Content Writer: Ananya Anindita Content Editor: Ayisha Farah Media plays a huge role in shaping the public’s opinion on various topics. This bestows the media with a huge responsibility. All that the media should serve are facts without any sort of prejudice. But that is definitely not the case when it comes to the portrayal of mental health in the media. The portrayal of mental health in the media has always been problematic and stereotypical. They provide us with overwhelmingly dramatic and distorted images. A 1999 study revealed that danger is the most common theme of stories related to mental illness. The audio-visual media, which are movies, have portrayed characters with a mental illness in a negative light (criminal, dangerous, unpredictable) from the very beginning. If a movie has any sort of ‘mentally challenged’ character, it is immediately termed a ‘madman’ or ‘psycho’. And the so-called ‘psycho’ is always the antagonist, often times a cold-blooded murderer. Stereotypical ideas like someone suffering from depression is aggressive or suicidal; schizophrenic experiences, hallucinations, etc., are shown. A few disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are idealized and often used as a comic relief. A negative portrayal of mental illness results in a sense of shame and deprecation among those actually suffering from mental illnesses. ‘Me, Myself and Irene’ is a movie that follows the Jekyll and Hyde Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)* concept and schizophrenia, where the two extremely opposite personalities of the male lead ‘fight’ each other to win over the female lead. Schizophrenia might show delusions and paranoia, but in no way does it characterize multiple personalities. And the personalities in DID are mostly unaware of each other’s presence, so fighting each other is not possible. Similarly, in ‘Fight Club’, Brad Pitt’s character suffers from DID (the movie’s twist). He can switch between personalities and have full-blown conversations with each other, yet be unaware of his condition. Which again is NOT what DID is. ‘The Dream Team’ is a movie where four mental hospital residents manage to escape and roam around the city. It is a comedy movie that conveys that all that men really need is a day in the ‘real world’, as opposed to psychotherapy and medications. Similarly, in the movie ‘Garden State’, Zach Braff’s character, who has clinical depression and is prescribed antidepressants, meets Natalie Portman’s character and develops a romantic relationship with her, who teaches him how to feel again. He soon goes off of his medication because he now believes that the root cause of his misery was the pills and not depression. This gives depressed people the wrong notion that the pills are the villains, and they can one day decide to be happy, and lo and behold! Problems solved. They blame themselves and their lack of willpower for their condition. ‘Anjaana Anjaani’. What can be worse than romanticizing depression? Well, this movie took two suicidal, depressed people who made a pact on committing a joint suicide on the upcoming New Year’s Eve and turned it into a love story. It showed depression in a romantic way rather than the actual emptiness and desperateness that it is. However, the glass is never completely empty. Many must-watch movies have rightfully done their research and nailed the character and condition, and shown them in a positive light. For example, ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ shows Charlie, a teenage boy who deals with crippling PTSD and anxiety that comes with trauma and how he navigates his way through school. Honestly, Pixar’s ‘Inside Out’ also did an extremely commendable job in showing how emotions play a huge role in a person’s behaviour, making Riley’s behaviour understandable. ‘To the Bone’ talks about anorexia, the eating disorder, which is often termed as just an obsession with getting thinner, whereas it is so much more than that, mainly a self-esteem issue. ‘Taare Zameen Par’, the movie that single-handedly managed to create more awareness around dyslexia than any number of psychologists/psychiatrists could ever do, power of mass media used rightly! ‘My name is Khan’ is about a man suffering from the ‘Asperger’s syndrome’. The movie does not show the condition as something that limits Khan, but rather as something that enriches him and the people around him. ‘Karthik calling Karthik’, a movie about a man suffering from schizophrenia, who is shown to be leading a normal life and is not a complete maniac. Thus, that was done right. ‘It’s ok not to be ok’, a Korean drama that deals with Antisocial personality disorder, Autism, and many more. So, yes, there has been a positive change in the portrayal of mental health in the media by directors and writers. No more are the people suffering from mental illnesses shown negatively, nor are they seen as potentially dangerous. Instead, now they are also seen as a part of the society and not as a freak. Nowadays, they are even given the role of the protagonist. The media’s positive changes help enlighten the general public on mental health’s reality and de-stigmatize it. Seeking a psychologist’s help is no longer a matter of shame. A few movies still show the violent nature of mental illnesses, which is fine because that is also a part of a few severe psychological disorders. But thankfully, the mainstream media has shifted from the very typical portrayal of mental health to a better and more educational one. A few things they can still do to improve are conducting more research on the background of the illness and focusing on the positives a little more. The print media can have a weekly mental health column, wherein they write about a new illness every week. Also, a column run by a psychologist who writes about mental health myths; such small changes can bring about a huge difference in the overall outlook towards mental health. Since mass media plays such a huge role in providing a perception towards mental health, they should use this platform to its fullest and educate the mass. *Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously known as multiple personality disorder, is a severe form of dissociation; a mental process which produces a lack of connection in a person’s thoughts, memories, feelings, actions or sense of identity. It is mostly characterized by childhood trauma, where a person creates an alternate personality as a coping mechanism.
1 Comment
ANAM HASSAN
6/17/2021 12:52:02 am
This is the best form of educating someone about the mental health in the form of reminding them about the movies and what they actually meant and conveyed!!
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