How is Mental Health Portrayed in the Media?

I recently ran across a wonderful writing prompt website called “answer the public”!

Needless to say, this is what I’ll be doing more often :)

I’m writing to you now from a place, a space and time that you may find all too familiar. It’s the bubble of the past 9 month window of this odd and perplexing season. It has truly been a glass menagerie vexing us into a daze.

I can’t begin to explain the shift that has occurred in the mental health field. I’ll save you the distraught downward spiral of hope for those who had already felt the impact of lacking resources pre the viral wave. For many it’s been a time of opportunity, as these things usually are for opportunists. For others, well, there are no words left to give. Their loved ones have muttered them.

Too many tombstones, for those that can afford them. Too many emotions, for those that have the mental capacity to still process.

This may sound awfully dreary. I apologize. My aim is to shed light on how uniquely painful collective experiences, such as these, can be. The toll it can take on communities and individuals, businesses and organizations.

I’m bringing you into the fold of something you might not by privy to.

During this time, Iv noticed a great deal of scripted and “televised” airtime devoted to highlighting the importance of mental health. I’ve also noticed a great deal of mental health themes sprinkled throughout shows, movies and various entertainments. Iv even seen a rise in ads devoted to connect people to counselors, middlemen if you will.

I am a huge proponent of advocating the use of mental health services, and ending any stigma associated with such seeking. I also have a few thoughts.

Mental health is not an experience of romanticism. It does not make a person more interesting as the main character in their personal fable. And It does not always lead to resolution. 

It’s becoming fairly common for movies and shows to highlight mental health condition. Mental illness affects millions of people, it’s a relatable theme. The majority of movies show mental illness in a way that is inaccurate or stigmatizing. 

I am very glad as a society we are normalizing the understanding of mental health disorders, I am also glad for those productions that are showcasing the realistic seriousness of these disorders. With that said, it’s not fully real.

I recall in graduate school learning about the art of persuasion. Not so much for our use, but to learn how the mind works. When we begin to understand these tactics, it becomes so easily identifiable. The law of scarcity, the concept of reciprocity, the mind conditioned for liking, the minds response to fear. When these things are learned, the media begins to make more sense. The vail begins to lift.

The two basic and convenient elements of all media come down to the villain and the victor. This thing is bad, and here is the good solution. This person is evil, and here are the heroes. This place is experiencing negative things, and here’s what you can do to help. Without these two basic elements, we wouldn’t make sense of our moral positioning, it would be too gray and too boring. Media understands this.

I recently saw a Facebook advertisement as I was scrolling recently. It displayed a car crash with smoke and shattered metal and glass. The ad was looking for PTSD candidates for a study. I couldn’t help but comment on the irony of attempting to market to individuals suffering from ptsd by using a potentially triggering image. It’s examples like these that confirm we have a long way to go in healing our communities.

I don’t think we are ready to truly reflect how serious mental health issues are both nationally and worldwide. I don’t think it’s a weight we are collectively ready or prepared to view. This past season has had us boarded up and distanced, giving plenty of time and space for introspection which seemed to also give a spike in suicide rates/ depression and anxiety. It is a paradox for sure, as the opposite is true as well, lives have been saved by not contributing to the spread of this pathogen.

To answer the public in a nutshell, the media seems to portray mental health in a cautious and hesitant way. This a great initial step that hopefully will lead to transparent reflections of the ravaging impact negative mental health has had on our communities.

Want to watch content that is indeed a good reflection of mental health disorders? Here is a list below. Keep in mind, even the best content is not the real thing. Disorders can look different for different people.

A Beautiful Mind

Matchstick Men

It’s Kind of a funny story 

Silver Linings Playbook

In- Treatment (UK based HBO show)

The perks of being a wallflower

The Skeleton Twins

Infinitely Polar Bear

Welcome To Me

Inside Out

Rain Man

What about Bob

As good as it gets

Melancholia

What dreams may come

Prozac Nation

Midsommar 

Tully

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

Girl Interrupted

The Hours

*Are there any I’m missing? Comment yours below!!

If you want to learn more about what makes mental health a struggle for people to process, consider researching “Dark Psychology”. This may give some insight into deeper concepts.

Looking for treatment planning resources? Check out my article “Top 10 Tx Planning Resources” 

https://link.medium.com/0i42KzUVSZ

Geries Shaheen is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Nationally Certified Counselor operating in and around St. Louis Missouri. Geries holds his MA in Professional Counseling from Lindenwood University, BA in Intercultural Studies from Lincoln Christian University, and holds a certificate in Life Coaching, Geries provides life coaching services to clients online globally.