A retrospective examination of the content of violence in headlines of news related to individuals with mental disorders

A study on the representation of mental disorders in Turkish newspapers

BACKGROUND

Newspapers that address mental disorders affect health care positively or negatively and can affect the public's perspective with the way they explain mental disorders.

AIMS

To examine the representation of news about mental disorders published in Turkish newspapers.

METHODS

Using the document analysis method, 230 news about mental disorders published in the six most read newspapers in 2022 were examined.

RESULTS

It has been concluded that the descriptive characteristics of individuals with mental disorders are often stated, schizophrenia and psychotic disorders are mentioned most, mental disorders are associated with delinquency and violent behaviour, these people are mostly represented by being detained as a result of the events, and negative concepts are frequently used in newspaper reports. Five sub-themes were determined under the main theme of "Negative Concepts": "Exaggerated Discourses", "Stigmatizing Discourses", "Discourses Targeting Mental Health", "Discourses That May Cause Negative Emotions", "Discourses Containing Misdescription".

CONCLUSIONS

Newspaper items about mental disorders are represented as stigmatizing and misleading by using negative concepts. The sensitivity of media workers, the development of mental health policies and cooperation with mental health workers contribute to the recovery process of individuals with mental disorders.

The Impact of Mental Illness and Intellectual Disability Information on General Public Perceptions of a Person Convicted of a Child Sex Offence

A person convicted of sex offences (PCSO) is confronted with several challenges upon re-entry to the community, often facing difficulties accessing housing and employment, and experiencing stigmatisation, hostility and harassment from community members. Given the importance of community support for successful reintegration, we examined differences in public (N = 117) attitudes toward a PCSO against a child (PCSO-C) with mental illness or intellectual disability compared to a neurotypical PCSO-C in an online survey. At present, differences in attitudes towards these groups has not been explored. Results indicated the PCSO-Cs with intellectual disability or mental illness were seen to pose less risk of sexual reoffending and prompted higher levels of reintegration comfort than the neurotypical PCSO-C. Participants' prior personal exposure to mental illness or intellectual disability was unrelated to attitudes, but those who believed that PCSOs in general have a low capacity for change attributed greater risk of sexual reoffending, greater risk of future harm to children, higher levels of blame and lower reintegration comfort, regardless of MI and ID information. Female participants also perceived greater risk of future harm to adults, and older participants estimated higher risk of sexual reoffending than younger participants. Findings have implications for community acceptance of PCSO-Cs and jury decision-making processes and highlight the importance of public education regarding neurodiverse PCSO-Cs and PCSO capacity for change to encourage knowledge-based judgements.

Representaciones de la salud mental en dos diarios de circulación nacional en Perú

ANTECEDENTES

Los medios de comunicación son una de las fuentes que modelan las representaciones de la salud mental. Sólo un estudio previo realizado en Perú ha analizado las noticias sobre la salud mental en los medios de comunicación.

OBJETIVO

describir cómo se representa la salud mental en la prensa escrita de alcance nacional en el Perú.

MÉTODO

se utilizó la técnica de análisis de contenido. Se realizó una búsqueda de artículos a partir de una lista de términos relacionados con salud mental en 30 ediciones de dos diarios de circulación nacional del año 2016. Se identificaron 351 artículos, de los cuales se extrajo información sobre los términos de salud mental utilizados, el nivel de contenido de salud mental, la presencia de fuentes citadas, la inclusión de personajes y la valoración atribuida a estos.

RESULTADOS

271 artículos (77.21%) contenían términos referidos a salud mental, pero sin ser desarrollados, 51 (14.53%) abordaban la salud mental de manera parcial, y solo 29 (8.26%) lo hacían como tema principal. Entre los 80 artículos que abordaban la salud mental de manera parcial o principal, solo 32 (40%) citaban fuentes. Finalmente, de los 59 artículos que hacían referencia a personajes, 29 (49.15%) los describían de manera negativa.

CONCLUSIONES

la prensa escrita suele utilizar términos de salud mental, pero sin desarrollar el tema en profundidad. El uso de fuentes es infrecuente y no se cita a personas con afecciones de salud mental. Al describirlas, se destaca su inestabilidad y peligrosidad. Estos hallazgos sugieren que la prensa escrita podría contribuir al fortalecimiento del estigma relacionado con la salud mental.