Prejudice and discrimination towards people with mental health problems is still deeply culturally embedded. This is despite media campaigns that challenge stereotypical views. This stigma has a range of potential impacts including on employment and work opportunities and the ability to access to a range of services. Stigma can also impact on a person’s identity and sense of self- worth and interpersonal relationships. Prejudice and discrimination can also prevent people seeking support when they experience distress. Media coverage and representations in popular culture can impact positively and negatively on wider social attitudes on to mental health and illness. High profile news stories and popular films, novels and TV dramas are often inaccurate and can be stigmatizing by, for example associating mental illness.The aim is to examine the impact of media and cultural representations of mental health and illness including psychiatric services. One aspect will be to consider how popular cultural forms influence our understanding and perception of mental health and illness. This area will also seek to examine the impact of media campaigns, often led by celebrities or high-profile public figures, that seek to challenge stigma and/ or develop more positive responses to mental health issues such as stress. The popular image of mental health services is often a very negative one still dominated by images of abusive practices of institutionalized psychiatry. This not only deters individuals from seeking help but also may mean that professionals will not seek to work in mental health services. How have these enduring popular myths been challenged so that stigma is reduced? This Research Topic welcomes manuscripts that cover the following topics: • Content analysis of media representations of mental illness • Impact of high profile cases/ moral panics on mental health policy and legislation • The use of popular films, TV drama and novels in the teaching of mental health professionals • The impact of high-profile campaigns to tackle stigma • Service user perspectives and responses to media representations • Intersectional analyses of the media and popular cultural representations of marginalized groups • The political economy of stigma
Prejudice and discrimination towards people with mental health problems is still deeply culturally embedded. This is despite media campaigns that challenge stereotypical views. This stigma has a range of potential impacts including on employment and work opportunities and the ability to access to a range of services. Stigma can also impact on a person’s identity and sense of self- worth and interpersonal relationships. Prejudice and discrimination can also prevent people seeking support when they experience distress. Media coverage and representations in popular culture can impact positively and negatively on wider social attitudes on to mental health and illness. High profile news stories and popular films, novels and TV dramas are often inaccurate and can be stigmatizing by, for example associating mental illness.The aim is to examine the impact of media and cultural representations of mental health and illness including psychiatric services. One aspect will be to consider how popular cultural forms influence our understanding and perception of mental health and illness. This area will also seek to examine the impact of media campaigns, often led by celebrities or high-profile public figures, that seek to challenge stigma and/ or develop more positive responses to mental health issues such as stress. The popular image of mental health services is often a very negative one still dominated by images of abusive practices of institutionalized psychiatry. This not only deters individuals from seeking help but also may mean that professionals will not seek to work in mental health services. How have these enduring popular myths been challenged so that stigma is reduced? This Research Topic welcomes manuscripts that cover the following topics: • Content analysis of media representations of mental illness • Impact of high profile cases/ moral panics on mental health policy and legislation • The use of popular films, TV drama and novels in the teaching of mental health professionals • The impact of high-profile campaigns to tackle stigma • Service user perspectives and responses to media representations • Intersectional analyses of the media and popular cultural representations of marginalized groups • The political economy of stigma