Reducing Stigma in Media Professionals: Is there Room for Improvement? Results from a Systematic Review

Abstract

It should be useful to promote and disseminate contact-based educational interventions targeted to journalists and to include specific modules on mental health topics in the training curricula of journalism students. However, as research in the field suffers from several limitations, high-quality studies exploring the long-term effect of antistigma interventions for media professionals are needed.

Newspaper portrayal of mental illness in England, Canada, Portugal, Spain and Japan = Representación de las enfermedades mentales en periódicos de Inglaterra, Canadá, Portugal, España y Japón

“…Mass media has been proven to provide a negative image of those who are often labelled as dangerous or unpredictable, thus, reinforcing common stereotypes of people with mental health problems (Whal, 2003;Sieff, 2003;López, 2007, Maiorano et al, 2017. Studies also showed that the perception of mental illness can be related to its portrayal in media (Clement et al, 2013;Dietrich, Heider, D., Matschinger, H., & Angermeyer, M.C., 2006) Several of these studies show how mental illness was consistently misrepresented during the last half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st.…”

“…Despite their great prevalence, mental illnesses are still a burden in the vast majority of societies and are frequently stigmatised. Stigma is an all-encompassing term that is built by ignorance or misinformation, prejudice, and discrimination that affects the daily life of people with mental health problems in many aspects of their life (Maiorano et al, 2017;Thornicroft, 2006;López, Laviana, Fernández, López, Rodríguez, Aparicio, 2008). Mental illness stigma contributes to a high percentage of people with mental health problems feeling pressure to hide the condition in order to be protected from society judgement and can even keep them from seeking help (Corrigan, & Kleinlein, 2005).…”

“…Mental illness stigma contributes to a high percentage of people with mental health problems feeling pressure to hide the condition in order to be protected from society judgement and can even keep them from seeking help (Corrigan, & Kleinlein, 2005). Stigma has been found to discourage help-seeking behaviours, thus, the possibility of recovery is decreased (Maiorano et al, 2017), further perpetuating the existence and rise of mental health. It can also exclude people of metal health from finding and sustaining employment and can also lead to poorer physical health.…”

“…It can also exclude people of metal health from finding and sustaining employment and can also lead to poorer physical health. It can be said that stigma is one of the main obstacles to social recovery for those with mental health problems (Corrigan, 2016;Maiorano et al, 2017).…”

“…There is also poor coverage of recovery in the media, creating an inaccurate imbalance of reported mental illness and subsequent potential recovery . With this in mind, the media has formed social structures maintaining the negative stigma of mental illness, with or without intention , Maiorano et al, 2017.…”