Media Madness: Public Images of Mental Illness

This book not only opens the reader's eyes to the way stigma against mental illness is created and perpetuated by the mass media; it also makes one think twice about all the information we receive from the entertainment industry. You'll never watch TV the same way again. It should be required reading for all Communications students and all Psychology students, social work students, theater students . . . .

Media Madness presents years of research to demonstrate that the mass media predominately portray people with mental illness as violent, frightening or ridiculous. Throughout the book he presents those images based on hard facts, and at each step he carefully sets the record straight on the correct use of words, images and psychological terminology. I was employed as a working journalist for 20 years before becoming the public relations person for a large social service agency. Gradually, I began to see the stigma created for people with mental illness by these inaccurate, biased and sometimes mean statements and images. "The stigma is worse than the disease," is a common refrain among people with mental illness. These are people who hold responsible jobs, have friends and families and pay taxes. But they don't tell anyone about their illness because they are afraid of behing classified with the negative images of mental illness perpetrated by the news media. They keep quiet. Millions of them. They live with a secret and it takes an emotional and psychological toll. They tell me they feel like they are "acting" in life because they cannot reveal the facts about their mental illness. The words, images and downright inaccuracies we read or see in the mass media are creating tension and misery in the lives of millions of Americans. Today, we would not use the terms "nigger", "gimp" or "girlie" for Black people, people with disabilities or women. But we tolerate the use of "psycho," "nut case" or "loonie." We would not call people with heart disease the "cardiacs" but we tolerate "the mentally ill" as if the disorder completely defines the lives of people who happen to have one of these disorders. Thank you Dr. Wahl for your research and for sharing the results in this book. As a journalist and public relations professional, I appreciate the guidance for bringing in a new era of language about mental illness. As a person who has bipolar disorder, I thank you for helping reduce the stigma so someday I can tell my coworkers about this part of my life.