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Mental Health and the Media Assignment PDF

   

Added on  2021-06-15

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Running head: MENTAL HEALTH AND THE MEDIA1Mental Health and the MediaNameInstitution

MENTAL HEALTH AND THE MEDIA2Mental Health and the MediaIntroductionMental ill health is one of the major challenges facing the healthcare sector in Singapore. According to information from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), there is a high prevalence of mental illness in the country. In 201, for instance, 9.8% of the Singapore residents would be diagnosed with at least one of the anxiety or mood disorders in their lifetime. That shows that Singapore, as a nation, is worse-off when it comes to mental health. A large number of Singapore residents have been suffering from anxious emotional, impulsive, and suspicious personality disorders like schizoid, borderline, narcissistic, paranoid, obsessive compulsive disorders. The situation is worsening because the people do not have enough knowledge to deal with such personality disorders. Even the media which should be at the fore front of educating people and equipping them with the skills to use in managing the conditions are to blame for its laxity. The print, broadcast, and electronic media has been derailing the war against personality disorders because they mislead the members of the public by propagating the culture of stigmatization. How the Media depict Mental IllnessIn Singapore, there is a free media. All the Singaporeans have an unrestricted access to the print, broadcast, and electronic media such as the television (TV), movies, radio, newspapers,journals, blogs, websites, and social media. Each of these media platforms is essential because the people can virtually not live without them. They are necessary because they help in informing the members of the public, educating them, and giving them a platform to communicate with one another. At the same time, media has been helpful in entertaining the

MENTAL HEALTH AND THE MEDIA3Singaporeans and giving them an opportunity to enjoy pleasurable moments (Arnold & Boggs, 2015). That is why most of the people especially the youth are fond of social media sites like the YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and the like. When it comes to health matters, the media is not left out. Over the years, the Singaporeans have been using it as a powerful tool to educate the public and communicate health-related matters.Despite its significant contributions in the healthcare sector, the Singaporean media has failed to positively contribute towards the war against mental ill-health. The mainstream media-TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, and films have not been doing a commendable job as far as mental illnesses are concerned (Canvin, Rugkåsa, Sinclair & Burns, 2014). Although there are some media houses which have been helping in sensitizing the members of the public on all the matters related to mental illness, there are others which have been doing a disservice to it (Braithwaite & Schrodt, 2014). There are many instances where some of these media platforms have been giving a false impression of the people with mental illnesses like personality disorders.The first way through which the mainstream media has been derailing the war against mental illness is that it has been negatively depicting the condition. There are many instances where the media houses have been releasing information that gives wrong information on the causes of mental illnesses. Many at times, the media have been blaming the mentally-ill persons for their problem because they assume that they are responsible for it (Manuel & Crowe, 2014). Some media houses have been peddling unnecessary believes on mental ill-health such as the linking of the conditions to a curse. The Hoarders is an example of a TV series that never did much to educate people on the hoarding disorder as expected. The linking of personality disorders to a generational curse is a very bad thing because it renders the mentally-ill vulnerable

MENTAL HEALTH AND THE MEDIA4in the society. Such media houses are operated by the people who still hold obsolete beliefs that have no place in the 21st century (Gerlinger, Hauser, Hert, Lacluyse, Wampers & Correll, 2013). They deliberately choose not to present the truth despite them knowing that such personality disorders are purely biological and have nothing to do with religious or cultural beliefs. The other way through which the media derails the war against personality disorders is that it gives wrong information on the roles of the mentally-ill on the management of their conditions. Here are many occasions where the media have been blaming the patients for their illnesses. For example, there are certain newspaper articles or radio programs which portray the mentally-ill persons as irresponsible people with whom no one should associate (Rogers & Pilgrim, 2014). At the same time, there are situations where media has been portraying the personality disorder patients as violent persons who can attack and harm anyone whenever they get any slightest opportunity to do so. That is not true because it misleads people to have negative perception towards the mentally-ill patients (Chang, Wu, Chen, Wang & Lin, 2014). The media houses should not do so because they are written by professional journalists who havea sound knowledge of all the ethical standards that govern their discipline. Hence, instead of misleading the public, such people should be responsible in their actions. Meaning, they should always refrain from publishing wrong information. Although not all media houses do this, there are many cases of irresponsible reporting which end up hurting the people with mental illness as well as their loved ones. The social media has also been used to the disadvantage of the people who suffer from personality disorders. In Singapore, many people have become obsessed with the social sites likeYouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, MySpace, just to mention, but a few. These media platforms are popular with many Singaporeans especially the techno-savvy youthful populations.

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