Do you ever get annoyed by how mental illness is portrayed in the media?!


Question: Do you ever get annoyed by how mental illness is portrayed in the media!?
In soaps, people with a mental illness are often portrayed as being violent and a danger to other people!. News stories about schizophrenics commiting violent acts are more sensational than reporting incidents were someone just lost their temper!.

I know someone who has schizophrenia, and this really annoys me!.Www@Answer-Health@Com


Answers:
I apologize in advance for the large rant!.!.!.

This gets me so frustrated!.!.!. even around Y!A!. I've read several different answers were people pretend they know something, when in fact they do not!. The sad thing is, only if you know better do you realize they are wrong; otherwise you become misinformed!.

You only hear about the "interesting" stories with violence!. Why would they tell stories that spread light on the truth!? That wouldn't be nearly interesting enough *sarcasm*!. Mental illness is so much more common than people realize; if they heard about more typical cases, they wouldn't be so quick to assume such negative things!

And all the stereotypes around them!.!.!. Like the "dangerous" one!. People don't know that a lot of schizophrenics actually hide themselves so they won't lash out, or because they are suffering from paranoia!.
Depression, I've noticed, has been underestimated!. We go around saying "oh, I'm so depressed", when in fact it's just some temporary blues!. It really takes the seriousness out of Major Depressive Disorder, etc!.

Besides it hurting the people that have them, it stops a lot of people from getting help!. Some won't go to a psychiatrist for fear of the prosecution and mockery, when they really need help!. Others who could use some counseling just to get their life back on track avoid it because that'll make them "crazy"!.

It's not just a problem of the people writing such things, but the sponge-like public!. Most will just accept whatever they see, and only take it at face value!. For example, the movie Donnie Darko reinforced the "violent schizophrenic" stereotype, when in fact it was not about mental illness!.!.!. but an ignorant person wouldn't see the depth of the story, and just have another "example of someone with schizophrenia"!.

A friend of mine recently said his father was acting "really bipolar lately"!. My jaw literally dropped!. A person does not act bipolar! It's a serious mental condition! But it's just become an easy way to say "moody"!.

Part of the problem is, it is so easy to just write someone off as "crazy" and be done with it!. They act different than you!? They're crazy!. They do something socially unacceptable!? Obviously nuts!. We're too narrow-minded to think for ourselves, to take things with a "grain of salt", and to realize that not everyone thinks just like we do!.
I wonder how mental illness is seen in other parts of the world!? (this is coming from a North American)

As you can tell, I'm annoyed as well, haha!. I've thought about this quite a bit recently!.!.!.!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

heck yeah!. "mental illness" is used as an excuse for bad behavior!. There is so much money involved with mental illness and treatment half of the physciatrists dont give a rats a-- what happens to their patient, as long as they pay 5 million dollars to have a total stranger diagnosis them with some bullshi- disease in one hour!. (Btw, that is absurd to think that one person alone could tell another person what is wrong with them after hounding them with questions for 50 minutes!. Honestly, I believe it's just bad manners, not enough discipline, bad habits and anger problems!. When people don't like themselves, they don't care of themselves (including mentally) so therefore they treat the whole world like they'd treat themselves, like sh--!. Yeah there real mental illnesses out there but this overdiagnosing of mental illnesses is some kind of an epidemic they way doctors hand out pills like candy and make people believe that they have no control so it's okay to use their issue as a crutch!. After half of these people are told that they are mentally ill it's kind of like a relief, like "oh so im not responsible for punchin that guy in the face, i'm bipolar and depressed!. OKay!.!.!." Then they get screwed even more because now their thinking is skewed!. So they justify every bad thing they do and blame it on their illness and they become delusional and another waste of space that coulda done some good! well that's my opinion!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

Yes!. Those in the media know little or nothing about mental illness!. Perhaps less than the general public!. Worse yet, many people who claim to be interested in mental illnesses, even some who comment here, know even less!.
Mental illness is just that, an illness!. The brain is an organ made up almost entirely of nerve cells!. Certain nerve cells, unlike nerves in the body, do not connect one to another!. In not connecting, they need a chemical medium through which neurotransmitters can move from one cell to another!. If that chemical medium happens to be polluted or imbalanced neurotransmitters cannot move from one cell to the right part of the next cell!. That is a very basic, nutshell explanation of some mental illnesses, but it gives the idea!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

This is a hugh problem and I really hate it!. As soon as you say the word schizophrenia to anyone, they look at you like your some kind of Charlie Manson type and they get real quiet and back away!. Someone I love has schizophrenia and because of it he doesn't have any friends!. I even find people backing away from me because of him!. It sucks big time!. Then if you have to go to court, the DA and the lawyers talk about the case up at the judges table real secret like!. I can only imagine what they are talking about!. I am now becoming an advocate for just this thing, but it is so very hard!. Now if you have Bipolar or depression, that is by far more acceptable!. The person I am talking about is the sweetest, kindest person I have ever met and takes his medication every day and is totally stable!.Www@Answer-Health@Com





The consumer health information on answer-health.com is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions.
The answer content post by the user, if contains the copyright content please contact us, we will immediately remove it.
Copyright © 2007-2011 answer-health.com -   Terms of Use -   Contact us

Health Categories