Media Critique (Term Paper Sample)

Media Critique
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Media Critique
Mass media plays an integral role in influencing and shaping the public’s knowledge, behavior and attitudes. Clarifying the area through which the media informs or misleads the public on fundamental health issues, such as mental health, is of particular importance since community understanding of mental disorders is not only lower than optimal but it also accompanied by issues of stigma and discrimination (Stewart, 2007). There is no denying that mental illness is a highly complex issue that is often accompanied by numerous diagnoses, treatments and other health services, yet even those with mental illness desire what the rest of the society want: a home, a stable source income and a friend. However, as a key source of information to the Canadian public, mass media often tends to skew reality when it comes to matters concerning mental health and those that care for mental health patients. Inaccurate information provided by the mass media brings about misunderstandings that could end up having real and considerable consequences of the general health and wellbeing of those that have this condition and those that care for them.
Media Account Description
Mass media has the capacity to influence public perception and the degree to which people are exposed to various issues impacting their societies (Stewart, 2007). This means that the media has the capacity to shape the idea and the manner in which individuals in the society understand issues that affect both them and their loved ones. Individuals that are dealing with mental illnesses are, however, often forced to deal with a lot of stigma associated with their mental health as the media often gives negative and inaccurate portrayal of these issues. For instance, negative portrayal of schizophrenia, which the media often confuses with multiple personality disorder, brings about confusion, conflict, false beliefs and even conflicts when it comes to receiving mental health. However, this problem affects not only those that are dealing with the problem but the nurses that care for mental health patients as well.
In the 2013 film, Filth, a detective sergeant, Bruce Robertson, who works in Edinburg suffers from borderline personality disorder. In this film, he is depicted as a manipulative, scheming and misanthropic man that spends his time indulging in alcohol, drugs and sexually abusive relationships. He is also shown as an inconsiderate individual that hatches a number of foul plots against his workmates. Robertson is also portrayed as an individual that delights in systematically taking advantage and bullying his mild-mannered friend, Blades, by repeatedly calling him and asking for phone sex from his wife.
Although Robertson’s aims to be promoted to a Detective Inspector, he loses his grip on life’s reality soon after being assigned to work on a case involving the murder of a Japanese student. This happens when he starts suffering continuous episodes of severe hallucinations. After some time, Robertson loses his sanity after these hallucinations become worse. Over time, it is revealed that he has been receiving medication for bipolar disorder and that he is wrapped in guilt over a childhood tragic accident which resulted in the death of his brother. It is also revealed that his wife has left him in favor of another man and that her decision to deny him access to his daughter is what drove his ambition for a promotion and resulted in him dressing as his wife when he got off work in an effort at maintaining his connection to her.
On one occasion, Robertson is captured by a mob that is responsible for the murder of the Japanese student while walking on the streets. Although he is badly beaten by the gang, he manages to kill their leader, Gorman, by throwing him through a window before he is rescued by his colleagues. As a result of this Robertson loses out on his promotion, is demoted to the rank of a Constable and is reassigned to dressing in uniform. Later, Robertson sends a tape to Blades apologizing for all that the wrong he did to him and prepares to commit suicide. His suicidal tendencies are however cut short by the arrival of Mary, whose husband Robertson tried to save, and her son.
This film confirms the negative perception that the society has regarding mental health problems. In the contemporary society today, most mental ailments are often allied with stigma unlike the case with physical illnesses (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2015). While this stigma can either arise from the society or the self, dealing with the shame that often accompanies mental ailments can be incapacitating and may greatly interfere with an individual’s daily living. The media does very little in minimizing the negative perception, which has resulted in the Canadian society perceiving mental illness in a negative light due to prejudice and fear. This results in individuals that are suffering from mental illness being alienated and directly excluded from the communities in which they belong.
In most social communities, symptoms of mental ailments are regarded as being uncomfortable and threatening, which brings about attitudes that foster discrimination and stigma towards individuals with mental problems. These reactions are particularly common among individuals that are brave enough to embrace the fact that they may be dealing with mental health issues, and who are often discriminated or eluded within either their social circles or even the places in which they work (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2015). Such perceptions often make it impossible for the society to understand how an individual can purposely choose to work with mental health patients.
This raises the need to understand what mental health stigma refers to. According to Corrigan and Watson (2002), stigma in mental health can be regarded from two fronts: social stigma and perceived stigma. Social stigma refers to instances in which prejudicial attitudes as well as discrimination behavior is directed towards people with mental health problems based on the psychiatric label that they receive from the rest of the society. On the other hand, perceived stigma, often referred to as self-stigma, refer to the internalizing of the societal notions of discrimination by the individual suffering from mental illness. This can result in feeling of shame and could greatly affect the outcomes of medical treatments aimed at curbing the condition.
According to Cutliffe and Hannigan (2001), the stigma that is often linked to mental illness serves as the primary obstacle towards improving mental health care. Through stigma and discrimination that is often associated with these conditions, people that suffer from mental disorders are deprived of their dignity and frequently find it impossible to fully participate in social activities. This stigma is commonly perpetuated through a lethal combination of ignorance and lack of interest in acquiring relevant information regarding these conditions, prejudice and discrimination. In this regard, stigma refers to the negative attitude towards mental illness while discrimination is the resultant behavior which exemplifies the stipulated attitude.
Media is perceived as the primary source of information regarding mental ailments. The television is considered to be one of the most powerful mediums through which public consciousness is framed. According to Cutcliffe and Hannigan (2001), a week barely goes by without the mass media referring to mental illness. The representation of mental illness in the media can, at times, be so powerful in such a way that they can override an individual’s personal experiences in regards to how they perceive mental illness. This is primarily because both film and television emphasize on considering individuals with mental illness as being different and distinct form the general fabric which holds the society together. In most instances, such individuals are portrayed as being homeless, unemployed and without any friend family or roots in their social or cultural history. This form of one-dimensional depiction of individuals with mental problems results in the society regarding them as being unworthy and subhuman.
Reaction to Media Account
Even though the media does a good job of perpetuating mental problems as a condition that people ought to be weary of, nurses and other health care provides ought to ensure that they do no perpetuate the stigma that is associated with these problems. This will go a long way in minimizing the amount of stigma that such individuals are forced to deal with when they go to seek for help from medical professionals.
According to Reavley and Jorm (2011), some nurses in the emergency care unit and emergency department tend to behave in an unsympathetic and demeaning manner towards individuals with mental health problems. This is mostly due to the fact that most of them feel that it is now within their stipulated roles to care for individuals with mental health issues. Other nurses regard individuals that have done harm to themselves to be wasting resources that are otherwise meant to save the lives of those that are willing to live.
Most health care providers fail to recognize that their language and attitude towards such individuals is quite harmful and detrimental to their health and wellbeing. What is even more problematic is the fact that most of these health care providers do not realize that they treat individuals with these problems any different as they have absorbed the negative attitudes and perceptions perceived in the media without their knowledge. Hence, they tend to perceive such individuals as being a waste of both time and resources that would otherwise be better used in caring for the other patients (Whitley & Hickling, 2007). Additionally, growing up an...