Impacts of Negative Portrayal of Mass Media on Individuals with Mental Illness

Running Head: NURSING
Nursing
Name
Institution

NURSING 2
Nursing
Abstract
The objective of the paper is to investigate the impacts of negative portrayal of mass
media on individuals with mental illness and the role of registered nurses in educating families,
caregivers and community to understand recovery of persons diagnosed with mental illness. It is
evident that reporting of mental disease in Australia has improved in the recent years; the media
carry on tending to depict mental disease in a manner that promote stigma plus carries on myths
concerning mental health illness. This is probable to have a negative impact on help-seeking,
adherence to treatment and low self-esteem. Nurses have the primary role in providing education
to family members, caregivers and the community on how best to offer optimal care to patients
with mental illness towards recovery. The nurses empower these players to ensure that they give
hope to the persons with mental disorder to face life in a positive manner.

NURSING 3
Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Effects of Negative Portrayal of Mass Media on Persons with Mental Illness...............................5
Stigma..........................................................................................................................................5
Self-Esteem..................................................................................................................................6
Medication Adherence.................................................................................................................7
Help-Seeking Behaviours............................................................................................................7
Role of Nurses Education on Families, Caregivers and Community on Helping Mental Ill
Persons.............................................................................................................................................8
Implications.....................................................................................................................................9
Conclusions....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

NURSING 4
Introduction
The media have a powerful impact on the hopes for family, parents, as well as children
by developing standards for the way of life, care, respect, as well as society. Whilst the
influence of the mass media is weakening and the secondary groups (school, religious
institutions and state) are time restricted, the influence of the mass media is pervasive and
permanent fixture of human lives. Mass media has been found to have huge influence on mental
illness stigma via exaggerated, inaccurate, as well as comical image they utilize to portray
individuals and providing incorrect information regarding mental illnesses in the society
(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007). In the absence of actual experience with mental disease,
people depend on the social media for their perceptions of those individuals with mental
illnesses. Regrettably, the media constantly portrays persons with mental illness as violent,
murderous, impulsive and have themselves to blame for their mental condition. This has created
the perception in the general populace that individuals with mental disease are unmanageable
and dangerous and must be avoided beside feared. The consequences of mass media images
include harm of self-esteem, help-seeking behaviours, medication observance, along with
general recovery (Stuart, 2006).
Registered nurses have been found to play a significant function in educating family
members, caregivers and the community on how to help persons with mental illnesses lives
positively in the society. The nurses usually gives hopes to the family members, and the
community through different educational programs by motivating them and providing
counselling on how to promote care of persons with mental disorders (Wynaden, 2007).