illness is portrayed as less serious than it is. This is partly due to the fact that people with the disease depicted in the media frequently downplay its severity and conceal the disease’s severe consequences.

Even the effects of mental illness are viewed as positive. The protagonist of the iconic television series Monk, for example, is an OCD-afflicted detective. He solves crimes and advances his career because he pays careful attention to detail. People who do not have disabilities will ridicule people who do, for example, by appropriating mental-illness terms in the media. On Twitter, for example, the hashtag OCD (#OCD) is often used to describe someone's obsession with cleanliness or organization. The film portrayals of antagonists of mental illness are perhaps the most disparaging stigmatizations of mental illness in the media. Characters with schizophrenia are often depicted as "homicidal maniacs" in "slasher" or "psycho murderer" films. These depictions spread misconceptions regarding the signs, causes, and treatment of schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses. Furthermore, studies have shown that famous movies have a powerful effect on attitude forming. Researchers looked at 41 movies released between 1990 and 2010 for depictions of schizophrenia in a 2012 paper titled "Portrayals of Schizophrenia by Entertainment Media: A Content Analysis of Contemporary Movies." Not all of the information portrayed regarding mental illness was found to be inaccurate, deceptive, or stigmatizing. For example, the use of psychiatric drugs was represented or referred to in more than half of the films studied. Even though some films have it right, negative media portrayals of people with schizophrenia and other serious types of mental illness—particularly violent ones—contribute to stigmatization, stereotyping, prejudice, and social rejection.

IMPACT ON PRACTITIONERS OF MENTAL HEALTH

Many young people are unafraid to speak about their psychological issues and seek clinical support, despite the stigma. Previously, mental health issues were suffered in isolation; but today, a troubled young person will quickly locate those who are experiencing similar issues, either through social media or support groups.

Doctors may be more likely to identify and handle mental health issues as a result of increased sensitivity and help-seeking behavior, potentially lowering the diagnosis threshold. Owing to a rise in mental health issues among teenagers, understanding the effect of social media on their well-being has become a priority (Kim, 2017).

Problematic internet behaviors are frequently referred to as “addiction” in psychiatric terminology. However, some younger people’s behavior may be misinterpreted as abnormal. Young people who regularly post photographs of themselves (‘selfies’) may seem narcissistic, but in younger social networks, such activity has become the standard (McCrae, 2018).

Nonetheless, psychologists and other experts have given alerts about how young people are using social media and the resulting harm to their personal and social growth (Greenfield, 2014; Twenge, 2006).

There are many advantages of using social media in private practice. It gives us opportunities to promote ourselves and our services. Physicians’ favorite social media platforms are those that enable us to engage in online forums, listen to experts in their fields, read news stories, network, and discuss patient issues with colleagues. These websites allow us to gather and read pertinent information about our patients and practice.

Through commenting on posts and engaging in group conversations or online chats, we will interact with other psychiatrists and mental health practitioners on social media. These interactions may improve the acquisition of valuable knowledge by finding and exchanging useful information or connections with followers or other members of an online group.

conclusion

Psychiatrists have the potential to play a vital role in informing the public about the current state of psychiatry. Unlike other journalists, who must rely on secondhand reports or expert opinion, psychiatrists may weigh in directly on social media with their recommendations, views, and expertise, based on direct patient experiences and doctor-patient relationship.